What Does The Durbin Amendment Mean To Small Business Merchants In America? MerchantService.com Explains

SARASOTA, Fla., July 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MerchantService.com, a leading merchant services provider of credit card processing, is pleased to announce they have released a new article on their site titled "What Does The Durbin Amendment Mean To Small Business Merchants In America?"

The Durbin Amendment originally aimed to have the Fed set a maximum debit card interchange fee of 12 cents per transaction for banks that had $10 billion or more in assets.  However, the final interchange fee to come into play in October will be closer to 21 cents per transaction, and in some cases more.  The current industry debit credit Interchange fee averages 44 cents.

"Issuing banks are still the 'biggest losers,' but not by as much as originally proposed.  And merchants remain the winners, yet it's highly unlikely most merchants will receive the benefit of the savings because of the acquirer's pricing strategy," said Gino Kauzlarich, co-founder and owner of merchant services provider, MerchantService.com.  

The Rules regulate debit Interchange, but do not discount it, Mr. Kauzlarich warns. "Most of the merchant population is at the mercy of their acquirer's pricing strategy as to the timing and the amount of reduced fee benefit they actually receive.  If your merchant services pricing program is tiered, or your merchant statement is coded with 'BB' or 'ERR,' watch out!  You are paying hidden mark-ups and down-grade fees that you are unaware of, and you will likely be receiving little, if any of the savings provided for by the Durbin Amendment."

Mr. Kauzlarich recommends looking for a merchant services provider who has consistently low rates, and will feature a "true" interchange pass-through, "Only those merchants on a 'True' Interchange Pass-Through pricing program will receive the full savings benefit on their credit card machine.  So make sure you are on an Interchange Pass-Through pricing program that passes all Durbin Amendment savings through to you."

For more information, visit www.MerchantService.com.

To read the full article, visit: http://www.merchantservice.com/merchant-account-blog/index.php/2011/07/what-does-the-durbin-amendment-mean-to-small-business-merchants-in-america-merchantservice-com-explains/

About MerchantService.com:

Established in 1995 by founders Gino and Julie Kauzlarich, MerchantService.com is a leading provider of today's most innovative and cutting-edge wireless credit card machine services. Their innovative method of offering credit card merchant services through a consultative team approach designed to increase merchants' bottom line profits while also increasing total sales, accelerating cash flow and improving efficiency.

SOURCE MerchantService.com