REPOST: India’s debit card safety rule boosts sales of payment processing firms

In India, the number of point-of-sale (POS) terminals in the market is growing exponentially every passing year. As of third quarter, there were 965,000 terminals in use across the subcontinent—46 percent higher than the 661,000 devices in March 2012.

Image source: Reuters

Companies that help in processing card payments look set to benefit from rising demand for portable card swipe machines after the Reserve Bank of India adopted new rules to prevent fraud and enhance security.

Merchants in India usually swipe cards through a reader to generate receipts that customers sign, but the new rule, effective Dec. 1, adds another layer of security by making debit card holders enter their personal identification numbers to validate transactions via these machines, also referred to as point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Businesses such as fuel stations, hotels and restaurants that normally keep their card machines out of the customer’s reach will have to buy the portable, GPRS-enabled devices to offer convenience to clients.

Sunith Menon, India’s managing director for France-based Ingenico S.A., which manufactures such devices and supplies them to various banks, expects revenue to rise by 20 percent as demand for the wireless POS terminals rises after the new RBI mandate.

“We are seeing an increased requirement coming in from banks,” he said, adding that ICICI-First Data, Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank were among those who have placed orders for GPRS-enabled POS terminals.

Of the 20,000 POS terminals sold every month by Ingenico in the country, 10 percent were GPRS-enabled models. Menon now expects such devices to account for a 30 percent share in his near-term sales.

The new PIN mandate would affect more than 350 million debit card holders in the country. A recent study by industry body ASSOCHAM showed that the debit card users, growing at an annual rate of 18 percent, were clocking sales of 69 billion rupees using POS terminals every month.

The number of POS terminals in the market has grown significantly in the recent years. As of the end of September, there were 965,000 terminals in use across the country, 46 percent higher than the 661,000 devices in March 2012, according to data provided by e-payment services provider Worldline India.


Image source: Reuters

Pine Labs India, which counts Starbucks, Future Group and Pantaloon Retail among its clients, has installed about 4,000 GPRS swipe machines since November, higher than the monthly average of 200 to 300. In the next month, the company expects to install another 2,000 such machines.

“Somebody like a premium restaurant chain will never like to call the customer, neither would the customer like to go behind the counter,” said Kush Mehra, vice president of payment solutions at Pine Labs. ”They have become the newest recipients of this technology along with a very large network of fuel stations.”

One of their clients, Speciality Restaurants, which operates brands such as Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta, have placed orders for 50 GPRS machines and plan to buy at least one machine for each of their 74 restaurants in India.

Over the years, Indians have increasingly started using plastic as their payment method. But fraudulent transactions on credit and debit cards have also become common. The central bank earlier this year directed banks to put in place certain security and risk control measures to safeguard customers’ interest.

“It will take a short bit of time for customers to get a little acclimatized with this change … having said that, this is for the benefit for the entire industry,” said Mehra of Pine Labs.

Securus Payments is a company that provides efficient, dependable, and cost-effective payment processing services for small and large businesses. For inquiries, visit this website.

REPOST: Credit cards that promise the lowest prices

Credit card companies are offering a new way to customers to buy items at cheaper prices.  Find out what it is in this article from The Wall Street Journal.

Some call it price protection. Others call it a price rewind. But whatever the name, many credit-card companies—including Discover, Citi and MasterCard MA +0.14%  —are offering to refund consumers the difference in price should they buy an item and then find it cheaper later on.

Discover says it will refund the difference up to $500 if a customer makes a card purchase, then finds the item at a lower price within 90 days.

Citi says it will refund the difference in price up to $250 per item within 30 days of the purchase. And MasterCard says it will also refund up to $250—but within 60 days.Companies say they are offering this perk because it is a draw for consumers. Experts say many consumers already have cards with this feature and don't even realize it.Cardmembers "rarely if ever make claims," says Ben Woolsey, the director of marketing and consumer research for CreditCards.com.

For the card companies, that makes price-matching a relatively low-risk perk, he says. "They're hoping this benefit just increases people's willingness to buy things—without worrying about prices being lower in the near future or at another retailer." Citi, MasterCard and Discover declined to say how many consumers use this perk.

