Mark Carolin

If your business still does not have a merchant account that allows you to offer full credit card services, you are turning your back on profits. Just take a look at all of your competitors. All of those that pose serious competition accept credit card payments. Those that do not have credit card services do not have great sales figures to show, either. Even statistics point to the fact that companies that have credit card services earn much more than companies that do not have credit card services. The average credit card sale is $40 while the average cash sale is only $9. That means you are losing potentially $31 per sale.

You may also be spending more by accepting only cash and check payments in your business. The processing of cash and checks has been found to be more costly, requiring more manpower in handling. Studies have shown that the average processing cost of credit card payments is only 2.7% of a transaction while the average processing cost of checks is 4% of a transaction and the average processing cost of cash is 4.8% of a transaction. Once again, you are leaking profits by refusing to accept credit card payments.

So how do you accept credit card payments in your business? This is where credit card services come in. The old route is to apply for a merchant account in a bank. You will then have to lease the software and equipment necessary to actually process payments and send the data to your account. If you want to accept credit card payments online, you need to apply to a payment gateway that allows real time credit card authorization for online transactions. You should ensure that your payment gateway is compatible with the bank or financial institution where you have your merchant account, and with the software and equipment you have leased.

In choosing the bank or financial institution for your merchant account, consider their expertise in combating fraud and reducing chargebacks. Also make sure that they are experienced in handling merchant accounts with online transactions.

If you are a small business owner, stick to a bank or financial institution that caters to small businesses rather than large companies. You may be able to get better rates and packages designed for your specific niche.

There are options for credit card services that offer everything you need in one easy package. You will not have to deal with various entities or go through various procedures. Often, these options also have added benefits, among them, quick reporting on your credit card sales figures. They may also offer interest on your credit card sales income, even up to money market rates.

One very important feature of your credit card services that you may not know of is that it can automatically qualify you to avail of small business loans. Once you have established a record of sales through credit, most credit card services will allow you to make cash advances that are practically like getting previously approved small business loans without having to put up any required collateral. The credit card services consider your future income through credit card sales as your collateral. This can go a long way in further growing your business.

Payment will not be a problem, either. For as long as you have sales through credit payments, you automatically get to pay your small business loans. It does not matter how much your sales are. Your payments are automatically deducted as a percentage of your sales. You are always covered.

Now do you still need further convincing on the benefits of credit card services for your business?

Chances are you have had one of those phone calls from your credit card company asking if you want credit card insurance. If your like me, they always seem to call just as your sitting down for dinner or trying to do something important and it can be very easy to dismiss the offer as just another way the credit card companies are trying to extract money from you. After all, if your not having trouble paying you credit card bill back at the moment, why would you need the insurance. Like most insurances though you are not insuring against known events but against unexpected events and credit card insurance may have a number of benefits in the event that life throughs some hard times your way.

What is credit insurance? Credit insurance is basically a type of coverage that is created to pay off the minimum monthly payment of your credit card, should you not be in a position to make these minimum payments. In essence if your sick or unemployed or have met with an accident, and your not able to make your credit card monthly payment, this credit card balance insurance will provide you insurance to help you pay off your balance. If you make your credit card payments in time, there’s no costs This credit insurance is offered by credit card companies, various banks, car dealers, different stores and so on.

While formely many were against the idea of , more due to ignorance than anything else, nowadays a number of people are considering it, hoping to get some security from it. There are many types of credit insurance on offer such as disability cover or involuntary unemployment insurance.

The primary benefit of most credit card insurance policies is that if you have a substantial credit card debt and become unable to pay them because of a serious illness or unplanned unemployment the insurance will help cover monthly repayments. Normally the credit card insurance will be to cover the minimum monthly payments that your not able to make.

In regards to the life insurance that credit card issuers offer, this works by paying off any outstanding balance and fees in the event of the card holders death. You may think that after you die, your debts are done away with. Without insurance your credit card debts still need to be paid in the event of your death and are taken from your estate and reduce the amount that will be left for your family. If bad luck does come your way then if have credit card insurance this is one less thing you have to worry about and your liabilities are reduced.

Another situation in which your credit card insurance may come in handy is when you purchase a product which turns out to be faulty. Naturally, the first thing you would try is to try getting a replacement or refund from the store who sold you the product. In addition, it can be rather frustrating when the store that you purchased your product uses a “store credit only”. At such times your credit card protection plan will save you out of this situation. You can return the product to the store where you purchased the product from, and the credit card issuer credits your account with the original purchased amount. This is valid only if you’ve used your credit card to make your purchase in the first place.