Phil Hinke

Articles by: Phil Hinke

Phil Hinke

Phil Hinke's background is engineering. However, he has been in the credit card processing industry since 1994. His experiences ranges from being a salesperson to a senior vice president at one of the largest merchant account providers. He now runs MerchantFeeSavers, an educational and consulting service, and MLS Advocate, an unbiased savings-analysis-service for merchants.

He educates merchants, provides free statement audits, and helps merchants get the best processing value by negotiating with their current providers or by providing a blind bid for the merchant's processing.

Contact Phil at phil@merchantfeesavers.com, or visit MerchantFeeSavers.

Payments
Credit Card Processing: October 2013 Rate Changes, EMV Terminals

October 15, 2013 • Phil Hinke

Now is a good time for merchants to start noting how their provider is handling card company fee changes as well as any future rate and fee changes, especially if ...
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Avoid No-detail Credit Card Processing Statements

September 19, 2013 • Phil Hinke

I have addressed the importance of understanding credit card processing statements in previous articles. However, I’ve recently seen statements with little or minimal detail that make it virtually impossible to ...
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Latest Court Decision on Debit Card Processing Fees

August 22, 2013 • Phil Hinke

On July 31, 2013 U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided with retailers and rejected the debit interchange rate cap set by Federal Reserve under the Durbin Amendment in 2011. The ...
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Beware Credit Card Processing Fees, Especially Refunds

July 17, 2013 • Phil Hinke

Merchants periodically send me their credit card processing agreements after they have negotiated new pricing with their existing provider or when changing providers. Usually, I find that the merchant has done a good job of negotiating rates and monthly fees. However, some of the peri...
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Credit Card Processing: Be Wary of Savings Analyses

June 18, 2013 • Phil Hinke

If you have been reading my articles, you know I do not believe business owners should give their credit card merchant statements to competing providers. Merchant statements disclose the pricing that competitors need to win over the account at the highest possible profit to them. Th...
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Blaming Credit Card Associations for Rate Changes

May 16, 2013 • Phil Hinke

Visa, MasterCard, and Discover generally change rates and terms in April and October. However, they can make changes at other times during the year, as will happen this year. Unfortunately, over the years, some providers have taken advantage of these changes by increasing their rates an...
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Merchants Using Interchange-Plus Pricing Continue to Overpay

April 11, 2013 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest article, below, addresses misconceptions with interchang...
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Credit Card Processing: How to React to a Rate Increase

March 13, 2013 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest article, below, addresses how merchants should react to ...
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Credit Card Processing: The Cost of Not Auditing Statements

February 13, 2013 • Phil Hinke

I was a keynote speaker at a recent meeting of U.S. and Canadian merchants. Whenever I present, I invite merchants to bring their processing statements and their merchant contracts so I can audit them afterwards. Before starting, I always ask each merchant how often he audits his statem...
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U.S. Merchants Can Now Charge for Credit Card Transactions

January 31, 2013 • Phil Hinke

In November 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved a proposed settlement agreement with Visa and MasterCard. As part of the settlement, Visa and MasterCard were required to allow merchants to charge for certain credit card transactions ...
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How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms: Follow-up

December 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: This is a follow-up article to the just completed four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics," "Part 2: Attitude," "Part 3: Preparation," and "Part 4: Negotiations" we published pre...
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How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 4: Negotiations

November 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: This is "Part 4" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics," "Part 2: Attitude," and “Part 3: Preparation” we published previously. Before starting any negotiations, make s...
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How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 3: Preparation

October 11, 2012 • Phil Hinke

This is "Part 3" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics" and "Part 2: Attitude" we published previously. Note that this series is specific to ecommerce merchants. It can be used as a g...
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How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 2: Attitude

September 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke

This article is "Part 2" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics" we published last month. Note that this series is specific to ecommerce merchants. It can be used as a general guide b...
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How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 1: The Basics

August 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor’s Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry ...
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Visa, MasterCard Settlement Not an Automatic Win for Merchants

