Decoding Merchant Account Statements and Advantages of All-in-One Payment Processing Providers

• Understanding the details on billing statements from various service providers is of critical importance
• Multiple payment processing systems and statements from different providers can result in confusion
• An all-in-one payment processing and merchant services provider can simplify your monthly statements

Businesses require a diverse array of services in order to operate. This includes such essential services as power, utilities, and internet, as well as merchant services like POS systems, payment processing, and more. When monthly bills and statements arrive, it can be a challenge to decipher them all. Here’s what to know about merchant account statements, and the benefits of partnering with an all-in-one merchant services provider.

Managing operating costs to help keep accounting tasks simple and expenses as low as possible can be a major obstacle for many businesses. Monthly bills from multiple different types of service providers all contain language and formatting specific to their industry, whether it be utilities like power, water, and gas, or communications like internet, phone, and mobility. The world of payment processing is no different, and the statements you receive from merchant services providers will contain terminology that you absolutely must understand clearly, and will be presented in a format that you must be able to read with precision. This becomes even more complicated if you’re dealing with more than one merchant services partner, such as having separate providers for your in-store POS, online ecommerce platform, unattended payment terminals, or mobile payment processing systems.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, there are things you can do to keep things simple, decode unfamiliar language, and more efficiently handle your merchant account statements. For starters, let’s take a moment and run through the basics on what the purpose of a merchant account statement is, and the type of information that you’ll typically find on one.

What is a Merchant Account Statement?

 Things have changed a lot since cash was the only payment method businesses had to worry about. These days, cashless methods dominate the payment landscape, and this means that having a flexible point-of-sale system that is universally compatible with such a diverse array of payment methods is absolutely critical. Merchant services providers are your business’ source for point-of-sale solutions for all types of applications, including in-store POS, online ecommerce systems, mobile payment terminals, and unattended payment stations.

Merchant services providers also handle the behind-the-scenes authentication and approvals that make cashless digital payments work, facilitating the communications that must occur between all parties involved in the transaction. This includes securely communicating encrypted data between the merchant, the payment card issuer, and the bank accounts of both the merchant and the customer, before finally delivering the ‘approved’ verdict back to the payment terminal of the business.

Merchant services providers are compensated for these tasks by issuing merchant account statements to the clients they serve, which detail the costs associated with POS hardware and software, as well as any applicable payment processing fees to be paid.

What Items are Included on a Payment Processing Services Statement?

When you receive your monthly merchant account statement from your payment processing partner, there will be a great deal of information that outlines the month’s transaction activity and the costs of services rendered as agreed upon by the business, the details of which can be found in the contract signed between the client and the merchant services provider. While the exact format of the account statement will vary slightly from one merchant services provider to another, the general content of the statements will be more or less consistent.

First, you’ll see merchant identification information at the top of the statement, usually including the clients business name, merchant ID, address details, point-of-contact information, and deposit account numbers. As with any statement your business receives from month to month, it’s a good habit to check and verify this information on each statement. It’s important to make sure that everything is accurate and up-to-date to avoid potential problems or miscommunications related to staff turnover, banking changes, business relocation, or other instances where account information may become out of date.

Moving down the statement you will then see a spreadsheet list summary of payments received in the form of sales and revenue, usually broken down by payment types (credit, debit, etc.). Next to this data will be a series of columns that breaks out related costs by payment type, as some credit cards will have different fees associated with them. Totals for each payment method will be summarized for at-a-glance understanding on the overall costs of accepting each type of payment method for the given time period.

The costs to be paid related to the processing of credit cards are actually a composite of more than one fee, as there are multiple organizations that are involved in the back-end of the transaction process for credit cards. These organizations include the merchant services provider directly serving the client, the card payment network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.), and the card issuing organization itself (i.e. banks and financial institutions). The fees charged by the payment networks are generally referred to as assessment fees, while those paid to the card issuers are referred to as interchange fees.

Chargebacks will also appear on your merchant account statement as separate line items, and typically include information on the nature of the chargeback. This may cover the reason for the chargeback, date/location specifics, customer ID details, and other such relevant information. This is particularly noteworthy as this type of information can help companies more efficiently work to minimize chargebacks and reduce the risks associated with transaction fraud.

The merchant account statements will also include any costs related to the rental, lease, or financing of point-of-sale technology provided by the merchant services company to the client. Depending on your business’ unique needs, there may be advantages to choosing leasing, renting, or owning your POS technology, so be sure to thoroughly evaluate all available options before agreeing to one method over the others with your merchant services provider. MONEXgroup offers many convenient and flexible options for our clients in this regard, including our exclusive lease-to-own programs, which brings together the benefits of owning and the advantages of leasing into a convenient and affordable payment plan.

The Importance of Choosing the Right Merchant Services Partner

Understanding what’s on your merchant account statements is one thing, but how can you take that understanding and use it to benefit your business? How can you find opportunities on your monthly statements to lower costs? How can you achieve greater efficiencies in managing your various services? The answer lies in choosing a merchant services provider who can deliver the knowledge and real-world expertise you need to identify those opportunities and formulate a plant to capitalize on them. That’s where MONEXgroup comes in.

Choosing MONEXgroup as your payment processing partner doesn’t just mean you’ll get access to all the most advanced and flexible POS tools and technology. As a client of MONEXgroup, your business will also have the advantages of our experienced team of customer support representatives and a dedicated account manager that will work directly with you to make the most of every transaction that comes through your POS system. You’ll get detailed recommendations for optimized payment solutions that will add capabilities to your business, alleviate bottlenecks and gain efficiencies, lower your costs to minimize overhead, expand your presence in the market, and achieve valuable competitive advantage.

Simplified Merchant Account Statements from MONEXgroup, your All-in-One Payment Processing Provider

If you’re currently dealing with multiple statements for your merchant accounts, it’s time to consider the significant savings that can be obtained by consolidating these services with an all-in-one payment processing provider. There’s really no need to have multiple separate accounts when all your payment processing needs can be handled through one account, with the ease and simplicity of a single clear merchant account statement, and a dedicated support manager to answer all your questions.

MONEXgroup is your one-stop-shop for payment solutions of all types. Our product selection includes powerful in-store POS stations, compact and portable mobile payment terminals, intuitive e-commerce systems and online virtual terminals, and even a diverse range of unattended payment systems for vending and remote kiosks. Whatever kind of payment you need to process, and wherever you need to process it, there’s a MONEXgroup payment solution that will exceed your expectations.

Now’s the time to discover how an all-in-one payment processing provider can elevate your business with enhanced efficiency, flexible new capabilities, and the simplicity of managing all of your payment processing services through a single merchant account statement.

Contact MONEXgroup today for more information and your free quote!

Author: Layal Scheirich, Head of Sales at MONEXgroup
Bio: With 18 years of experience in payment processing and merchant services, Layal has seen in-store POS technology evolve from its humble beginnings to contactless, unattended, mobile and online alternatives. Today, Layal is an inspiration to the MONEXgroup’s team and a go-to source of information related to payment processing. She is enthusiastic to share her knowledge with audiences interested in cutting-edge technologies available today, such as unattended payment for self-serve kiosks, e-commerce online payment gateways, virtual terminals, and contactless and mobile payment solutions.
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Contact Info: insights@monexgroup.com