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TYPES OF PAYMENT MODES
Apart from credit cards,
following are a few other kinds of
payment modes which will be processes:
Debit Cards: All Point of
Scale (POS) provide the alternative of
accepting debit cards such as Honor,
MAC, Interlinc, Star, etc. A few
terminals have a PIN pad internally,
while the others consist of a port which
connects hand-held pin pads. The
advantage of accepting a debit card is
that only transaction fees will be
charged and the discount rate will never
be charged. Selecting a POS swipe
terminal which has an external or
internal PIN pad wil depend on a few
factors like if the trader minds if a
customer touches the terminal or not.
However, the clutter is less with
respect to a PIN pad present internally
as it will be an all-in-one entity.
Electronic Check
Conversion (ECC): An ECC allows the
processing of paper checks automatically
with the help of a check reader/imager.
The ECC scans the line of MICR which is
located at the underside of a check and
then takes its image for the records.
Usually, the retrieval of check images
is allowed. However, a fee is charged
for their storage.
Following are a few
advantages of using ECC:
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The money gets deposited
faster into the account.
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It reduces the handing of
paper checks and eliminates the need to
deposit the checks at the bank.
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It also reduces the risk
of either losing the checks as well as
the risk of the checks getting stolen.
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The returned checks get
reported sooner.
Loyalty Cards (rewards
and gift cards): The acceptance of a
loyalty card is a good idea if merchants
want to promote their goods. However,
this solution proves useful only in cash
environments such as movie rental,
grocery, and hardware stares. The
acceptance of loyalty cards results in
increase of business.
Fleet Cards: These cards
are only applicable to petroleum-type
firms which provide customers with
unique credit cards in order to make
fuel purchase.
Smart Card: These types
of cards are still a new concept. Apart
from paying for goods, these smart cards
contain a special chip which allows each
card to store certain information. Many
college campuses use these smart cards
to store student’s information. The
smart cards are predicted to take over
credit cards in the near future.
Check / ATM Cards: The
ATM cards are often called debit cards
but are actually ATM / Check cards. The
difference of an ATM / Check card to
that of a debit card is that these ATM/
Check cards have a MasterCard of Visa
logo. These cards can be processed as
credit cards or can be accepted as debit
cards when a customer enters the PIN.
Electronic Benefits
Transfer (EBT): If a merchant desires to
provide cash welfare and food stamp
benefits to the customers, then
accepting EBT cards is the way to go.
For this, either a POS terminal will be
needed or a PIN pad present internally
should be provided. The EBT card holders
should be allowed to enter their PIN
while checkout. |