These programs do have a lot of exclusions, says Jelena Ewart, a senior associate at card-comparison site NerdWallet.com. She notes that many popular gift items are typically not covered, including jewelry, art, antiques, motorized vehicles, food and animals and many types of travel.

Image Source: www.wsj.com

In addition, items sold at a business-closeout sale, in very limited quantities (like some door-buster deals) or on online auction sites are also often excluded.

The programs also have monetary limits. The Discover program has an annual limit of $2,500 and both the MasterCard and Citi programs, $1,000.

To fulfill the refund, companies require that cardholders provide proof of their case. The Discover program asks consumers to submit a Discover-card statement showing the entire original purchase price, along with the sales receipt and either a copy of the dated, printed, lower-price ad, or a statement, signed by the store manager on store stationery, documenting the details of the lower price of the identical item. The MasterCard program works in a similar way.

With the Citi program, cardholders must register the purchases they want price-checked on Citi's site, but then the company does that price checking itself.

"There is not a big downside to the programs other than the time it takes to do them," says Eric Adamowsky, the co-founder of card-comparison site Credit Card Insider. Citi's program may be a good option for people who don't want to do their own price-comparison legwork, Ms. Ewart of Nerdwallet.com says.

For those willing to do the research, Discover's program is potentially the most lucrative, since its annual limit is $2,500, vs. $1,000 for Citi and MasterCard. It also has the longest period over which it will honor a price match (90 days).

People thinking about getting a new card with a price-matching feature might want to compare the value of the price match to that of other card perks, like sign-up bonuses. "Some cards have a bonus that's worth the price match," says Ms. Ewart, "and you don't have to jump through as many hoops" to get it.

Securus Payments is the nation's fastest growing payment processing service with specialties in credit card processing, merchant services, merchant cash advance, check processing, and more.  Find out what the company offers in this website.

REPOST: How sick are Europe's banks? Wait and see

Europe's economy has breathed life earlier this year, hinting a possible end of the prolonged recession. However, growth remains very slow, and countries with high lending record in major banks are still at risk of sovereign debt crises.

Eurozone bankers will be flying into Frankfurt shortly to meet with the ECB as part of a year-long health check announced Wednesday.

Image source: CNN

Five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a lack of confidence in Europe's banks is still acting as a brake on the region's tentative recovery.


An ambitious health check announced Wednesday by the European Central Bank is the first serious attempt to tackle the problem, but it won't produce results for at least a year, and could perversely make things worse before they get better.


European leaders agreed in 2012 to give the ECB responsibility for supervising the eurozone's biggest lenders, the first step towards creating a banking union they hope will reduce the risk of future bank failures triggering sovereign debt crises.


Before it begins that task in late 2014, the ECB will review risks and asset quality at 128 banks across 18 countries, including major players such as Deutsche Bank (DB), Santander (SAN) and Unicredit (UNCFF), culminating in a series of stress tests next year.


Eurozone banks have raised 500 billion euros from investors and governments over the past five years, equivalent to about 5% of annual GDP. The ECB will have the power to order banks to raise more cash if deemed necessary by the review.


Analysts said the scope of the tests was more extensive than expected, and European banking stocks fell. Banks in weaker eurozone economies such as Italy and Spain were under most pressure on concern the review will reveal new holes in their finances.


The eurozone emerged from a prolonged recession earlier this year. Yet growth remains anaemic, and lending and investment in some of countries hobbled by uncertainty over how much risk banks are carrying on their books.


Bailouts, austerity, economic reforms and ECB support have prevented the eurozone falling apart but economists believe a return to healthy growth will only happen once the cloud hanging over the banking sector is lifted.


ECB President Mario Draghi said transparency was the primary goal of the review, which will cover 85% of the eurozone's banking assets.


"We expect that this assessment will strengthen private sector confidence in the soundness of euro area banks and in the quality of their balance sheets," he said.


