July 2017

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Page A8 JULY 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
ALLSTATE
BUSINESS SHIELD
for Funeral Homes
Customized coverage your
business deserves, so you can
focus on what matters most...
the families you serve.
Alonzo Middleton
Serving 30+ Years
803-536-6185
FUNERAL SUPPLY STORE
1-800-392-2936 •
Folding
Embalming Table
$1195 00
S&H: $9900
Slider Board
$9900
S&H: $2000
Magnum
Mortuary Cot
$1395 00
1,000 lb. Capacity
S&H: $9900
Elite
Mortuary Cot
$995 00
600 lb. Capacity
S&H: $9900
There is no doubt that accepting credit cards is a necessi-
ty for funeral homes. Credit card transactions can push the
administrative cost of a case up. When you swipe a card for
$5,000 it will probably cost about $17 in fees. Performing a
phone transaction will cost even more. You need to be knowl-
edgeable about the way credit card processing fees work to
completely understand what is negotiable and what is not.
Is It Really The Lowest Rate?
Most funeral homes looking for the best rate will ask proces-
sors what their lowest rate is. The lowest rate quoted may not
be a true cost. Say that you are quoted a rate of 1.59%. At the
end of the month you might find that you are really paying
3.1% in what is known as an “effective rate”. The lowest rate
really is 1.59 percent but that rate only applies to “qualified
transactions” which are based on processing history, types of
Are You Really Getting The Lowest Credit Card Processing Rate?
Jeff Brodsly
By Jeff Brodsly, CEO, Chosen Payments
cards accepted and how you
process them. Never sign a
contract that locks you into a
long term relationship with a
processor.
Cost vs. Rates
You might be inclined to
believe that a low processing
rate would equal low pro-
cessing costs. That’s not real-
ly true and here is why:
Fees are based on four sepa-
rate parts:
1. The card issuing bank’s
cost
2. The card brand’s (Visa, Mastercard) cost
3. The back end processor’s cost
4. The “client facing” service provider (Merchant ser-
vices provider’s cost)
Card-issuing banks (such as Chase, Capital One, Wells Far-
go) along with the card brands, Visa, Mastercard and oth-
ers set the price for each type of transaction through an “in-
terchange rate”. The issuing banks collect the “interchange
rate” as their piece of the pie. The card brands (Visa, Master-
Card) set an additional price for each transaction known as
dues and assessments. The “back end processor” (such as First
Data), charges the reseller of their services a fee to utilize their
network and platform. The “client facing” provider (ie. Cho-
sen Payments) then charges a small fee to maintain your ac-
count which is on top of the other three fees. There is no way
around this no matter who your provider is.
It is a common myth that processors control fees. In the be-
low example we will illustrate that is not the case at all.
Using an “effective rate” of 3.0% here is an example of
where that money goes:
• 2.50% - Card issuing bank (Wells Fargo, Citibank etc.)
• .20% - Card Brand (Mastercard, Visa etc.)
• .15% - Back end processor (First Data)
• .15% - Merchant Service Provider (Chosen Payments etc.)
What To Ask For
When obtaining a quote, ask the processor to quote fees
based on a pricing model called “interchange plus”. Inter-
change plus separates the processor’s markup from the whole-
sale cost described above. “Interchange plus” quotes do not
need to meet any type of minimum sales volume.
Savings Quoted Don’t Always Materialize
Don’t accept promised savings as a guarantee. Shop based
upon total markup. Since each separate transaction is sub-
jective, one rate cannot be assumed for all transactions. You
must ask how much each category of qualified, mid-qualified
and non-qualified transactions will cost.
Take your monthly sales volume and divide that by your to-
tal monthly fee. If the rate you come up with is lower with a
new processor than your previous processor, you should make
the switch.
You should develop a relationship with your processor rath-
er than simply seeing them as a utility for your business. It is
also wise to use a credit card processor that is associated by
any state and national association you may belong to. When
processors connect and specialize with a particular industry
they become more tuned to what type of transactions the
industry generally conducts and can more accurately quote
based on statistical data of the entire group.
Simple Might Prove Foolish
There are very simple ways to process credit cards such as
PayPal and Square but that simplicity may cost you in the
long run. These companies are not processing companies but
known as “aggregators”. Aggregators provide flat rates that ap-
pear attractive but will cost you more than a genuine credit
card processor such as an industry provider like Chosen Pay-
ments. They also have a treat you as a number rather than a
true client with a dedicated account representative.
