Credit Card Rates

[HB]

Anyone get better than 1.66% rate for credit cards?

[Creative Chicks]

Geez, I thought I was doing good with 1.79 :icon11:

Who are you using to process your cards at that rate? And does that include the cards that give their customers rewards?

Lori

[Paul N]

%1.66??????????

Quick, let me know who you use!!! :p

Chase is making me a great offer at %1.89.......to switch..:fire:

[HB]

I was getting 1.5 a couple years ago!

Its Costco

But I don't think its got rewards.

[Jim Miller]

There's a lot of smoke and mirrors in credit card processing costs. The "rate" processors quote usually does not include the add-on fees, which could effectively triple the "rate" quoted. Be sure to get clear answers about statement fees, non-qualification fees, missing data fees and other costs they don't want you to consider.

Also, processing costs depend on your amount of credit card business and its level of risk. For example, a framer doing $15,000 a month in credit card sales would get a better rate than one doing $5,000. A clothing store doing similar amounts of business would probably pay a higher total cost, due to the higher incidence of refunds & fraudulent charges in that kind of business.

[Rick Bergeron - CPF]

I doubt 1.66% is all inclusive. Our 'costplus' account is 1.65% on swiped, regular mc/v if that's what you want to hear. All rewards cards are at a higher rate and there's about 17 different rewards card rates depending upon the particular reward card. Government cards are the highest rate. Otherwise, ditto everything Jim said. Restaurants are even higher than retail clothing for similar reasons.

Guess who buys all those rewards for those cards? Not a complaint, just a statement of fact.

[Rob Markoff]

Don't forget the "float." I receive the money from Visa/Mastercard transactions the next business day. Amex and Discover are 3-5 days.

If a significant portion of your business is on credit card (as is mine) then the float is very important. If they have the benefit of your funds for a day or two, a lower rate might not be the "best deal."

Nonetheless, my combined fees for MC and Visa (inclusive of non swiped, government, reward card, non merit, etc etc etc) is still less than 2%. I use B of A as my merchant processor as well as my bank. I pay no fees to bank there, have an excellent line of credit and feel they are very responsive to my needs.

Take your monthly "discount" and divide by the dollar volume that the discount was derived from to determine your actual bottom line discount percentage.