Analysts say the ECB will have to walk a fine line between making the health check tough enough to be credible to investors and depositors, and not so tough it prompts banks to rein in lending even further as the review drags on.


"Some major European banks may still have a reason to grant few new loans and hence incur new risks until sometime in 2015," said Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg bank.


And eurozone governments still have much more work to do if they're to realize their goal of a banking union. There's still no agreement on how to recapitalize weak banks if they're unable to raise enough funds from the private sector, nor on common rules for winding up a failing bank.

Securus Payments offers a range of products and services to help large and small businesses improve their payment acceptance and reduce operational costs of payment processing. For more information, click here.

How to improve a low credit score

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Credit scores are used to evaluate whether you are eligible for a loan and how much you will be paying for it in tranches. Therefore, it is important to keep a healthy credit score. This chart shows how the interest rate for an auto loan can jump from six percent to 18 percent based solely on your credit score. If you are well too familiar with the effects of a bad credit score, it’s not too late. There are ways of improving it.

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The first thing is to make sure your credit score is accurate. CNN.com reports that “Twenty-five percent of credit reports contain errors serious enough to deny consumers access to credit, favorable loan rates and in some cases a job…”

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Get familiar with the factors that affect your credit score. These include your payment history, amounts owned, length of credit history, new credit, and types of credit used. Since 35 percent of your credit score is based on payment history, make sure your bills are paid on time. Do not max out your credit cards. Leave at least 25 percent free because amounts owed make up 30 percent of your credit score. Keep your old accounts because credit scores also consider how long you have maintained your accounts.


Resuscitating your credit score will take a lot of financial discipline and vigilance, but it will be worth it. The best time to start improving your credit score is now.

Securus Payments helps small and large scale businesses be more profitable by providing them with payment solutions and equipment that put their clientele at ease. Find out more about Securus Payments here .

Keeping personal information secure when buying online

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Online shopping has made modern consumers’ lives more convenient. Statistics showing $186 billion worth of online transactions in America in 2010 alone are therefore no longer surprising. However, easy as online purchase is, it is also a venue for malicious individuals to obtain personal information about online consumers. Precautionary measures are imperative for safeguarding personal information given online.

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Limit purchases to reputable and established online merchants. Just as you do when you go out shopping, be wary of online stores that offer deals that are too good to be true. It just might be a trap for you to provide your personal information. Also, be very discerning about the web address. There are phishing websites out there that pass themselves off like familiar, famous stores. Their domain names usually end in .net instead of a .com.

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Use a prepaid credit card. In case your credit card information is breached online, using the prepaid variety would mean only the amount you put in is compromised. When you absolutely must use your real credit card, input your information only on sites that start with https because this indicates an encryption standard called SSL that reputable merchants use. Make sure you monitor your credit card statements as well and notify your bank as soon as you notice a purchase that you did not make.

Be vigilant when shopping online. Just because it’s a virtual transaction does not mean the dangers are not real.

Securus Payments helps small and large scale businesses give their customers a range of secure and efficient payment solutions. Find out more about Securus Payments here

REPOST: What would grandma do? Getting customer service right

The dehumanizing treatment that some customers experience from business establishments is very upsetting. According to Jesse Lipson of Forbes.com, businesses would do well to treat their customers more like family.

Why do so many businesses treat customers like numbers, or, worse, inconveniences?

Maybe the problem starts when we think of customers using the wrong metaphors.

The software company I founded is all about raising the bar for service, so I’ve become a pretty close observer of customer service in my daily life. One thing I’ve noticed is that most businesses treat customers like a counterparty to a business transaction. It’s true; customers are counterparties to transactions. But in the same way that it would feel inappropriate to tip my mother for cooking a great meal on Thanksgiving, we’re missing something very important if we treat each customer interaction as if we’re fulfilling a business contract.

About five years ago I read a great book called Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization. The book outlines several characteristics of excellent customer service: producing a perfect product, interacting with customers in a caring way, delivering on your promise in a timely manner, and effectively solving customer problems.

Two of those characteristics really resonated with me; I’m going to explore the concept of caring for customers here and discuss what it means to solve customer problems in next week’s post.

