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Obtain A Free Merchant Account
By: Shane Penrod, Wed Mar 15th, 2006
You may have heard about the distinct advantages of offering
credit-processing services to your clients, but do you know how
to obtain a free merchant account? Many lenders request
applicants to pay an online credit application fee that can run
more than $100. Others waive this fee, but they then impose
other types of costs, like an annual membership fee. Yet there
are some lenders out there who offer a merchant account at no
direct cost to business owners. While there will be expenses
associated with processing transactions and performing service
maintenance on credit processing equipment, some lenders will
limit their merchant account costs to fees like these and
provide the card account at basically no extra cost to the
business owner.
To find out more about how to take advantage of this type of
offer for a free merchant account, ask your business banker for
details. If the bank cannot provide information, check with
other business operators in your area to find out if they have
merchant accounts and where they got them. Some may have a free
account, so you will have to ask for details if they are willing
to supply them. Otherwise, you can always use a search engine to
browse the Internet for companies that provide a merchant
account at no cost. Be wary about offers that seem too good to
be true, as they probably aren't true. Read the fine print in
contracts, and ask about every type of fee you can think of.
Some applicants have complained that "hidden fees" surfaced
after their account was approved, forcing them to pay fees they
did not anticipate. Leave nothing to chance.
Create a business plan that will put your free merchant account
to good use. Don't get a merchant account simply to have one.
The primary advantage is to offer credit-processing services to
your customers via a number of options. These might cost an
initial outlay of company funds, but the return on your
investment will be valuable in terms of the shopping convenience
that will make visiting your company or your site a pleasant
experience for customers. Develop a reasonable budget that will
show you how much you can afford to invest in credit equipment
like a terminal processor, perhaps one with a printer combined.
Or you may prefer to get a wireless processor if you deliver
goods or services to customers at remote locations. You also can
get a pager to enhance communications within your organization.
Or you may want to upgrade your phone system to include a
digital program that lets customers dial in to place and pay for
orders without the need for direct employee assistance.
Obtaining a free merchant account will release funding that
might have been earmarked otherwise for account fees, allowing
you to direct it to more needy areas of your operation. If you
are able to negotiate a low per-transaction fee (especially one
that is less than 20 cents per transaction) or a low monthly
overall rate, your savings will be enhanced, providing
additional savings that can be used in other parts of the
budget.
For these and other reasons, apply today for your free merchant
account!
About the author:
Shane Penrod is the founder of
http://www.Merchant-Account-Quotes.com Specializing in allowing
merchants the ability to shop and compare multiple quotes from
national merchant account providers. For free quotes on merchant
account rates and fees, please go to
http://www.Merchant-Account-Quotes.com