Square charges a single rate of 2.75 percent for all swiped
transactions while Stripe charges 2.9 percent + 30 cents.
Remember the wholesale cost remains the same no matter
which company you use. All processors pay the same inter-
change and assessment fees. Your goal is to pay the lowest
cost for processing and it doesn’t make good business sense to
process a qualified transaction through Square. Why would
you pay 2.9 percent on a qualified card transaction when you
could be paying 1.59 percent to process the same transaction?
Summary
When shopping for credit card processors, avoid common
pitfalls that can cost you in the long run. The closer you pay
to wholesale, the lower your costs will be. Be wary of quotes
that look too good to be true. Ensure the processor has solid
references within the funeral industry.
For further information about credit card processing, please
visit Chosen Payments website at
or contact Jim Luff at
What makes Pay It Forward so powerful? Sure we all
know the concept. Pay It Forward is when one per-
son does something good for someone and then that
person does something good for someone else. The
question is what makes these acts of support, encour-
agement, and kindness so powerful? If last month’s col-
umn is on your mind you may be thinking about how
science and spirituality fuel my statement “…every act
of kindness no matter how small creates an energy that
will only grow the power of love and hope.” In this
light it is easy to see that Pay it Forward might be able
to grow love and hope exponentially, but how?
We can all see that one person’s good deed plus an-
other person’s good deed equals two acts of kindness.
One plus one equals two right? Short answer: not al-
ways. We have almost all heard and many of us have
said that one plus one doesn’t always equal two. In the
case of Pay It Forward one good deed plus another
good deed may almost always equal more than two.
Think about it. If the first person inspires the second
to give how can we say that the second person does not
inspire the third to continue the Pay It Forward chain?
Is this exponential growth? Maybe, but it will take a
very long time for one Pay It Forward Chain to reach
the more than 7,511,000 people that live on our planet
according to the world population clock.
What if we look at Pay It Forward as a form of curren-
cy? Bear with me, I agree. Pay it Forward is the antith-
esis of a transaction because it demands each person to
give without the expectation of receiving any return on
their kindness investment for themselves. Pay It For-
ward is more like a giving tree where the trunk sup-
ports the growth of each branch and all of the tree’s
leaves or, in the case of a pine tree, needles. However I
am not an arborist and have no idea how to explore the
Power of Pay It Forward using wood, bark, and foli-
age. Which brings us back to currency and the bank
of kindness.
Do you see how Pay It Forward might be the way to
apply the power of compound interest to kindness?
Seems simple: one person gives kindness to anoth-
er, then that same person does something good for
yet another person. All the while the people receiv-
ing these good deeds turn around and do something
good for more people. It kind of reminds me of the
very, very old Prell commercial that goes “I told two
people who told two people…” and the photos mul-
tiply by two then four then sixteen. Now that is how
Pay It Forward grows kindness in multiple kindness
accounts.
Who knew we could use math and science to ex-
plore the power of kindness? If only we could make
giving as easy as exploring the Pay It Forward equa-
tion. Prayers you are smiling and thinking giving
kindness is way easier than chaos theory, math, arbo-
riculture, and finance. I look forward to learning what
you think the greatest power of kindness is and how
we can all bring more hope and love to our world.
Please join in the conversation on the Let’s Chat blog
at give me a
ring at (781)331-5308, or if you prefer email me at
.
By Kristan Dean
Let’s
Chat
In 2000 Kristan Dean began working with her family to bring
Merry Christmas From Heaven® to all who need the gifts’ mes-
sage of Comfort, Love, and Faith. Today she is the Vice President
of Marketing and one of the primary members of her family’s
Bereavement Ministry.
Thanks, in great part, to the thousands of funeral directors and
retailers nationwide who make Merry Christmas From Heaven®
a part of their communities, countless numbers of families reach
out to their family every year. Their bereavement ministry helps
families realize that those in Heaven live forever in our hearts.
Their love is with us always.
Prior to Mooney TunCo, Inc. Kristan worked with companies na-
tionwide helping them build revenues by creating greater sales op-
portunities through the use of sales intelligence and marketing align-
ment.