Direct Debit is probably the most versatile way of collecting regular customer payments.

To start with, processing any customer payment comes at a cost:

• Bank charges for processing cheques
• Expensive percentage-based transaction charges for handling card payments
• Admin overhead in reconciling Standing Orders
• Late payments causing cash-flow problems

For businesses that collect regular payments, Direct Debit is now the best option bar none.

The recent 2010 Annual Report produced by BACS* showed that direct debit transactions grew by 2.8% in 2010 to 3.8 billion transactions with 72% of adults having at least one direct debit.  In addition the payment rate is unparalleled with a 98% success rate.

If your business would like to receive 98% of payments on time, then taking direct debit payments could help you, since:

• There’s no expiry dates as with card payments
• The banks are desperate to phase cheque payments out as the cost of processing them is expensive
• You could offer your customers payment options
• There’ll be no customer excuses of ‘the cheque's in the post’

*BACS is the UK body owned by Europe’s Leading Banks and charged with the provision of automated payment services and payment clearing.

Eazy Collect Services Ltd. is a BACS Approved Bureau

Accepting credit cards offers a number of benefits to merchants and consumers alike, and can provide a dramatic boost to your sales and cash flow. But that boost can be diluted somewhat if you don't pay attention to the various factors that influence the fees associated with accepting electronic payments.  There are many available options and partners to choose from.

Research into how payments are accepted and processed can literally pay dividends to those merchants wanting to reduce their payment-related expenses:

For a start charges vary wildly, with typical charges for card payments varying between a straight 1.5% and 3.4% plus 20p per transaction depending upon volume.  If taking payment by online direct debit collection is potentially an option, then charges can be anything from 4p to £1.00 per transaction, again depending upon the provider and transaction volume.

1. Don't fall 'special offers' on rates as the small-print could see you paying over-the-odds within a few short weeks.
2. Weigh up the pros and cons of the various providers and beware of 'hidden charges' as they are numerous in certain circumstances.
3. If using card payments, take advice on reducing charge-backs that could see you paying extra fees for cancelled/reversed transactions.

Following these steps and paying careful attention to payment methods, procedures and security requirements will pay considerable dividends in improving your productivity and profitability, and reducing payment related fees.

The role of a Payment Service Provider is to collect payment from your customers' by either credit and debit cards or direct debits on your behalf and forward the money to you. They provide a secure, practical solution particularly for those businesses who have are struggling to open an internet merchant account (IMA) or to get sponsorship from their own bank to get a service user number (SUN).

The payment service provider can also act as an outsourced payment processor even if you have your own merchant account or SUN.

Advantages

• Payment Service Providers can significantly reduce the administrative burden of managing customers' payment details
• They save you from having to set up and maintain secure payment systems which can be costly and resource hungry.
• They have less strict application procedures than the banks require. You'll not usually be required to supply the same level of detailed information about your business plan, trading history and suppliers.
• Your application can be processed quickly, usually within a few days.

Disadvantages

• Customers can sometimes see that the payment is not going directly to you even though they may be conducting the transaction through your website, depending on the service, though this is communicated clearly.
• Payment Service Providers may hold payments for a settlement period of several days before the money reaches your account, depending on your service.

You need to be aware that Direct Debit Providers often have a complex range of services and charges that often don’t come to light until it’s too late.  There are several good Direct Debit Providers in the UK but it can be difficult to choose the correct one to suit your business needs without understanding all the elements.  You will find that the costs can vary hugely and be completely different to your initial perception.

So, to help you make the right decision, use the comparison table below to ensure you:

a.    Choose the Best Value Provider
b.    Select the Right Services to suit your business
c.    Get No Nasty Surprises in your bill

Think about how much administration you want to retain and how much you want your payment provider to handle.

Please take your time and do your homework.  It will be worth it in the end as the direct debit system will make a big positive impact to your business. 

Here are a few questions to ask any potential Payment Service Provider.

1. Is there an ability to setup and amend DD’s online and offline?
2. What are the methods of signing up customers onto DD. e.g. phone, face-to-face, office, online?
3. What information and physical security measures do the companies have in place?
4. What reporting do you require and when and does it need to be integrated with your systems?
5. Do you support additional services such as Debt Management or Card Processing?
6. Will I have to send out Advance Notification letters and DD Amendment letters and if not, how much will it cost?
7. How much is the account setup fee?
8. How much is it to add each new customer onto the system?
9. What are the charges for direct debit represents, advance notice letters, amendments and cancellations?
10. When will I get my money?
11. Is your service AUDDIS compatible?

I hope this helps you out a little.