When describing how you should treat customers, the authors of Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profits call to mind the archetypal Italian grandmother. If her grandson runs too fast and trips and skins his knee, she doesn’t chide him for running too fast. She scoops him up, comforts him, and makes him a fabulous dinner to help him forget his woes. “You poor baby!” she’d say in a crooning tone. “How can grandma make it better?”

So what if your customer service was modeled after grandma?

Your grandmother never blames you— even when it’s your fault. When a customer comes to you with a problem, don’t behave in a way that shows her you think she caused the problem herself. Your first response should always be: “I’m so sorry. I can see why you are frustrated! I would be, too.”

It’s simple: No matter what the call, no matter what the problem, your job is to show empathy. Make sure the customer knows you see this is your problem to solve. When you respond this way — sincerely and profusely — you have a good shot at disarming the customer and reducing frustration right off the bat.

When it comes to empathizing, authenticity matters. Exceptional Service notes the importance of hiring people for customer support positions who exude genuine personal warmth and who have the innate ability to show empathy. When you apologize to a customer, it’s got to be genuine. For some people, this comes easily; they’re the ones you want dealing with your customers.

Your grandmother knows what’s bugging you before you do. When you’re down, your grandma knows it. And she knows how to make it better. A cup of tea, a chat, a little walk, a kind word. How much better would your company be at customer service if you could train your team to read your customers’ moods, anticipate their needs, and provide those extra touches that let them know you care?

A colleague of mine went into a fast-food restaurant recently, with her two kids and their two friends in tow. They were in line for less than 30 seconds when the manager approached, welcomed them to the shop, handed the kids toys and hats, and helped my friend get the kids’ orders before taking the kids to a table so she could pay in peace. The manager then delivered the food personally, and brought over extra napkins and condiments. My colleague was floored, and thankful enough to tell her friends about it.

That last part is key — good customer service turns into a story worth repeating, otherwise known as free marketing. One customer’s good — or bad — experience can be tweeted to hundreds of friends in an instant.

So when you are providing customer service, ask yourself a simple question: What would Grandma do? If you treat your customers like family, they’ll return the favor with loyalty.

Securus Payments offers billing and payment outsourcing solutions that help businesses improve their customers’ shopping experience through convenient payment processing. Visit this website for more updates.

Employment and retail sales records bode well

Suffice it to say that the employment and retail sales records are on a sudden cloud nine since the large decrease in number of people applying for unemployment is continuously rising to 0.6 percent. This percentage in numbers is equivalent to 334,000 declines in application for such benefits, a good sign that many economists consider a powerful turn for the American economy.

Image source: nytimes.com

This is balanced by the fact that employment is going steady and sturdy, as employers have added 175,000 jobs in May, jobs that match the monthly average for 2012. This numbers are a result of the government’s continuous effort to not just patch up the past economic downturn’s aftermath with stopgap solutions but to create solid and long-term programs to create jobs with quality and longevity—or those that match the job profiles of the Americans.

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Now that employment is strong, many Americans are gradually going back to a behavior of rewarding themselves through buying things from their newly obtained salary, as spending extra dime for such then-considered trivial and luxurious because of unemployment is now attainable. In a separate report, the Commerce Department said that the 0.6 percent increase last month in retail sales has surprisingly let the consumers become more resilient despite higher taxes, a thing that could drive faster growth in the last quarter of 2013.

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But experts also say that any trend could lost its track if not kept well, hence the government should uphold whatever that it is doing now yet must not stop in creating consumer and industry-balanced programs.


Securus Payment knows that there’s a need for small-scale businesses and industries to maintain exemplary operations with their consumers, an occurrence that could only be possible in the presence of strong economic programs. This website offers a full range of products and services that would allow even a small trade to kickstart an authoritative operation.

eBay: At the shores of a boom

2015 may be a golden year for online buying site eBay, as the company predicts racking up 200 million users and having a sales growth of nearly 50 percent by then. This news serves well to downplay growing edginess about the security of online shopping. Apparently, this boom will be driving merchant and buyer welfare up on the priority list for innovation, as confidence on the platform grows.

