General Credit Card Processing Rates
Below are the general processing rates for accepting credit cards.
Some businesses such as grocery stores may qualify for a lower rate.
Some corporate and government cards may be processed at a higher rate
than shown.
To conduct any credit card transaction, you need a way to transmit
the credit card information.
See the point-of-sale
equipment page. Options range from using a telephone
to wireless handheld devices.
Processing Rates
Qualified (Swiped)
- 1.75% MC/Visa Rate
- .20 cent transaction fee
- $10 monthly statement fee
- $25 monthly minimum*
(unless you qualify)
Pre-Apply
or Contact Us
Processing Rates
Non Qualified (Unswiped)
- 2.39% MC/Visa Rate
- .30 cent transaction fee
- $10 Statement fee
- $25 monthly minimum*
(unless you qualify)
Pre-Apply
or Contact Us
Swiped Transactions
Swiped transactions are usually retail sales transactions. The cardholder
is almost always present for the sale. Since a credit card terminal "reads"
the magnetic stripe, banks knows the customer is probably present with the
card which greatly reduces the risk of disputes and possible chargebacks.
You will receive the lowest rate for these "qualified" transactions.
Non-Swiped Transactions
You can manually key in the credit card number if the card is not readable
or not present, such as a worn magnetic stripe on the card, off-premise
sales keyed in at a later time, pre-authorized transactions, or mail / phone
orders and home businesses. In most all cases, if the credit card cannot
be swiped, it is processed at a higher rate than swiped transactions.
*Monthly Minimum Discount
If your business does the minimum amount of credit card transactions required
by banks each month, the following fee will not apply.
Minimum Monthly Discount is pro-rated. All merchant accounts should do
a minimum amount of business each month.
Your discount rate X your monthly sales = Minimum Monthly
Example: Say your discount rate is 2.39%. Your monthly sales amount to $1050,
and your monthly minimum is $25.
.0239 X $1050 = $25.09 which means the $25 monthly minimum is met and you
would owe nothing.
Anything above the minimum, the fee is waived.
Anything below the minimum, fee is pro-rated from $0 to $25
Remember: meet the minimum and you owe $0
Meet half of the minimum, and you owe $12.46
If you had no credit sales in a month, you would owe $25.
Most businesses never have to pay this fee, and if they do, it's only for
a couple of months until their business becomes established and their sales
increase.
Some government cards and corporate purchasing cards are processed at higher
rates according to MasterCard and VISA regulations.
These types of cards usually require Level II or Level III processing.
Note: If you think that your business will do less than $500 in credit
card transactions per month, you may want to wait until your sales increase.
Accepting credit cards may not be cost effective for your business until
your monthly volume increases.
All businesses must be approved for a merchant account. Some businesses
are easier to get approved than others. See our merchant
approval page.
If you want to have a merchant account setup for you, call us or fill out
our pre-application
and contact form online. 1-888-336-4872.