A few thoughts from Jon Flora, President and CEO

Over the last two years, much has been presented about credit card surcharging. Clearly, most of you are tired of paying the fees for taking credit cards.

We have been fielding a lot of calls from members and customers about how to implement a surcharging program. Especially concerning are the calls that begin with “I was looking on the Internet about surcharging and it seems easy.”

Danger, Will Robinson.

Since it’s our mission to help educate the credit professional, we have decided to put surcharging into action here at NACM Business Credit Services. We are the first NACM affiliate to do it.

The main reason we are embarking on the surcharging program is educational. We want to answer your questions based on real-time, real-life experience.

Some background: We have always accepted credit card payments but long ago put limits on purchase amounts because of the fees associated with the use of cards. The fees we were paying reached a point where our association simply couldn’t continue to bear this expense. Instead, we encouraged all of you to write a check which most have done.

In the last year, we have had an increasing number of requests for payment by credit card. Apparently, you really like your reward points! The only way to make this work for NACM BCS is to pass on the now legal surcharge. At a rate of 2.5%, we will still be subsidizing the purchase (we could go as high as 4.0%) but at least we will be capturing a reasonable amount of the cost of providing this convenience to you.

For most, this will likely be worth it. If not, you still have no-fee options including: pay by check, pay by ACH, or pay by debit card.

It has taken nearly three months for NACM BCS to put this program in place. It’s a lot of work and doing it wrong will cause you all sorts of grief. Our partners at UTA and Vantiv/Worldpay have done a stellar job preparing us for the rollout. We are excited to see how surcharging really works so we can be a good resource to you if and when you choose to go with it.

Surcharging at NACM BCS began September 1st. Just go to our website and click on Pay My Bill at the top of the screen. First time users will need to register. Just follow the instructions. After that, it will be an easy click and log-in.

I will use future editions of this eNews to report back to you on what we learn. In the meantime, if your company wants to consider surcharging, please feel welcome to contact us anytime. We are glad to share our experience.

Thanks for your business and membership in NACM BCS. Have a great Fall!