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UNDERSTANDING YOUR MERCHANT STATEMENTA common concern with any business owner is whether there will be enough cash at the end of the day to cover the expenses incurred from daily operations. Walking into your local bank branch to withdraw funds and discovering a $0 balance is enough to make your blood boil. Your first thought may be to contact your accountant or bookkeeper to find out what happened; unfortunately, the majority of the time, the fault lies with you. Reconciling your bookkeeping program with your checking account, credit card, merchant service, and other financial statements is not only time-consuming but confusing, as well. Although we do not control all of your financial accounts, EMG is a major contributor to your bottom line since we provide you the operating cash from your credit card sales, electronic check conversion sales, and a variety of other electronic payment sales. Our job at EMG is to make your processing go as smoothly as possible, in order to make sure that your money is in your account when you need it the most. Everyone loves to know where their money is at all times, including your merchant account, so we recommend a monthly reconciliation at the very least. In addition, during the first two weeks of processing, we recommend that you check your bank account daily to verify the funds are being deposited on a timely basis and in the correct amounts. If something is not correct, you will need to contact the 24-hour customer service line immediately to rectify the situation. The customer service line can also help you understand what is being deposited and when, along with what fees are being debited from your account. Let's look at some ways to reconcile your merchant account with what is actually ending up in your bank account. If you are an internet junkie and prefer to reconcile your financial accounts online, allow us to introduce you to FirstView, our online merchant account center. FirstView provides immediate access to your merchant statements- no more digging around drawers and filing cabinets to find the paperwork. The best part is that it's free! And for a small monthly fee, you can also have access to the full version of FirstView that will provide you daily processing totals and even individual credit card sales. It is the ultimate tool to show you how your business is doing on a daily or weekly basis. Click here for more information. If FirstView is not for you, your paper statement will arrive in the mail around the 7th of each month and contains all of the relevant information you need to reconcile your bank account and merchant account. In your merchant statement, you will notice three parts: the introduction, the card fees, and the monetary balances. Below are details to help you understand each of these a little better. The introduction states EMG's address, the month of the statement, your Merchant Identification Number (MID), and your address. Make sure that all the pages of your statement start with the same information, and that it is all correct and current. On the first page under the introduction are updates that require your attention. These may explain a fraudulent wave of activity that has affected the credit card industry, or there may be tips regarding your merchant account. The introduction also has the 24-hour customer service number that you can contact with any questions or problems on your account. Next are the total card fees. First, you'll see the total amount charged to your account. Then you'll see how much processing went through at Visa, MasterCard, and PIN debit (if applicable). This section will be broken down into sales, returns, and net processing for the month, called the Summary of Card Deposits. After that is the Summary of Card Fees, which shows how much processing went through at each tier that is applicable on your account. The next part is the Summary of Miscellaneous Fees, showing any other fees that would apply, like a statement fee, batch header fee, retrieval fee, etc. The total at the bottom of this column will be the total amount charged to your card (and should reflect the first amount that is shown on the statement). After the fees are the monetary batches. You'll see a summary of daily deposits called Settled Card Types, which shows what is processed on a daily basis. First are the gross, the returns, the net amount made, and the date. If you accept debit cards, it will have a line for credit and a line right below it with the same date for PIN debit cards. The Summary of Daily Deposits is next, showing the daily batch with everything combined. Depending on your monthly volume level, you may be on daily or monthly discounts. If you are on monthly discount fees, you will see these exact deposits hitting your account, and at the end of the month a lump sum of fees will be debited. If you are on daily discount fees, you will only see a portion of these amounts because the fees are taken out daily, instead of the large sum at month's end. TIPS:
In order to avoid any complications, please reconcile your statement every month. If you don't reconcile them within four months, any erroneously charged fees cannot be refunded.
If you have any further questions about your statement, deposits, or fees, please contact the 24-hour customer service number at 800-789-8897. |
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EMG and the EMG logo are registered trademarks of Eliot Management Group. Copyright © 1997-2007 Eliot Management Group All rights reserved. MSP KeyBank National Association, Cleveland, OH Member FDIC. |