New Federal Debit Law will save Retailers $7 Billion! How to get your share…
By Brad Arnott
Omega Processing Solutions
Did you see the Cincinnati Enquirer article on Sunday, November 6th “Banks Look for New Fees”? There has been much discussion over the last month about new fees the large banks may be charging. Bank of America received a lot of negative press lately because they intended to charge their debit card customers $5 per month! Well, there is a reason the large banks are looking to make some money……..it is to offset losses from the Durbin Amendment passed as part of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform package. This new law caps the fees the large banks can make on debit card purchases, basically a $7 Billion per year loss. The $7 Billion is being transferred to the retailers and other businesses that accept and process debit cards.
Good news if you own a retail business! My business gets to help pass out some of the $7 Billion in savings! Since we process credit and debit cards, our costs as a processor has gone down on debit cards from this new law and so we can pass along these savings to our clients. As you may know, businesses that accept credit/debit cards must pay processing fees. If you own a business that caters to consumers then you are
probably receiving a lot of debit cards (swiped or key entered) and qualify for some lower costs.
How do you make sure you are getting your share? Many processors’ (bank and nonbank) margins have been squeezed the last several years and they may not be passing on the savings to the business owner. Some of Omega’s customers are seeing a significant reduction in fees of hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month. However, since Visa & MasterCard utilizes a complicated pricing structure you should work with an established local processor and experienced representative that can educate you on the best pricing system to implement. Don’t fall for the out-of-town telemarketer’s promises though or you may get locked into a contract that is not good for your business.
Brad Arnott is a partner at Omega Processing Solutions, an award winning local credit/debit card processing company that performs no obligation analysis of merchant’s current processing fees. Brad can be contacted at 513-755-6501 or brad@omegap.com. $50 gift card if you mention Matt Plapp when switching over your processing services to Omega!