22% Swing!
Many businesses have in recent years turned more towards taking card payments. Since Covid-19 raised its head there has been a 22% swing from Cash to Card [1] Reports at the end of 2019 commissioned by Visa and Mastercard already put the use of card payments at over 70%. There is probably no surprise that there has been a shift, indeed many readers will know from their own experience habits have changed through peace of mind alone.
Who knows the answer?
Since mid-March, when our internal directive became work from home where possible, I have spent more time helping prospective clients gain access to their online merchant account (retailers are called merchants) so that they can download the monthly statement. This has been caused by the trend with Acquirers (the institutions that move the money) to move as much activity online as possible and dispense with paper statements being posted out at the end of the month. Larger merchants don’t have an issue with this, because there is someone in a dedicated role to look after this, but the smaller merchants it falls on the business owner, their spouse or their outsourced bookkeeper.
You need to have a look!
Whoever it is at your organisation looks after the money needs to look at your monthly merchant statement. With card use increasing, so are your business costs. Fees will be proportional to your card takings, but what about your compliance? Are you paying for telephone support and not using it? Are you paying for access to your online account AND not using it? Are you paying for paper statements and not opening the envelopes!? What is your terminal rental charge? What is you integration charge? What are you charged for over the phone payments? I really could go on…..but my message is, unless you look at your monthly statement you do not know the answers and more importantly you do not know how much is going to be taken until AFTER the Direct Debit has already left your account.
You are not alone
We can’t always save money, but it is rare, I will as a minimum look to share my knowledge and understanding so you can access the business information so that you are better informed about the decisions you are making with regards to payment services. Feel free to contact me and start to understand your data.
Source: [1] Paymentsense research and POS Provider data Jun-Jul 2020