Minimize Your Credit Card Transactions - Process ACH Transactions for Your Business Instead

What types of payments does your business currently accept? You?re probably saying cash, checks and credit cards ? why what else is there? Well have you heard of or though about accepting ACH transactions? If you?re wondering what ACH is and how to do it, continue reading this article and you will learn how processing ACH transactions will save your company time, money and simplify your business.

The Automated Clearing House (ACH) is an electronic network for financial transactions. ACH processes large volumes of both credit and debit transactions which are originated in batches. Some of the most popular ACH payments include:

• Direct Deposit of payroll, Social Security and other government benefits, and tax refunds
• Direct Payment of consumer bills such as mortgages, loans, utility bills, insurance premiums, and other forms of online bills
• Business-to-business payments
• e-checks
• e-commerce payments
• Federal, state and local tax payments

Businesses are also increasingly using ACH to collect online payments from their customers, rather than accepting credit or debit cards. Now is the time to think about doing the same for your business. Over the next few years, ACH will become a popular method for businesses to accept payments from customers or make payments to vendors because it is much cheaper than the standard credit card transaction fees. As an example, let?s say you?re currently paying 2.5% and 15 cents per transaction to your credit card processing company. If your average ticket cost is $100, you would pay approximately $2.60 per each sale.

Now let?s say that you?ve implemented ACH for your business and you now accept e-checks and/or direct deposits from your customers. On the same $100 ticket item, you would pay anywhere from 20 ? 50 cents depending on your ACH processing company. That?s a cost savings of $2.10 per sale!

It gets even better than that ? let?s say your average transaction was $1000, surprisingly you would still pay the same 20 ? 50 cent fee. That?s the beauty of ACH - they do not care how large your transactions are.

You can also easily make payments to your vendors using your ACH solution. Simply add your vendors bank account/routing number, enter the payment amount, submit your batch and whalah? your vendor is paid. And it?s even cheaper and easier then sending a check in the mail!

There are many companies that offer ACH payment solutions but most are manual processes. If you?re looking for a fully automated ACH payment solution, Hudson Horizons has can integrate an ACH solution into your website or application in a matter of days. They can have you accepting real-time ACH transactions and saving your company time, money and streamlining your business. Their costs are extremely reasonable and the solution is fully automated. The last I heard, their costs are $15 per month and 39 cents per transaction.

So as you can see, ACH is definitely the way to go. You can potentially save your business hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every single month by integrating an ACH payment solution for your business.

At Hudson Horizons, we provide website design, development, content management, e-commerce integration, RSS content distribution, search engine optimization, e-marketing services and the development of custom applications such as blogs, newsletter systems, online ACH payment solutions and any other Web application that may be needed to help simplify your business.

Hudson Horizons is an e-business product, solution and marketing company specializing in creating highly sophisticated customized websites, web-based software applications and providing e-marketing and SEO services for small and mid-sized businesses.

Our vision and ultimate ambition as a company is to always strive to be "The New Light for e-Business." By offering new, innovative and extremely competitive products and solutions to our clients, we provide better ways to run and operate a business online.

Third Party Credit Card Processors

If you?re a small business or just starting out, you may not feel ready for a merchant account. Obtaining a merchant account is not usually considered difficult, however, for a newly established business it isn?t always feasible to run out and a merchant account immediately. Starting a business is often costly and risky to begin with- you do not need to go out and spend money on optional features (like a merchant account) until you know whether or not your business is going to succeed, and whether or not you?ll have the need to accept credit cards from customers.

Did you know there are other options and alternative methods for allowing your customers to pay you with credit cards? Companies called ?third party credit card processors? do not require their customers to create merchant accounts, and yet they can be used to allow small or new businesses the ability to accept credit card payments from customers.

Why Worry about Accepting Credit Cards at All?

It?s important that you are able to accept credit card payments from customers, however, even if you aren?t feeling up to getting a traditional merchant account right now. It?s been proven that businesses that except credit cards experience higher sales than those that do not accept credit cards. In fact, some companies have reported an increase of 50 to 400% in sales once they began accepting credit cards as a payment method. It also helps to establish a professional image- and for some potential consumers, it generates a feeling of trust. (?If the business is established enough to accept credit cards, they?re a quality business that I should shop with?!)

Home based businesses and online businesses can take advantage of a third party credit card processor instead of going directly with a merchant account if they wanted to. It allows a business to determine how many customers will make purchases with credit cards, as well as determine if more or higher sales come as a result of accepting credit cards as payments.

A third party credit card processor offers real-time processing online, online virtual terminals for entering manual transactions, no maximum limits for processing amounts in most cases, and the ability to set up recurring billing.

One of the advantages of using a third party credit card processor over establishing a merchant account is that instead of paying a transaction fee or a monthly fee, you pay a percentage of the sales (from 2% to 15%), and only when you actually make sales. Some merchant account providers require that you pay a monthly fee- even if you aren?t making any credit card sales. By starting out with a third party credit card processor, you can judge how many customers might use the option to pay with credit cards before you go through the process of applying for a merchant account and getting everything set up.

How do third party payment processors work?

Once you have an account with a third party payment processor, you?ll create links to your products that allow customers to order and pay with credit. The links send the customer to the third-party processing company?s server, and they handle the orders for you. Payments are processed by the company, and the sales are credited to your own business- less the third party processor?s commission. You receive your money from the third party processing company at established payment intervals. Typically, money owed to you from the third party credit card processing company is deposited automatically into a checking or savings account that you have set up for your business and linked to your account with the third party processor.

