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about annual fees to cover these new merchants by explaining the situation, the life of the processor will go on. We,
expense types on top of the monthly as a sales organization, need to adapt to the environment, and explain to our
fees. merchant base the need for the added fee, and the overall benefits associated
with working with your office or processor.
A few years back, most proces-
sors didn't dare mark up Visa Taking increases in stride
Inc., Mastercard or Discover Finan- Finding a way to tackle a merchant's call isn't that difficult. Businesses have
cial Services assessments or Visa or seen increases in their products or the services they sell or work with, so our
Mastercard inquiry/per item fees, small increases typically have a minimal effect on their bottom line. If talking
which are normally just passed to the business doesn't solve the issue, you can do what we do: send them a case
through to merchants. Additionally, of paper on the house or do a rate review if nothing else works.
today's processors are faced with
more costly government regulations. It is important for all of us to wake up, and not freak out every time a small
Just maintaining the security on com- increase occurs. I think you would agree you would want your processor to
puter systems and data storage has remain financially healthy. To my office and to my sales partners, the key is
become a massive task and huge ex- for our processor to maintain timely payments of residuals, and to continue to
pense. I know today that anyone stor- provide professional customer service and tech support. I hope you agree.
ing or passing along financial data
deals with hacker attacks not daily,
but hourly. Steven Feldshuh, President of Merchants' Choice Payment Solutions East, has 18 years' experience
in sales and ISO development. Directly prior to joining MCPSE in 2012, he was President of Payment
Though it is difficult to get our sales Partners. In his current position, Steven devotes the bulk of his time to assisting agents in building
engine to recognize increases, adjust- their portfolios. Contact him by email at stevenf@mcpseast.com or by phone at 212-392-9202.
ments or additional fees, in most cases
they do appear to be justified. Those
who do not pass on the increases, are
faced with going into further debt, or
are teaming up with larger players
who have deeper pockets than they
have.

Supporting smaller processors
Given all of this, wouldn't it make
sense for all the small and midlevel
players to sell out? I, for one, enjoy
being able to speak to anyone at my
processor. There are levels of man-
agement to address issues, but if a
call is needed, going to the top is not
an issue. When you are dealing with
the massive players, one tends to get
a little lost in the organization. Yes,
there are probably some good larger
organizations, but when you are a
publicly traded company, the driving
interests are those of the stockhold-
ers. Larger organizations have some
advantages, but I am all for keeping
the midsize processor alive and well.

The bottom line is that, hopefully,
your processor can pass through
increases to merchants with very
little disturbance to your portfolio.
If increases are passed through with
transparency, and customer service
reps properly handle any calls from

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