Credit Card Merchant Accounts

A credit card merchant account can be a valuable resource to business owners seeking to increase their revenue by accepting charge cards in exchange for their product or service. Credit card merchant accounts are available to any business that is willing to pay the initiation fees, the transaction fees, and a percentage of sales to the credit card company. While many businesses hesitate to pay these fees, especially small businesses, the revenue brought in by the acceptance of this form of payment far outweigh the small fees associated with setting up this service.

There is a two step process for the set up of this service for use at a business. First the service must be authorized with the credit card company so a confirmation number can be received. This confirmation number provides credit card merchant accounts with a limited guarantee that the funds requested will be available when all deposits have been completed. The confirmation is an instant approval. The business owner can be satisfied knowing that there is available balance on the customer's charge account that can sufficiently cover the amount of credit requested.

The second step for an owner of the service is to submit the information from each individual customer to their financial institution for deposit. This can be done daily or weekly. If the information is never submitted to the financial institution, then they will not receive the deposit. The pre approval confirmation is only a pre approval; final approval takes place at the credit card merchant accounts financial institution during the depositing of funds. The most effective way to keep track of all credit card merchant account information is the purchase and use of a card processing terminal. These machines vary in price from $300-$1000 and hold important information that can easily be extrapolated and turned into the business owner's financial institution for final approval.

There are many fees associated with the set up of this service. They include; initial application fees ($95-$185); industry fees (1.85%-1.95%); transaction fees ($0.22-$0.30), and statement fees ($12-$14/month). In addition to the mandatory fees, all American Express credit card merchant accounts charge a $25-$50 set up fee. To begin a credit card merchant account is costly and proper research should be conducted to conclude that the extra costs associated with such a service are necessary to bring in more revenue. Once the necessity of using this service has been confirmed, the business owner can relax knowing that they can finally sell their product or service to all consumers and thereby fulfill a service to customers who haven't cash to purchase items at a given time. "Not slothful in business:...distributing to the necessity of saints" (Romans 12:11,13).

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