This article has been provided by Creditor Web. Creditor Web has the articles and other credit card processing resources to help you choose the right provider

The Purpose of a Credit Card Processing Company

If you want to accept credit card payments on your website, you need to engage the services of a credit card processing company. What these companies do is process the credit card payments that generate from your site including following through on approvals or denials so that your shipping department knows what to ship. The credit card processing company notifies the company by email when they have received an authorization from the credit card issuer as well as notify them if the sale is declined.

Using the services of a credit card processing company can save you a great deal of time because you will not have to worry about obtaining authorizations or making sure that the payments are credited to your bank account as your processing agent takes care of all of that for you. Of course, you will pay for credit card processing, but the extra sales you can make because of your ability to accept credit cards online will make it worth the cost. Without the ability to accept credit card payments, you limit yourself to the methods of payment you can accept, meaning you have to wait for your customers to mail a check or money order. The problem with this antiquated way of accepting payments is that your customer will not likely be receptive to it and will go elsewhere to shop.

You do not want to accept the services of just anyone who offers credit card processing, but you want to do some research and locate the one who best suits your needs. Each company has its own set of fees per transaction in addition to whatever the card issuer charges for the transaction fee, which is a percentage of the sale. In addition, you want to ,make sure that the credit card processing services meets your needs for volume and type of payment options you desire including debit card processing. After all, credit card processing is to help with your business, so the processing company you choose must be willing to work with you and develop a program that best suits your needs and those of your customers. They must be able to customize your services so that you have the most important payment options for the type of merchandise you sell.

Why bother with a credit card processing company? You could, realistically, bypass the credit card processing company and manually process your credit card payments, but it would take a credit deal of time. This would mean calling for authorization and filling out the forms and submitting them to your bank the way it was done before the Internet became a big issue. Even with the use of credit card terminals, a merchant had to close out his sales for the day, and write a deposit slip for send to his bank. Credit card processing has changed all of that, thus eliminating a great deal of time, effort, and paperwork on the part of the merchant. Saving time and money means more income potential for the merchant as well as more time to devote to the customers.

For more information about Jim Saka or to find out how your business can can benefit from accepting credit cards online or at a place of business visit United Bank Card PS at www.unitedbankcardps.com

Jim Saka

Make Sure Your Credit Card Payment is Processed!

If you don't follow the credit card company's guidelines, they can wait up to five days to credit your account. The Fair Credit Billing Act requires that they credit your account the day your payment arrives, but some credit card companies demand you follow particular requirements, like sending your payment in a pre-printed envelope, in order to credit your account in a timely manner.

Even if you send your payment to your creditor on time, it could end up being late if you don't follow their rules. With the average late fee now on the edge of $40, you don't want that to happen. Here are three tips to make sure your payment is processed quickly and without hassles at all:

Pay The Minimum First

Pay the minimum as soon as you get your bill. This is very important if you are sending your payment through the mail. You can always send a larger payment later in the month when you have more money. Many credit card companies are ?red flagging? accounts on which the minimum is being paid every month, so add at least $5 if you can.

Moreover, and as a side note, you should never pay only the minimum on your credit cards if you want to reduce your debt. Interests contribute to accumulate debt easily. Start by paying as much as you can on the highest interest credit card and then continue with the next one. This way you?ll be able to become debt-free and worry less about your credit cards and their payments.

Be Careful with Checks

Be sure your check is legible and the payment amount is correct. Include the credit card account number on the check. Don't forget to sign the check. Common mistakes like not signing a check or illegible checks are responsible for many late payment fees that add up to already packed debts making things even harder for debtors.

The above precautions are very important. Credit Card companies won?t take any responsibility on this matter. If the check is wrong or illegible you won?t get additional time to pay without a penalty and this delinquency will be informed to credit bureaus. Thus, it is better if you make sure everything is correct or choose another payment method like debit from bank accounts.

Be Careful with Mail

Send payment with proper postage to the payment address requested by the issuer. Just to be on the safe side, mail your payment at least one week in advance of the due date. Ten days to two weeks beforehand is even better. If payments do not arrive, you will have time to try with other payment methods or even go personally to the credit card issuer?s offices and deliver payment on hand.

Mary Wise, a professional consultant with twenty years in the financial field, helps people in the process of securing personal loans, mortgage, refinance or consolidation loans and preventing consumers from falling into the hands of fraudulent lenders. In her website Badcreditloanservices.com you will find more useful tips and interesting financial articles on this and many other related topics. At http://www.badcreditfinancialexperts.com/article/ you will find more useful tips and interesting articles on this subject and other financial related topics.

Credit Card Processing and the Pitfalls

Disadvantages of Credit Card Processing

The benefits of credit card processing online usually outweigh the disadvantages. Unfortunately there are some pitfalls involved with credit card processing you should be aware of. The more knowledge you have going into a situation the more likely you are to come out of it ahead.

One of the biggest pitfalls associated with credit card processing is refunds or charge backs. Of these charge backs are potentially the most damaging. Most merchant account providers charge a hefty fee for any chargebacks they have to process. Some will close your account if you have too many so it is best you avoid them altogether.

There are ways you can reduce refunds or chargebacks. One you should make sure you have a clearly defined refund policy. You could for example limit the amount of time a customer has to request a refund. You should also ensure that your customers have a legitimate reason to ask for a refund. You can minimize refund requests by offering special bonuses to encourage better customer satisfaction.

Another way to limit chargebacks is by being open and up front about your business. If you use a third party processor for example to handle credit card payments you better let your customers know. Otherwise they may not recognize the third parties name when they receive their credit card statement and ask for a refund. This is an honest but also costly mistake.

You should also make sure you have adequate customer service which may help you iron out kinks with customers before a refund is requested. Good customer service goes a long way to preventing future problems with credit card processing.

Article by Frank Owen, visit his web site on credit card processing for more information on credit card processing http://www.creditcardprocessinginsider.com