If you wish to collect customer payments by direct debit, there are many pitfalls to getting started and many operational issues to be wary of once up and running.

Pursuing an in-house direct debit solution requires you to get sponsorship from the bank which is a costly and often lengthy application process.  As part of the application process, you'll need to submit detailed business plans and have good solid past trading evidence to back this up.  In addition to this you may be required to lodge a bond with the bank as security.  If you're a relatively new organisation you are very unlikely to be approved at all.

Then, once approved, you'll need to purchase the systems and software to manage your collections together with displaying evidence of strong security measures across your IT infrastructure and physical security of your buildings.  Thre is an increasingly stringent demand on security in the running of a direct debit scheme.

If you have the wherewithall to do it, then it's worth it, but there a much easier way that allows you to keep control whilst outsourcing the direct debit processing mechanism via a company such as the Eazy Collect BACS Approved Bureau.

In doing so, you get to use secure, approved equipment, software and processes to handle your customer payments whilst retaining full control of the data and reporting required by your organisation.

Eazy Collect can even save you the trouble of having to get your own Service User Number (SUN).  Either choos to use ours or we'll help you through the application process.

For further information:

Eazy Collect Services Ltd.
http://www.eazycollect.co.uk

BACS Payment Schemes Ltd.
http://www.bacs.co.uk

The beauty and simplicity of using direct debit in your business is that it has no expiry date.

Many businesses continue to to use card payments to take regular customer payments, but there's an administrative burden when credit cards expire.  Coupled with this is the increased risk of customer churn if you cannot get back in touch and re-activate them as a customer.

Direct Debit really can help your business retain customers or longer.

You don't need to go through expensive, lengthy bank application processes either.  BACS Approved Bureau's like Eazy Collect can help you,  and if you meet the right criteria, you could be accepting payment by Direct Debit within a week.

If you do have any questions, please call 01242 269790 and we'd be glad to advise you on the best ways of collecting payments from your customers.

Andy Stalsberg

http://www.eazycollect.co.uk

Don't Be Concerned About VAT Changes in January 2011

Towards the end of 2010, many businesses will again suffer disruption to their billing cycles due to the 2.5% VAT increase. Such problems as notifying customers of changes, getting Standing Orders signed again, issuing revised invoices and problems getting paid on time could arise.

If you collect regular payments from your customers, you could use this opportunity to make your payment collections simpler now and you'll avoid any headaches at the end of the year.

Today is the Perfect Time to Switch to Direct Debit

Using a Direct Debit as your payment solution will enable you to make the changes in one simple move. Your customers would then be notified of the changes automatically. Done!

You'll then be in a position to modify payments as often as you like without needing anymore paperwork signed. Accept Direct Debit payments either through your website, paperless via telephone call centres, or with standard paper-based mandate forms.

Take time now to look at your business and take action to minimise any financial and administrative impact. If you'd like any further advice, you can call Eazy Collect on 01242 269 790 and we'd be happy to help out.

We all prefer to have a choice when it comes to paying for products and services from companies, whether by cash, cheque or credit/debit cards.

However an increasingly popular payment method now being employed by businesses is to use Direct Debit.  It is a system that is already widely in use by larger companies and over 75% of consumers have one in place for such things as phone and utility bills. 

Advances in technology now allow small and medium sized companies to accept Direct Debit payments either through their own website as part of a purchasing process or handle form-based payments through the office.

This payment system is ideal for companies that charge regular payments for their services on either a monthly, quarterly or annual basis and can make a massive impact to the bottom line.

Improve Your Bottom Line by:

• Getting More Customers: Your potential customers have an increased choice, so where potential buyers do not have a credit or debit card (and there are plenty of them), then a direct debit may tip the balance.

• Getting Even More Customers: Offer better payment plans, rather than customers being put off buying due to full payment being required up-front.

• Keeping More Customers: Once your customers are signed-up, they are less likely to switch, as the regular amount is budgeted and it is often not worth the hassle, even if they were considering moving to a competitor.

• Improving Your Cash Flow: Direct Debits offer a far better payment plan than processing cheques and standing orders, since payments are made on a regular basis and any errors can be rectified immediately rather than weeks later if problems occur with cheques or standing orders.

• Reducing Your Administration Costs: Using Direct Debits reduces administration time associated with producing invoices and banking cheques or cash and allows you to perhaps issue a single annual invoice with the direct debit being used to collect the regular amounts.

If your business needs to collect regular payment amounts from its customers, then call Eazy Collect on 01242 269790 to discuss how we can help you.  Or visit www.eazycollect.co.uk for more information.

