Access Fee
Access Fee 1
What is an Access Fee? • A percentage or flat rate fee charged over the regular amount of the transaction in exchange for providing the customer with the ability to make a payment using a credit card. • Also known as a convenience fee, but should not be called a surcharge. • Available only to specific merchant categories. 2
MasterCard & Discover MAP Access Fee/Convenience Fee Rules • Transaction occurs in two separate authorizations
▫ First authorization is for the Access Fee amount ▫ Second authorization for the primary amount occurs only if the access fee amount is successfully approved ▫ If the primary authorization fails then the access fee authorization is immediately reversed • The access/convenience fee amount can be a percentage or a flat rate fee
3
MasterCard & Discover MAP Eligible Merchant Categories • Merchants in the following industries are eligible to accept a convenience fee on MasterCard and Discover MAP transactions: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
4812 - Telecommunication Equipment & Telephone Sales 4814 - Telecommunication Services, including Local & Long Distance Calls, Credit Card Calls, Calls through use of Magnetic Stripe Reading Telephones, & Fax Services 4899 - Cable & Other Pay TV Services 4900 - Utilities - Electric, Gas, Water, Sanitary 5960 - Direct Marketing Insurance Services 6300 - Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums 6513 - Real Estate Agents & Managers – Rentals 8211 - Elementary & Secondary Schools 8220 - Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools & Jr Colleges 8299 - Schools & Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 8398 - Organizations, Charitable & Social Service 8661 - Organizations, Religious 9211 - Court Costs, Including Alimony & Child Support 9222 - Fines 9223 - Bail & Bond Payments 9311 - Tax Payments 9399 - Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 4
Visa Convenience Fee Rules
• Access/Convenience fee amount can only be a flat rate fee – NOT a percentage! • Only non face-to-face transactions qualify
• A flat or fixed amount that is applied to a merchant’s alternative payment channel transaction for purposes of providing a convenience to the cardholder. • MCC 4900 (Utilities) does not permit an access/convenience fee to be applied if the merchant wants to qualify for the special Utility rate interchange 5
Visa Eligible Merchant Categories
• Merchants in the following industries are eligible to accept a convenience fee on Visa transactions: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
4814 - Telecommunication Services 4899 - Cable & Other Pay TV Services 4900 - Utilities - Electric, Gas, Water, Sanitary 5960 - Direct Marketing Insurance Services 6300 - Insurance Sales, Underwriting & Premiums 6399 - Insurance Default 6513 - Real Estate Agents & Managers - Rentals 8211 - Elementary & Secondary Schools 8220 - Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools & Jr Colleges 8299 - Schools & Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 8398 - Organizations, Charitable & Social Service 8661 - Churches - Religious Organizations 9211 - Court Costs, Including Alimony & Child Support 9222 - Fines 9311 - Tax Payments 9399 - Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 9405 - U.S. Federal Government Agencies or Departments
6
NPC’s Approach to Access Fees
•
NPC Secure, a proprietary gateway product, has been designed to offer Access/ Convenience Fee processing to qualified merchants
•
Currently NPC Secure utilizes the dual authorization method for convenience fee processing previously mentioned, meaning two transactions will be submitted for each payment.
•
Sales groups will be charged for both transactions
7
How does it work? - Setup •
Select both the “NPC Secure” and “Access Fee” Product Types when entering a qualified merchant application into MAG
•
MAG will generate two MIDs for this merchant when it is approved – a primary account and the Access Fee account – The primary MID for the merchant’s main processing volume will be tied to the merchant’s DDA – The second MID will only be used for the processing of the Access Fee, and will be tied to NPC’s DDA
•
The Download Team will setup both MIDs in NPC Secure under one username and password
8
How does it work? – Running Sales
• Merchant accesses the NPC Secure VPOS using one login • Running the sale through the Virtual Terminal is basically no different than any other purchase ▫ The access fee amount will automatically populate in the designated field when the amount is entered ▫ The access fee calculation is based on the percentage or flat rate entered during the initial application submitted by the sales group
9
How does it work? – Running Sales (cont.)
• The merchant will only see one transaction and one receipt at the time of authorization • Reports will reflect the transactions as separate entities, one attached to the primary “credit” account and the other attached to the access fee account • If a transaction must be voided then the merchant will need to void the primary and access fee transactions separately
10
How does it work? – Processing Sales Training •
The merchant’s primary volume account will be setup under a non bill association and no processing costs will be taken from this MID – The money from this account will deposit into the merchant’s DDA
•
The merchant’s Access Fee account will incur the processing rates and fees of both the volume account and the Access Fee account – The money from this account will deposit into NPC’s DDA
– Any funds left over in the Access Fee account after processing costs will be split between NPC and the sales group
• Only Rev. Share Sales Groups may participate in Access Fee processing
11
Access Fee Pricing • Access Fee processing is available for percentage based and flat rate fees ▫ 2.95% is the lowest recommended Access Fee rate when accepting percentage based Access Fees ▫ A flat rate is currently only available with an SPQ
To process Visa convenience fee, a flat rate must be setup for all card types
▫ Future enhancements may allow percentage for MasterCard and Discover and flat rate for Visa ▫ $6.95 monthly hosting gateway fee and $.04 per transaction will be charged to the sales group per merchant • Monthly hosting fees are not passed onto merchants as merchants that accept convenience fee generally do not allow fees to be deducted from their DDA 12
Questions?