July 19, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Visa, MasterCard and 13 of the country's biggest banks have agreed to pay $7.25 billion to retailers in a settlement from a lawsuit over price-fixing on credit card transaction fees. The settlement, on behalf of about 7 million retailers, could be the largest antitrust class-action set...
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Avoid Credit Card Processing Proposals with AVS Fees

June 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help them lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest installment is below. There have been a few cases ...
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Credit Card Providers Increasing Rates and Fees

May 17, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a credit-card veteran who now consults with merchants on lowering their processing costs. Hinke believes the credit card processing industry is often unfair to merchants. He explains his views in his articles for us, including the one below. It’...
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Credit Card Processing: Red Flags for Ecommerce Merchants, Part 3

April 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with ecommerce merchants on ways to lower their processing costs. Hinke believes merchants frequently overpay for credit card processing. His piece below is the third installment o...
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Credit Card Processing: Red Flags for Ecommerce Merchants, Part 2

March 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with ecommerce merchants on ways to lower their processing costs. Hinke believes merchants frequently overpay for credit card processing. His piece below is the second installment ...
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Credit Card Processing: Red Flags for Ecommerce Merchants, Part 1

February 17, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with ecommerce merchants on ways to lower their processing costs. Hinke believes merchants frequently overpay for credit card processing. His piece below is the first installment o...
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Credit Card Processing: Don’t Be Seduced by Teaser Rates

January 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help them lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest installment is below. In "Durbin Amendment May Fos...
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Credit Card Processing: ‘Interchange-Plus’ Pricing Not Necessarily Fair, Part 3

December 15, 2011 • Phil Hinke

Editor’s Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a credit-card veteran who now consults with merchants on lowering their processing costs. Hinke believes the credit card processing industry is often unfair to ...
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Credit Card Processing: ‘Interchange-Plus’ Pricing Not Necessarily Fair, Part 2

November 11, 2011 • Phil Hinke

I am a strong advocate of interchange-plus pricing. To date, I have allowed only merchant account providers that offer interchange-plus pricing to bid for my clients' business. However, I am also concerned about how some providers and salespeople appear to be pitching interchange-plus pricing as a panacea for ensuring merchants are being priced fairly.
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Credit Card Processing: ‘Interchange-Plus’ Pricing Not Necessarily Fair

October 11, 2011 • Phil Hinke

I am not only upset with what I am seeing in the in the card processing industry right now, I am disgusted with how merchants are being taken advantage of.
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Credit Card Salespeople Don’t Understand Ecommerce Merchants

September 13, 2011 • Phil Hinke

This article is my latest installment on deceptive credit card practices that harm ecommerce merchants. I have worked in the credit card processing industry since 1994 and every year I get more disgusted with the tactics used on merchants. I now own a consulting firm that advises merc...
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Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 4: The Merchant Statement – Per Item Fees

August 11, 2011 • Phil Hinke

This article is "Part 4" in a series where I help you understand your debit and credit card fees. In last month’s installment — "Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 3: Punitive Interchange Rates" — I explained how to decode your merchant statement to distinguish the actual interchange...
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Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 3: Punitive Interchange Rates

July 14, 2011 • Phil Hinke

This is the third installment in a series where I help you understand your credit and debit card fees. In last month’s article, "Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 2: Merchant Account Fees and Charges," I discussed the various monthly and annual fees charged by merchant account provid...
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Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 2: Merchant Account Fees and Charges

June 29, 2011 • Phil Hinke

In “Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 1: The Basics,” I outlined the information you need to know to receive the best rates from your merchant account provider. This article is "Part 2" of that series where I help you understand your credit card fees. In this installment, I address...
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Durbin Amendment May Foster Deceptive Credit, Debit Processing Fees

June 21, 2011 • Phil Hinke

The Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act takes effect on July 21, 2011. One of the key points in the Amendment requires large financial institutions to cap their debit card interchange fees. Currently, the scheduled cap is 12 cents per transaction. However, that ...