Image source: digitaltrends.com

Previously threatened by a drift to Internet wasteland, eBay was, in reality, neither short of appeal nor security. A hulking Amazon came away with a huge portion of its market share, and eBay, inert at the speed of consumer caprice, slept through competition for a few moments. However, it’s safe to say that it’s finding its feet and direction, and one of the best ways it’s doing so is in improving payment options to assuage hesitant newcomers.

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eBay has largely left it to buyers to choose the most convenient payment method. PayPal has been its weapon against the mostly credit card-dependent Amazon, a brisk channel that credits transactions to sellers immediately while doing away with shaky credit card information sharing. It also receives props for breaking down the advantages of the method on its website, something that Amazon users could only psychically grasp from the get-go.

At the turn of 2013, eBay’s payment services have been little recognized as sales propellers. The January holiday binge saw to the demand for its site offerings, but it was ultimately eBay’s mobile workarounds of PayPal that renewed its pioneering image. Mobile devices have introduced new slips in online transactions, and the company readily invested to plug loopholes and create a user-friendly environment for buying through smartphones and tablets. The results brought the company back to the consciousness of Wall Street and turned profit tables, frittering away any sense of impending doom.

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The commonness of online shopping presupposes a schooling on various payment methods that will allay the fears of buyers. Securus Payments has a huge hand in providing equipment and technologies for merchants seeking to break into the worlds of eBay and Amazon. Learn more about various payment methods for online transactions here.

The market for quick payments

Quick payment methods facilitated by working point of sale software, terminals, and wireless devices may seem the dominion of huge businesses that can easily fund the technology. Small businesses with low margins and mom-and-pop operations, however, could benefit just as well, even exponentially.

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The beauty of offering customers a variety of payment methods is in giving them upfront funding choices. Generally, credit card terminals are standard and are currently in high demand as banks increase incentives for good credit. But in every industry, no matter the scale of the business, there’s a payment method that will suit customers from various market segments.

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Small shop owners have learned to accept debit cards, but they could benefit most from mobile payment options, as these attract customers without smaller financial resources. Quick-service restaurants are also learning they could deliver faster food by installing credit card and PIN-activated debit card terminals on their counters, which eliminate the need for counting cash and
change.

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Small-scale merchants who give their customers the credit card option are qualified to avail of merchant cash advances, which are paid for through a portion of credit card sales. Small shops that tend to attract a loyal following can also track customer records through more advanced point of sale software and terminals, which also note their inventory turnovers and sales, allowing them to strategize their supplies.  

Providers of payment technologies, like Securus Payments, understand the need for small-scale businesses and industries to present smooth operations to their customers. Visit the company's website for its full range of products and services.

Mastering e-commerce

To save on rent, merchants have gone by way of e-commerce, especially in industries that deal in virtual goods like gaming and digital bookstores. Online retail also pushes prices down, so merchants can also realize competitive margins in dry goods and consumer products. The only thing e-commerce has to skirt is the cash mode of payment, which is nearly impossible if not for meet-ups between the buyer and seller. To step over this logistical hiccup, online merchants have to offer a full range of electronic payment options.

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But first, they have to secure their networks against fraudulent transactions and breaches of confidential information. Providers of e-commerce software integrate safety as a priority in their systems; integrating the most preferred payment solutions is the second order.

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Most merchants would want to include payment systems for major credit cards, eCheck systems, gift cards, signature debits, and Internet auctions. Managing the security of these transactions is a tricky undertaking that also begs expediency in processing payments. The software has to be intelligent enough to spot dubious transactions from the get-go, and deploy its filter mechanisms as early as possible.

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E-commerce merchants operate independently. They prioritize comprehensive software with easy installment procedures and simple implementation interfaces. Technology providers have set up websites for the exclusive use of e-commerce merchants so they could monitor, process, and secure their transactions online. These websites are provided by some of the biggest names in entrepreneurial IT.

For more information on payment technologies for e-commerce, visit the website of Securus Payments here.