13
What is an Access Fee? • A percentage or flat rate fee charged over the regular amount of the transaction in exchange for providing the customer with the ability to make a payment using a credit card. • Also known as a convenience fee, but should not be called a surcharge. • Available only to specific merchant categories. 2
MasterCard & Discover MAP Access Fee/Convenience Fee Rules • Transaction occurs in two separate authorizations
▫ First authorization is for the Access Fee amount ▫ Second authorization for the primary amount occurs only if the access fee amount is successfully approved ▫ If the primary authorization fails then the access fee authorization is immediately reversed • The access/convenience fee amount can be a percentage or a flat rate fee
3
MasterCard & Discover MAP Eligible Merchant Categories • Merchants in the following industries are eligible to accept a convenience fee on MasterCard and Discover MAP transactions: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
4812 - Telecommunication Equipment & Telephone Sales 4814 - Telecommunication Services, including Local & Long Distance Calls, Credit Card Calls, Calls through use of Magnetic Stripe Reading Telephones, & Fax Services 4899 - Cable & Other Pay TV Services 4900 - Utilities - Electric, Gas, Water, Sanitary 5960 - Direct Marketing Insurance Services 6300 - Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums 6513 - Real Estate Agents & Managers – Rentals 8211 - Elementary & Secondary Schools 8220 - Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools & Jr Colleges 8299 - Schools & Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 8398 - Organizations, Charitable & Social Service 8661 - Organizations, Religious 9211 - Court Costs, Including Alimony & Child Support 9222 - Fines 9223 - Bail & Bond Payments 9311 - Tax Payments 9399 - Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 4
Visa Convenience Fee Rules
• Access/Convenience fee amount can only be a flat rate fee – NOT a percentage! • Only non face-to-face transactions qualify
• A flat or fixed amount that is applied to a merchant’s alternative payment channel transaction for purposes of providing a convenience to the cardholder. • MCC 4900 (Utilities) does not permit an access/convenience fee to be applied if the merchant wants to qualify for the special Utility rate interchange 5
Visa Eligible Merchant Categories
• Merchants in the following industries are eligible to accept a convenience fee on Visa transactions: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
4814 - Telecommunication Services 4899 - Cable & Other Pay TV Services 4900 - Utilities - Electric, Gas, Water, Sanitary 5960 - Direct Marketing Insurance Services 6300 - Insurance Sales, Underwriting & Premiums 6399 - Insurance Default 6513 - Real Estate Agents & Managers - Rentals 8211 - Elementary & Secondary Schools 8220 - Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools & Jr Colleges 8299 - Schools & Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 8398 - Organizations, Charitable & Social Service 8661 - Churches - Religious Organizations 9211 - Court Costs, Including Alimony & Child Support 9222 - Fines 9311 - Tax Payments 9399 - Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) 9405 - U.S. Federal Government Agencies or Departments
6
NPC’s Approach to Access Fees
•
NPC Secure, a proprietary gateway product, has been designed to offer Access/ Convenience Fee processing to qualified merchants
•
Currently NPC Secure utilizes the dual authorization method for convenience fee processing previously mentioned, meaning two transactions will be submitted for each payment.
•
Sales groups will be charged for both transactions
7
How does it work? - Setup •
Select both the “NPC Secure” and “Access Fee” Product Types when entering a qualified merchant application into MAG
•
MAG will generate two MIDs for this merchant when it is approved – a primary account and the Access Fee account – The primary MID for the merchant’s main processing volume will be tied to the merchant’s DDA – The second MID will only be used for the processing of the Access Fee, and will be tied to NPC’s DDA
•
The Download Team will setup both MIDs in NPC Secure under one username and password
8
How does it work? – Running Sales
• Merchant accesses the NPC Secure VPOS using one login • Running the sale through the Virtual Terminal is basically no different than any other purchase ▫ The access fee amount will automatically populate in the designated field when the amount is entered ▫ The access fee calculation is based on the percentage or flat rate entered during the initial application submitted by the sales group
9
How does it work? – Running Sales (cont.)
• The merchant will only see one transaction and one receipt at the time of authorization • Reports will reflect the transactions as separate entities, one attached to the primary “credit” account and the other attached to the access fee account • If a transaction must be voided then the merchant will need to void the primary and access fee transactions separately
10
How does it work? – Processing Sales Training •
The merchant’s primary volume account will be setup under a non bill association and no processing costs will be taken from this MID – The money from this account will deposit into the merchant’s DDA
•
The merchant’s Access Fee account will incur the processing rates and fees of both the volume account and the Access Fee account – The money from this account will deposit into NPC’s DDA
– Any funds left over in the Access Fee account after processing costs will be split between NPC and the sales group
• Only Rev. Share Sales Groups may participate in Access Fee processing
11
Access Fee Pricing • Access Fee processing is available for percentage based and flat rate fees ▫ 2.95% is the lowest recommended Access Fee rate when accepting percentage based Access Fees ▫ A flat rate is currently only available with an SPQ
To process Visa convenience fee, a flat rate must be setup for all card types
▫ Future enhancements may allow percentage for MasterCard and Discover and flat rate for Visa ▫ $6.95 monthly hosting gateway fee and $.04 per transaction will be charged to the sales group per merchant • Monthly hosting fees are not passed onto merchants as merchants that accept convenience fee generally do not allow fees to be deducted from their DDA 12
Questions?
13
