Hello -
In order to become a merchant service provider, you need to become a
representative of a "member bank" -- one of the banks representing the
major card brands. Wachovia is such a bank:
Wachovia Bank
Business Development
800-481-9083
Contact them at the number above to get started. Wachovia represents
Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners, and JCB.
Signing up with them will afford you the ability to offer all of these
card brands to your customers.
There is no cost involved with becoming a service provider. You have
to meet a few basic qualifications, such as having some business
knowledge, having no criminal history, having either some college (or
military) experience, etc. Once they approve you, you can then begin
to offer your services to businesses.
A great plus to this arrangement is Wachovia's handling of equipment
roll-out to your customers. They will actually drop ship the credit
card equipment directly to your customers.
If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to ask
before rating this answer.
Thank you,
jbf777
Additional Links
??????????????????????
Merchant Services sales
877-505-8404 Sales (x 8545 Michael)
Customer service line (after you
become a service provider)
866-552-3044 Customer Service
Search strategy
??????????????????????
Contacted Wachovia |
Request for Answer Clarification by
jgall-ga
on
08 Jul 2005 20:12 PDT
Besides the member bank. Isn't there a processing company that you
have to register with and pay an annual fee to so they can process the
transaction. For instance does the process work like this?
All percentages and rates are not real: Visa sets a rate of 1.09%
then the processing company raises the rate to 1.76% plus a swipe fee
of .25 cents. Or is that 1.09% the rate the "member Bank" sets and
you sell it to customers at a slightly higher rate. I know you
mentioned Wachovia Bank, is there any other institutions that do this
besides banks that you can be a representative of. Can you give me
some other ones and are you sure there is no cost in being a
representative. I can be a merchant service provider for no fee.
Thank You very much any other info would greatly be appreciated.
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
11 Jul 2005 09:17 PDT
I will reply to this by the end of the day..
Thanks,
jbf777
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
11 Jul 2005 15:04 PDT
Hello -
You have to work with a member financial institution to issue cards --
at least in the case of Visa and MasterCard. There are no other
business entities that are authorized to do this. I have confirmed
this from multiple reps at Visa and
Wachovia.
You are correct in that member banks often work with processing
companies to transact, and there will, of course, be profit built into
transactions from all parties. However, per the aforementioned
requirement, there's no way for you to work with a processing company
directly unless it itself is a member bank. Nova Information Systems,
a processing company, is an example of a "member bank"-owned
operation:
Nova Information Systems
https://www.novainfo.com/contact.asp
To answer your question with regards to being a card issuer, there is
indeed no fee to offer these services as an agent of Wachovia.
However, upon follow-up with Wachovia today, they informed me that
becoming an official "ISO" or "MSP" DOES in fact carry a few fees.
There is a one time fee of $5,000 for Visa and $5,000 for Mastercard
(set by these companies), with an annual fee of $1500. There is no
charge for the other card brands. Becoming an actual ISO or MSP is
very similar to being an agent, except you have more "say" with regard
to the accounts that you acquire. There is also a slight discount
with the wholesale rate. An example would be 1.55% if an ISO/MP,
1.59% if an agent.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you,
jbf777
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
jgall-ga
on
14 Jul 2005 11:56 PDT
Just one last question. Who did you talk to at Wachovia, when i
called it was like i was talking in a different language. Thank you
again
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
14 Jul 2005 18:38 PDT
Hello -
I don't have a name for anyone specific in the Business Development
area, since anyone should be able to help you there. I did speak with
someone briefly in that department who seemed helpful, however.
Perhaps try calling again?
jbf777
|
,
0 Comments
)