Best Credit Card Rates - Let's all chime in

[RosemarysBaby]

I got the idea from about 8 posts back about the person inquiring as to the "Best credit card processor". This would be a great thread for all restaurant operators to report their actual EFFECTIVE RATE and who their processor is. For example, I just switched last month:

Heartland, service is great, Effective rate = 2.249%

I assume everyone knows how to figure effective rate, but just in case you do not;
Take the Total fees take you must pay (discount, processing, service, statement, etc.) and divide this number by the Total Visa and MC sales only. Remember to subtract out AMEX and Discover if your statement does not already do this.

Processors seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately, all claiming to be the best. When you finally decide on one, don't dismiss your current processor just yet. Wait until you receive a 1 month statement and do "YOUR OWN" effective rate as described above.

Please, everyone report. We owe it to one another to weed out the bad guys with good information, right here on this forum.

 

[TLowder]

I'm interested in hearing the numbers too. I have a POS software business and currently have only developed through Heartland. I plan on developing integration with X-Charge and possibly others as well, so if anyone has any comparison numbers between them it would be appreciated.
Rosemarysbaby, who was your previous payment processor and what was your effective rate with them?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Shift4SMS]

Effective rate is good and that is definitely what you should be comparing when shopping but for it to be useful for others to compare you need to post your average ticket amount, total dollar volume in cc's per month and your merchant type (retail, restaurant, ecommerce, etc.) -- which may be too much detail most people are willing to post.

The merchant type is a big factor but just as big is the average ticket/dollar volume ratio. A $24.95 per month "account fee" that a processor might charge is negligible to the effective rate for someone doing $1 million per month whereas it is significant to someone doing a few hundred or a few thousand dollars per month.

Also the per transaction fixed fees significantly jack around the effective rate when the average ticket is low ($0.15 per $100=0.15% effective rate hit vs. $0.15 per $10=1.5% effective rate hit).

My suggestion is to not lock yourself in to a specific bank or processor when shopping around for your next POS -- then you can shop and compare.

Steve Sommers

http://www.shift4.com

-- Creators of $$$ ON THE NET(tm) payment processing services

Blog:

http://shift4sms.blogspot.com

 

[RosemarysBaby]

To answer TLowder.
My past processor was CES who may also be known as Suntrust. My eff rate was about 2.46% I'm classified as a restaurant.
I'm now in my 28th year of credit card processing and I've seen many changes over time. My ticket average is $32 and my monthly volume is $140,000 (Visa MC only). I have a friend whos monthly volume is $400,000, same rate. Volume doesn't buy you much clout these days unless its millions/month and checks over $75

2 days ago I sent my Heartland rep to a good friend of mine who just bought a restaurant a week ago. His volume is a fraction of mine, he got the exact same rate. The volume and check average are not nearly as important as they used to be. If you come across a processor that is saying otherwise, then maybe this is exactly what you should be aware of.

I'm betting that many restaurants will be coming in somewhere between 2.15 and 2.60. If we post maybe some of us can save some $$$. My switch from CES to Heartland is netting me $300-$400 extra per month, I'll take it.

Shift4SMS makes some valid points but for the purpose of this thread I'm assuming we're all talking pretty much the same game here.

 

[DriveByCheckmate]

I've also seen good rates from Heartland. The key to getting absolutely the best deal is getting bids from about 3 companies and have them fight it out. My 2 cents.