Larry
West Sacramento,#2Consumer Comment
Sat, April 21, 2007
Joe, Credit card processors like Bankcard USA are the ones who guarantee the legitimacy of your transactions. If a charge from you is reversed for any reason they will have to refund the money and try to collect from you. You are their worst nightmare: You are a new company, your transactions are for high dollar amounts, and you probably do not have a bricks-and-mortar location. (I have a similar problem with my own business.) Keeping your money for 180 days is a bit extreme, though. The customer has only 60 days to dispute the charge, so it's kind of hard to justify holding the funds an additional four months. Taking credit cards is somewhat risky for you, also. Picture this: you do the work including paying your help and other expenses and then the customer disputes the charge. Some flunky at the card issuer sides with the customer so now you are on the hook for the chargeback. You have little recourse against the card issuer. You will never know when a transaction is truly complete and all disputes settled. You would be far better off taking cash only.
Sharon
Westlake Village,#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, April 20, 2007
Due to the possible risk and/or fraud involved with their business type, BankCard USA Merchant Services, Inc. has the right to hold their funds up to a period of 180 days or less (please refer to a copy of your Merchant Account Agreement). Keyed businesses are considered high risk businesses because of the high ticket, (which can later evolve to higher dollar amounts of chargebacks, retrievals..etc), keyed transactions, home based business (retail, face to face, swiped businesses have less risks because the credit card is always present and swiped through the credit card terminal). Additionally, BankCard USA Merchant Services, Inc. is liable for any charges, returns, chargebacks that the merchant processes, under the rules and regulations of Visa/Master Card. Thus, the reason for capturing funds to protect BankCard USA Merchant Services, Inc.