Credit Card Discussion

So you’ve finally decided to explore the revenue channel offered by the Internet. Accepting credit cards via the Internet has paved the way for merchants to increase their income. With more consumers shopping online, it’s a profitable decision for businesses to provide credit card payment processing on their websites. The question would then be, where do you begin?

Here are the 3 major components of credit card processing:

Payment Gateway

A payment gateway manages the secure transfer of credit card funds of your customers from your website to your merchant account. This is done with a software interface provided by the payment gateway company that collects vital credit card data from the customer, and also informs the customer in real time if their credit card was approved or not. Payment gateway companies normally charge a transaction fee and a discount rate for this kind of service. Fees will vary from one processor to another, as well as features.

The three “ty’s” of payment gateways:scalability (can they handle varying transaction volumes)

reliability (do their servers provide 99.9% uptime)

security (fraud prevention tools, Address Verification Service, 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, PCI compliance)

Without the proper security tools you are vulnerable to pilferers, and credit card scammers, and you don’t want that happening on your site.

Merchant Account

A merchant account is an account with a bank that allows you to accept credit card payments. The payment gateway wires the billing information to the merchant account provider, and subsequently collects the funds from the customer’s account.

Two kinds of merchant accounts:

‘card present’ - retail and Point of Sale(POS) merchants

‘card not present’ - Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), and Internet Merchants.

An Internet Merchant Account enables credit card payments via the Internet. You can gain an Internet merchant account in three ways:

Through a reputable bank

Broker or intermediary

Third party

Most banks are not too keen in accepting start up businesses, and their ecommerce services are still at the developing stage. Getting a merchant account through a bank not only depends on how large your business is, but also on what kind of business you’re doing. Businesses in the field of pharmacy, gambling, adult entertainment, and travel usually won’t even dare knock on the doors of these banks for it’s just a waste of time.

Brokers, on the other hand, can help you obtain a merchant account by acting as your representative to the bank. They make your business more appealing, and improve your chances of getting your own merchant account. However, like banks, they steer clear of high risk merchants, and you might have to produce documents (business plans, personal net worth, mortgage and credit card bills) to prove your business worth.

Still unsuccessful with the first two options, most merchants are more than willing to get a free merchant account via third party processor. Application is simple and most third party processors will waive application/set up fees, and provide value-added services for free. Most processors have a “sell nothing, pay nothing” policy, and caters to most high risk merchants turned down by banks and brokers. Account approval is quick, and you can start selling in less than 24 hours. However, third party processors can charge slightly higher on transactions unlike having your own Internet merchant account.

Website

Without a functional website, you won’t be able to sell your products and services on the Internet. Merchant account providers sometimes offer site templates to choose from, and payment gateways offer shopping carts that are seamlessly incorporated on your site. The key words here are: easily integrated. If you can’t integrate, you can’t sell.

In general, these three are the main factors when accepting credit card payments over the Internet. Having these three won’t guarantee a successful online business, but are imperative if you plan on engaging in ecommerce. Search the web for the best solution you feel can help your business succeed. Merchants have long tapped the revenue potential of the ecommerce market, its about time you do.

We are buying a gas station and the gas pumps dont have credit card readers in them and we wish to update them but need to know our options.

I have a small business and want to apply for a business credit card because I always travel for business trips. What is the best business credit card suitable for me?

Depending on the amount of debt you have, you may be spending a significant portion of your income paying your credit card bills. What makes this worse is that most of those payments are going to pay interest on those accounts. Most of your money is being wasted, lining your creditors’ pockets.

It is not enough to simply lower your credit card payments. If you lower your payment alone, you will only be making less progress towards paying off your debt, ensuring you’ll be paying on the account for longer. You must find a way to pay down your debt at the same time as lowering your payments.

One way to be able to pay down your debt is to get lower interest on your accounts. This would allow you to put your payments to better use as a greater portion of them would be able to go towards paying off the principle and not just the interest. You may be able to do this on your own, but in many cases you’ll find that you’ll need help to negotiate lower interest rates.

A debt management plan is a way to lower your interest rate and lower your monthly payment, in many cases. Because the debt management company can work with your creditors to negotiate a lower interest rate, the payments you make each month will be more productive, even if you might be able to pay less.

Another benefit of the debt management plan is that you only have to make one payment each month. This will save you time as well as money. It also provides you the accountability you need to pay down your credit cards.

By working to pay off your credit card bills, you won’t have to worry about paying credit card payments in the future. Once you are free of credit card debt, you can use your entire paycheck to pay or save for current and future needs and desires.

I have a $600 limit student Bank of America credit card. Some people tell me the best way is to pay the card balance in full at the end of the month and others tell me it is best to leave a small balance (like around $5)because the interest rates is what eventually improves the score.

Okay, say I purchased something today, October 26; when will a portion of the payment likely be due? I don’t have a credit card yet. The grace period would be 20 days, if that matters. Thanks a lot.

I owe about $7,000 dollars total in credit card debt, I’m unemployed, can’t get a good job due to bad credit, And I’m a recently seperated veteran. Are there any programs out there that can help me out?

For example if you have a limit of $500 and have $500 available on an unsecured card but you need about $300 more to purchase something for $800 that does not accept cash - credit card only. Can you pay the unsecured credit card that amount ($300) and do you then have the additional credit for the mean time?

I really need to know this because I have amnesia and I can’t remember whether or not I gave All Access my checking information before I got my current Visa card. It’s a Reloadable card so you just go to a store and pay whatever amount you want to be on the card, then you go make purchases. It’s really just a card to help you rebuild your credit!

I have a credit card that is over my credit limit but is still “open” or I have a card that is below the limit but has been closed by the creditor.
What is the best card to pay off first, asuming that the interest rates are the same. I’m leaning towards the open account that is over limit.
Which one would show most favorably on my credit file?
I don’t USE credit cards, only cash, so lectures about not using the cards is not needed. I made a mistake now I’m paying for it. Iw ill glady pay off my debts instead of taking the cowards way out and declare bankrupty.

No over limit fees, all of those are waived.
Likewise I am already paying well over the minimum payments on each one, but am thinking that I would knock one of the cards down to the mimimum payment and double up payments on the card that is not closed, but it over limit.

Sounds as if I’m heading in the right track.

thanks