Eazy Collect is an Authorised BACS Bureau and acts in accordance with all payment industry regulatory guidelines and security standards.

Small to Medium sized businesses often suffer from cash-flow problems due to late cheque payments or unpaid Standing Orders that can go unnoticed for weeks. A new self-managed Direct Debit solution called EazyDD has been launched by Eazy Collect Services Limited to provide the ability to collect payments by Direct Debit, a scheme that is normally financially prohibitive for companies of this size.

Suitable for single person companies to Corporate organisations wishing to outsource, the Direct Debit scheme can make payment collection simple and timely where a company’s products or services are billed on a regular basis. A simple online interface or in-house office system allows companies to add Customers, amend payment terms, schedules and provides instant reporting. There are no costly accreditation costs and no software to install, allowing companies to offer Direct Debit as a payment option immediately.

Gardner Alarms director Colin Gardner MBE said “going through a long-winded direct debit approval process is only the first step to operating a direct debit scheme. Once future operational costs, staff training, software fees and ongoing management were factored into the financial equation, fully outsourcing this area to Eazy Collect Services was the most logical decision”.

For further information on the benefits of using Direct Debit, please contact Eazy Collect Services Limited on 01242 269790 or visit www.eazycollect.co.uk

Fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated in extracting credit card data from Computer Systems.  This has resulted in many serious fraud cases amounting to millions of pounds.

In an attempt to minimise fraud, the major card companies have colluded to create an industry standard known as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS).  It protects the cardholder against theft and you against revenue loss.

If you wish to handle card payments online, compliance with this PCI DSS standard is mandatory.  Indeed if you are thinking of applying for your own Merchant ID status, you will need to demonstrate compliance by a thorough vetting procedure before you can even be considered.

Much like anti-virus companies who develop software to cure viruses, the PCI standard is constantly evolving to counteract and try to pre-empt fraudsters.

Larger companies often have the infrastructure and business processes to gain and maintain compliance.  However, it is often resource that is diverted from the main business role.  For small to medium sized businesses, it is likely to be cost prohibitive, too risky and inefficient to gain compliance.

To significantly reduce the risk of lost revenues and heavy fines it is wise to partner with a fully accredited Payment Service Provider.

Eazy Collect’s payment solutions comply fully with PCI DSS standards and can help get you to Accept Credit and Debit Cards within 10 Days without any lengthy accreditation process.

A Payment Service Provider will need to adhere to 12 key requirements that form the PCI DSS:

Build and Maintain a Secure IT Network

1. Use and keep an up-to-date firewall network that will protect cardholder data.  Includes relevant network configuration diagrams, rules, services and testing processes. The firewalls must deny traffic from un-trusted networks and restrict access between public networks and those that hold cardholder data.

2. Always create strong, unique passwords for all systems and develop specific security parameters.  Always change shipped defaults as hackers use these as the first port of call.


Protect Cardholder Data

3. Protect any stored cardholder data.  Keeping stored data to an absolute minimum necessary.  Data necessary for authentication should not be stored post authorisation e.g. CVC (3 digit security code) or the 4 digit PIN number.

4. Encrypt any transmission of cardholder data across public networks such as the internet to prevent it being gathered and read by fraudsters.  Use of strong cryptography and protocols to prevent hackers reading the data.

Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program

5. Use and keep an up-to-date anti-virus software running on the network.  Detect, remove and protect against current spyware, adware and viruses.

6. Develop and maintain secure systems and software applications.  Includes maintaining strong change control procedures, installing latest software updates and having documented back-out procedures.

Have Strong Access Control Measures

7. Restrict Access to cardholder data with the business on a need-to-know only basis.  Access only allowed where it is a necessary part of a persons role.

8. Assign unique log-ins and passwords for each person with computer access so that there is a full audit trail.  Passwords of at leat 7 characters and changed every 90 days.  Use of two-factor authentication for remote access to systems.

9. Restrict physical access to areas and computers where cardholder data is held.  Entry restrictions and monitoring to prevent unauthorised access.  Secure holding of all tapes, media and paperwork that contains cardholder data.

Regularly Test and Monitor IT Networks

10. Track and monitor all access to the computer network and cardholder data.  Ensure that if users pass through from one system to another, that the individual can still be identified and that the time and date is correctly logged.

11. Document, test and measure all security systems and processes.  Perform penetration tests, intrusion detection and scans regularly to identify and correct any security weaknesses.


Maintain an Information Security Policy

12. Maintain, communicate and adhere to a policy that addresses information security.  Screening of employees for suitability and ensuring that everyone knows the importance of security and their role in protecting the data.

For further advice, please visit www.eazycollect.co.uk