How to Save Cash at Invoicing
Reduce credit card acceptance rates and fees on a business-to-business rate program.
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Asphalt producers want to be sure they’re always paying the most competitive credit card acceptance rates and fees while doing business. National Credit Card Processing Group (NCCP Group) has focused heavily on asphalt plants, vertically integrated asphalt paving companies and aggregate recycling facilities nationwide, noting that too many producers, liquid suppliers and hauling companies have been giving money away without realizing it and without knowing why. Over the years, NCCP Group has saved asphalt-related companies—from suppliers to paving companies to construction aggregates producers— thousands of dollars every month. They not only focus on saving companies money, but they like to educate the owners, controllers and CFOs on what really controls the rates and fees paid each month. Many people have not been educated about the credit card processing industry and that lack of knowledge results in throwing money away. With advisory board members and partners from the heavy civil and highway industry operating asphalt plants, NCCP Group’s co-founders personally knew many companies overpaid to accept credit cards in the asphalt and aggregate supply industries. Being that they own asphalt plants and aggregate recycling facilities, they were well aware of the challenges that these asphalt and aggregate recycling suppliers were facing and they wanted to do something about it. While it’s in the best interest of most credit card processors and banks that offer credit card processing to keep CFOs and owners from understanding too much, NCCP Group operates differently. At NCCP Group, they wish to educate customers so they always pay a fair price and understand all the costs associated with accepting payments via credit card. Transparency and honesty sells, especially in a business-to-business (B2B) environment.
40 // may 2020
BY PETER BRICKMAN
This is an example of the dashboard for the MX Merchant payment gateway that is extremely popular in the asphalt supply industry today. Photos courtesy of Peter Brickman of NCCP Group
B2B INTERCHANGE OPTIMIZER
The asphalt supply and construction aggregates industries are predominately B2B type industries. In these, and other, industries, purchasing and corporate cards are eligible for significant savings when processed with enhanced Level 2 and Level 3 data. In other words, if Asphalt Company A processes a payment and does so with copious amounts of information on the client, the rates built into the back end of the transaction can be lower than processing the payment with less information. When the B2B rates are built into the back end of the transaction through your payment gateway, and/or your credit card terminal, the NCCP proprietary B2B solution can verify that the additional Level 2 and Level 3 transaction data needed for those payments is provided during the authorization, ensuring Asphalt Company A receives the best possible rate.
EXAMPLES
If Paving Contractor B pays his $50,000 invoice with his corporate credit card with-
out B2B rates, Asphalt Company A could be losing money in fees that he doesn’t need to lose. If he gives away 2.79 percent out of that transaction, he loses $1,395, meaning he netted only $48,605. If Asphalt Company A processed that same $50,000 charge and it qualified under NCCP Group’s B2B rates, thus giving away 2.10 percent of the transaction, Asphalt Company A would have lost only $1,050. For this example transaction, he would have saved $345 by running the paving contractor’s card on the proper B2B platform. When a merchant can show MasterCard and Visa that he knows more about the customer, the card brands supporting those cards lower the rates. Level 2 and Level 3 data on the B2B app can include a merchant category code (MCC), product code, and so on. The rule of thumb is that the higher the risk, the higher the rate; the lower the risk, the lower the rate. This is why merchants—asphalt producers, in our case—give away more money out of a transaction when they key in a credit card number rather than “swipe” the physical card at a credit card terminal.
