What iPayment can do for you
If you’re looking to grow your business by accepting credit cards, we offer comprehensive solutions including:
- Application Evaluation Underwriting
- Set-up and Training
- Transaction Processing
- Risk Management
- Service and Support
- Chargeback Service
- Reporting
- Sponsoring Banks
- Processing Vendors
- E-commerce solutions via our Driving EProgress suite (coming soon).
Application Evaluation Underwriting. There are varying degrees of risk associated with different merchants based on the nature of your business, processing volume and average transaction amounts. We apply varying levels of scrutiny in our application evaluation and underwriting of prospective merchant accounts, ranging from basic due diligence for merchants with a low risk profile to a more thorough and detailed review for higher risk merchants.
The results of this review serve as the basis for our decision whether to accept or reject a merchant account and also provide the criteria for establishing reserve requirements, processing limits, average transaction amounts and pricing, which assist us in monitoring merchant transactions for those accounts that exceed pre-determined criteria.
Merchant Set-up and Training. After we establish a contract with you, we create the software configuration that is downloaded to the your credit card terminal or computer. This configuration includes your merchant identification number, which allows you to accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover as well as any other payment cards such as American Express. The configuration might also accommodate check verification and gift and loyalty programs. After the download has been completed, we conduct a training session on use of the products.
Transaction Processing. A transaction begins with authorization of the customer’s credit or debit card. The transaction data is captured by the processor and electronically transmitted to the issuer of the card, which then determines availability of credit or debit funds. The issuer then communicates an approval decision back to the merchant through the processor. This process typically takes less than five seconds. After the transaction is completed, the processor transmits the final transaction data to the card issuer for settlement of funds. Generally, we outsource these services to third-party processors.
Risk Management/ Detection of Fraudulent Transactions. Our risk management staff relies on the criteria set by the underwriting department to assist merchants in identifying and avoiding fraudulent transactions by monitoring exceptions and providing access to other resources for fraud detection. By employing these and other risk management procedures, we enable you to balance the risk of fraud against the loss of a valid transaction.
Merchant Service and Support. We provide you with ongoing service and support which includes answering billing questions, responding to requests for supplies, resolving failed payment transactions, troubleshooting and repair of equipment, education on Visa and MasterCard compliance, and assisting you with pricing changes and purchases of additional products and services, including internal services such as CardSync.
The information access and retrieval capabilities of our proprietary decision support systems provide our customer service representatives prompt access to merchant account information and customer call history. This data allows them to quickly respond to inquiries relating to fees, charges and funding of accounts as well as technical issues.
Chargeback Service. In the event of a billing dispute between you and a cardholder, we help you investigate and resolve the dispute as quickly and as accurately as possible. Before instructing the cardholder’s bank to debit the merchant’s account for the chargeback, we provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate that the transaction was valid.
Merchant Reporting. We organize our merchants’ transaction data into various files for merchant accounting purposes. We use this data to provide you with information, such as charge volume, discounts, fees and funds held for reserves to help you track your account activity. You may access this archived information through our customer service representatives or online.
The transactions for which we provide processing services involve the following third parties: Merchants. Merchants are the businesses that accept payment cards, including Visa and MasterCard, as payment for your merchandise and services.
Sponsoring Banks. Sponsoring banks are financial institutions that are Visa and MasterCard association members and provide the funds on behalf of the card user, enabling you to accept payment cards.
Processing Vendors. Processing vendors, which may include banks, gather sales information from merchants, obtain authorization for merchants’ transactions from card issuers, facilitate the collection of funds from sponsoring banks for payment to merchants and provide merchant accounting and settlement services on our behalf.
