Credit Card Processing Pitfalls
Credit Card Processing Pitfalls
Recently I have had to deal with my credit card processing
company. It is one of those frustrating things that you have to deal with as a
small business owner. There are always a lot of people trying to get more of
your money and one has to be diligent.
It is always best to review your rates at least once a year
and see if you can get them lowered. Now is an opportune time in Canada to
actually get them lowered. It was not that long ago that the Canadian government
deregulated the credit card processing industry to bring in more competition. There
are now a lot more options that you can choose from and they are all competing
for your account. It is like getting a mortgage on a house. It is best to shop
around to find the best rate. The impact to your bottom line is in the
thousands of dollars.
My particular supplier sent me a notice on my statement in July
saying that they were going to raise my rates. Credit Card processing companies
are required to give 3 months notice if they are going to raise your rates. This
notice of course was delivered in a very sneaky and inconspicuous way. It came
on my regular monthly statement outlined in a little box at the top of my
monthly statement. It had the look for the most part like any other statement
that I had received. I was lucky that I caught it and was fortunate to be able
to find a much better deal with a different provider.
If I had not caught this increase I would effectively be
stuck with this increase and would have had a much harder time getting it
lowered. Some of these companies set up your contract so that it automatically renews
itself which and will keep you locked in for another 3 years. You are of course
allowed to break the contract but there is generally a $300 dollar tag attached
to it.
The important thing to be aware of is that you can cancel
your contract with them without penalty as long as you do it within the 3 month
time frame. This is set out by the government on codes of conduct these business
must follow http://www.fin.gc.ca/n10/data/10-049_1-eng.asp
Unfortunately my provider tried to hoodwink me into
believing that I would have to pay an early close out fee in closing my account.
At the beginning of the conversation with them, they actually went as far as to
tell me that they were not raising my rates. I had to actually read the
statement that they sent me and still they denied it. I then said that I was
going to close my account anyway to which they replied in a circular argument that
“I would have to pay an early closing fee. “ This is all in an attempt to make
sure that you do not switch providers or that you wait long enough that you
will have to pay the closing fee. I thought mistakenly that the major company
that I delt with would uphold higher business standards. This was not to be the
case and is the reason I am writing this blog. Hopefully anyone that reads this
won’t fall for some of theirs or others dirty tricks.
P.S. Don’t forget to
check your July statement and see if you are with this particular provider. You
still have until Oct 1 to change without penalty.
posted by calgarymagicmaid @ 15:16
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