Because of my long hours and the fact that almost 100% of my accounts come from client referrals I am very proud of the service I give my clients. This is because I am involved in an industry which unfortunately often still resembles used car sales as far as reputation and rightly so. However that eventually works to our favor as we demonstrate to our merchants and prospects that we are a beacon of honesty, great customer service and true fair pricing in an otherwise tarnished industry which I’m sure that you have gotten a taste of firsthand.

The reasons date back to the original days of cc processing when no or very little residuals were paid on a merchant account to the ISO and rep after it was opened. So the only way a rep could make money was to get a new account bonus and sell or even worse do a lease/purchase equipment at vastly inflated prices. Even though the opportunity now exists to make a marvelous six figure annual residual stream most ISO’s, acquirers and banks have not outgrown that mindset as their typical “training” is a day of hard sell, hard close instruction and then they release the new rep with instructions to haunt restaurants and shopping malls. Consequently the average rep quits in six months or less.

Because of my long hours and the fact that almost 100% of my accounts come from client referrals I am very proud of the service I give my clients. This is because I am involved in an industry were unfortunately almost 100% of my competitors quote rates that if true would be under water so consequently they quote you a teaser rate and than proceed to downgrade all of your rewards, business and corporate cards to a higher rate. In addition they charge hidden fees, annual fees, etc. I’m in the industry and sometimes it takes me awhile to properly interpret a statement. Also there are currently about 200 different types of cards which all carry their own rates so we have to make sure that although we give our merchants the best rate possible we also have to make sure we won’t lose money on an account. And of course with us you have 24/7 Level 2 support without having to hit multiple prompts and get put on permahold just to talk to an inexperienced “customer service” rep. The average firm in our industry loses 35% of their merchants per year. Matrix loses less than 1/10 of one percent so there must be a reason for that.

Recently talking with two of our acquirers we asked how many of their ISO’s concentrate on not having their merchants suffer transactions that downgrade to a higher rate. One that has over 1,000 ISO’s said just one-us. The other one has 298 ISO’s and they said two.

Also feel free to go to my website http://paymentconsulting.net/ and be sure to check out http://chicago.citysearch.com/profile/44659273/barrington_il/matrix_payment_systems.html

Matrix Payment Systems Receives 2009 Best of Barrington Award
U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement
WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Matrix Payment Systems has been selected for the 2009 Best of Barrington Award in the Credit Card & Other Credit Plans category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).
The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.
About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)
U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.
The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.
SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Commerce Association
Email: PublicRelations@us-ca.org
URL: http://www.us-ca.org

Basically the shopping cart provider has to certify with the front end processor (like Vital/FDR) to run this program and pass all required data. Once certified, they add the links and extra fields on their check out page and IF the cardholder wants to use it, they can then use the program. It only protects against some of the chargebacks and only for certain dollar amounts. The rules on this changes all the time. It basically checks for fraud like the AVS/CVV2 but since the cardholder has to register, it reduces fraud on these sales but only on these sales. It does not protect for other chargebacks like: merchandise not received, not as described, duplicate processing, credit not processed, etc. This is only for Visa cards as well.

Overall I do not recommend it but we do have some merchants that do use it. Unscrupulous salespeople think it’s a good sales tool until they get a chargeback and then they look bad. Most reps don’t care after they sign up and get their start up fee so they don’t care if the program doesn’t work well.

Having worked with this program since it first started in 2001 I believe, I have not seen much of a benefit. When we do get chargebacks, usually Visa comes back with some excuse as to why the merchant is still liable, example…they were a stolen identity, they showed up on a fraud list, etc.

Thank you,
Cindy Joyce
CB/Training Sen. Manager

P.S Not sure what reps will try and sell this to you for but my cost if I were to sell it to you (I don’t recommend it) is $50 setup, $10.00 monthly and $0.07 per transaction.

I read this over the weekend and thought it was pretty inspiring.

“”I will NOT be outworked. Period… You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be better looking than me, you might be all of those things. You may have it over me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: Either you’re getting off first, or I’m gonna die. It’s really that simple.”

epnanywhere