Ever wonder who is paying for all those miles you earn on your credit cards? The surprising answer, is merchants like you!
Every year we attend industry educational events to keep Skurla’s current with technology trends and payments, but also to be able share that information on to our customers. This year, we were able to attend major events, and one of the biggest topics was NCA (Non-Cash Adjustment). For those that may not be familiar with this, it’s a program where merchants save up to 99% of their credit card processing expenses by passing along a small fee (3.99%) to their customers who pay with credit cards. It also rewards their customers who pay in cash as they don’t have to pay this fee.
Why has this been such a big deal? The pandemic hasn’t been kind to many businesses to say the least. Labor and inventory shortages, price increases, and cost of doing business have all been major factors that have forced business to look at their bottom line and some are barely getting by. NCA is a solution that can have a serious positive impact. The savings calculation is simple - look at the fees on your credit card statement and that’s money that you’ll likely save. For a small merchant who pays $2,000 a month in fees, that’s a savings $24,000 a year!
Finding ways to save money in your business can be a real challenge.
One of the methods Skurla’s has in it’s toolbox is surcharging or non-cash adjustment (NCA for short). It is a simple way of passing on (or sharing) the costs of credit card processing to customers who don’t want to pay cash. Our point of sale system can automatically add a fee of up to 3.99% to all card based transactions. The end result is that a majority of your credit card fees are eliminated or drastically reduced.
Well then, you ask, how much can surcharging/NCA save me?
The answer: Take your current monthly credit card fees - multiply that by 12. That’s your yearly savings! 🤣
But seriously, while NCA can’t always remove ALL of your fees, it can reduce the majority of them. Even more if you are a business that doesn’t take tips. Couple that with a free or heavily subsidized, feature rich POS, and you may just be laughing all the way to bank.
There are all sorts of credit card gimmicks these days. Are they legit? Do they save your business money? How hard is compliance?
Offering your customers a discount for paying with cash or check is nothing new.
Neither is adjusting how much a customer pays if they use a payment type that results in higher processing costs for the business owner. While these concepts have been around for quite some time, they have recently been brought back into the spotlight, especially for businesses hard hit during COVID.
Today, we are here to talk about one of the easiest ways to save money on your credit card fees - through the Non-Cash Adjustment (NCA) Program:
With a Non-Cash Adjustment, your list prices have a built-in cash discount incentive. Customers who pay with credit and signature debit cards do not receive the discount and will see a Non-Cash Adjustment on their receipt.
On average, businesses can save $9,500 a year simply by sharing their processing costs with their customers.
But make sure use a trusted partner when implementing this programs - you want to make sure you are staying compliant with the program!
