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Best Credit Card Processing Companies and Merchant Services Providers in 2024
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What Is a Credit Card Processing Company?
Businesses that accept credit card payments need three things – a merchant account, payment processors, and payment gateways. Simply put, credit card payment processing companies are third-party service providers that process credit card or debit card payments. They act as a link between businesses or merchants, cardholders, and card networks. The processor helps send money from a card user’s account to the merchant’s business bank account.
By partnering with popular merchant account providers, businesses can ensure smooth online payments or help credit card users pay through a physical POS card terminal. If you were to operate a business without a credit or debit card processor, you would have to stick with cash payments. This is certainly not ideal in a digital era where many people use bank cards.
Best Credit Card Processing Companies
Important Factors to Evaluate to Choose the Right Payment Processor
As a merchant, it’s extremely important to choose a payment processor that suits your business type, transaction volume, and the needs of your customers. Whether you want to accept credit or debit cards, a good company should provide you with everything you need to get paid quickly and safely. The costs of processing payments and merchant agreement terms should also be favourable. Let’s talk about the key factors merchants should always consider when picking the right credit card processing company.
Transaction Fees and Pricing Structure
Compare the credit card processing fees set by various payment processing companies. The transaction fees, minimum monthly service charges, interchange fees, and other costs incurred by merchants should be as low as possible. Establish if the company uses a flat-rate or percentage pricing model and choose based on your business type and sales volume.
Accepted Payment Methods
Check the available payment options when choosing companies that offer credit card payment processing services. The top processors accept Visa, Mastercard, other major credit cards, debit cards, and alternative payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Remember to look for global and local payment methods, depending on the needs of your customers.
Security and Compliance
Choose payment processors that facilitate secure transactions. All in-person, mobile, and online payments should be protected with advanced security features. These include tokenization and encryption technologies that protect every credit card transaction. Another important consideration is to pick a PCI-compliant payment processor to ensure the safety of the cardholder’s sensitive data.
Integration and Compatibility
Look for reputable payment processors that allow for integration with the most commonly used business software. For instance, compatibility with account software such as QuickBooks and Xero is important for your everyday business operations to run smoothly. Also, a good payment processor should seamlessly integrate with your existing website and POS system.
Customer Support and Service
Carefully examine the quality of customer support service offered by the payment processing company. A reliable processor will provide 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support, regardless of your time zone. The support team must also be knowledgeable and readily available to respond to your queries, provide relevant information, and offer the best solution instantly.
Settlement Period and Payout Schedule
Evaluate the payment processor’s settlement period and payout schedule. As a merchant, you should be able to receive your payments as quickly as possible. Faster payments will certainly have a positive impact on your cash flow. Check for any possible delays and make sure that they don’t have potentially harmful effects on your daily business operations.
Scalability and Growth Potential
Pick a credit card payment system provider with the ability to scale as your business expands. Your growing business should be able to accommodate larger transaction volumes and meet the needs of an increasing customer base. If you want to expand your operations to new markets, the payment processor ought to be flexible enough to provide the needed tools, features, or services.
Reputation and Reliability
Keep in mind that not all companies with credit card processing services have a positive brand name. For this reason, you must make sure that the selected company has a good track record. You should consider its experience in processing payments and what merchants who have used the company’s services say. This means reading testimonials on review sites.
Customisation and Additional Features
Analyse the features offered by different payment processors to choose a company whose services align with your business needs. Look for customisation options that allow you to offer tailored banking solutions to your customers. A top-rated payment processing company will also provide you with additional features such as reporting, invoicing, fraud prevention, and inventory management to improve your overall experience.
Contract Terms and Flexibility
Read the terms and conditions presented by the payment processor before signing the contract. All rules and regulations must be fair and flexible. The key factors to bear in mind include the contract duration, fees, data privacy, renewal, and cancellation terms. Due to the changes that your business is likely to experience in the future, the credit card processing company should have flexible terms that can be adjusted accordingly.
Types of Businesses that Need Merchant Services
Different types of businesses need merchant services to accept credit card payments. This includes companies that want to process in-person, mobile, and web payments. Having a merchant account is especially important if your business accepts non-cash payments.
Whether you are an online retailer or a gaming site looking for gambling payment gateways, you need merchant services to get paid by your customers. With that said, the following list features the top industries that require the services of merchant account providers.
- Retail – This in