The Top 7 Myths about Payment Processing – Debunked.

I’ve scoured the web for the most common myths regarding payment processing, and why North Payments really means what it says.

1.     “We have 200+ Payment Methods”

Most processors consider each type of credit card and gateway as a method. North Payments really does have over 200 payment methods that the merchant can choose from. We work with over 40 acquiring banks, we are not restricted to one bank, so we can provide as many and any payment method a merchant wishes to take, from China UnionPay to American Express to Apple Pay and PayPal.

2.     “We offer subscription payments.”

North Payments really does offer recurring payments and transactions, and not just via a third party or a wallet. From the start of the application process, we can integrate recurring payments using an acquiring bank in your payment gateway at no extra cost.

3.     “We have easy onboarding”

Most payment processors are just a payment gateway which means you must find your own acquiring bank to provide you with an internet merchant account. At North Payments, we provide both the gateway and an internet merchant account in one package so onboarding really is quick and easy.

4.     “We help with chargebacks and refunds”

It is true that we make money from every transaction you make, regardless of whether the transaction is successful or not, however unlike other payment processors North Payments has a chargeback programme in place to help merchants be proactive and reduce the number of chargebacks they receive. We use a risk reporting software that will also detect and stop fraud before they even become chargebacks. We want our merchants to be as successful as possible.

5.     “We have transparency in pricing”

North Payments is 100% transparent. When you sign a contract with us, we explain that dealing with chargebacks costs extra. However, unlike other payment processors, we have absolutely no monthly or set-up fees and all our processing rates are dependent on your volumes. We do not have a tiered rates system.

6.     “We improve authorisation rates”

At North Payments, we have proof that we have helped one of our clients increase transaction approval rate by 30%, thereby increasing their revenue. We approve more transactions than other payment processors as our fraud and risk technology is the best out there, so it really only stops fraudulent transactions and not real ones.

7.     “We can help anyone sell online”

We really can, as we offer an internet merchant account and payment gateway in one package. It doesn’t matter how many countries you want to trade in, we can provide one acquirer to deal with all your trading needs, unlike other payment processors who will only provide a gateway and also require you to have a separate merchant account for each country you wish to trade in.

Why is the progression of electronic B2B payments so slow?

It is important that B2B businesses switch to electronic payments to keep up with the fast pace of today’s demands, as cheques will soon become irrelevant and too slow for expanding businesses however, the electronification of business-to-business (B2B) supplier payments has been progressing at a much slower, albeit steady, pace compared to business-to-consumer (B2C) payments. There has been a lot of speculation as to why B2B payment conversion is so slow.

There are a few problems that have cropped up regarding B2B electronic payment conversion, which is causing the process to be so slow. All parties involved in making payments want to be able to control every aspect of their payment. Payers want to control the timing of disbursements; suppliers want to accelerate collection of payments and this process is something that is not so easy to control with automatic electronic payments when you have data to consider at each step of the supply chain.

Firstly, most businesses have many customers and suppliers. It is not unusual, for example, for a large B2B company to have hundreds of thousands of suppliers in their vendor database. Electronic payments become too time-consuming when you have to go to each individual company, find out their account details, in order to send them a payment, and then store and update these details when necessary. On the other hand, when making cheque payments, all you need to know is your supplier’s address – and that should already be in your database.

There are also regulatory issues: Different governments have different rules and ways in which they view the flow of a payment, and companies need to deal with that in order to comply with separate laws. This also takes time and effort to implement when dealing with electronic payments.

The third issue is the business model in B2B payments. Business models in B2C are really simple and understood by the consumer, but in B2B, different supply chains have different rules, different interactions within the business and with other companies and even different B2B companies have different business models. A more flexible approach to these different interactions and the ability to deliver payments that work around different business models needs to be introduced to speed up the uptake of electronic payments.

Technology changes also need to be addressed. In the B2B space, data matters. Data lives in back office information systems – in ERP, purchase-to-pay systems, order-to-cash systems, electronic invoicing systems, and more. The data received at certain points in the supply chain can determine or change the destination, amount, speed or volume of a certain payment. Cheques can be cancelled at any time, whereas when electronic payments are sent they are automatic and instant. What is needed is the ability to change the payment once it has been sent electronically.

North Payments offers fast application to combat these issues, along with competitive rates. North Payments offers scalable and flexible solutions to adapt to any business model. We are able to change payment modules at the press of a button, leaving a business to quickly change payment data according to business models or data received at different intervals in the supply chain.

North Payments can help take B2B companies into the digital age, paving the way for more similar companies to do the same.

North Payments’ payment solutions are fully integrated to support Apple Pay

North Payments, a leading UK-based provider of online payment technology, is one of the first payment processing providers in Europe that already has the technology in place to fully support payments from Apple Pay.

Apple Pay is designed to replace your wallet. Installed on the iPhone 6 models and iWatch is a Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna so a customer simply has to hold their Apple Pay enabled smartphone near a contactless payment reader with a finger on the Touch ID sensor, Apple’s fingerprint-scanning technology, in order to pay for anything they want. Apple Pay can also be used to pay within apps just as quickly and easily. Simply select Apple Pay to pay and place your finger over the Touch ID and the customer has paid.

Security fears that have halted the digital and mobile payments revolution may be a thing of the past as using Apple Pay could be more secure than using a credit or debit card. Apple Pay assigns each card a unique device account number, which is then used to process the payment instead of using your card number. No sensitive details, such as a customer’s name or card expiry date, are stored on Apple servers and no transaction history is saved.

Companies like Google, with their wallet Google Wallet solution, have previously tried to change the way we make payments, with a click or a swipe to replace cards, but with little success. With Apple’s established influence, and the fact their payment technology is already implemented on their newest models of smartphones, Apple Pay is the first time that there could be a real mainstream digital payment revolution accessible to all. It is clear too that Apple wants this to be a global reality, as Apple Pay is integrated with all the major credit and debit cards in the USA including VISA, MasterCard and American Express.

North Payments is always at the forefront of payment technology with many solutions and plugins in place to support any eCommerce platform and alternative payment method a merchant wishes to use. As such, North Payments has launched a plugin to support Apple Pay payments, which is available now to merchants. North Payments understands that consumers want to buy into Apple’s brand and a merchant who is able to implement Apple Pay as an alternative payment method into a checkout system will hold an advantage to their competitors, not only for the speed and simplicity of use but also for the safety and security the customer feels when using Apple Pay. Merchants need to stay ahead of the curve and North Payments, together with Apple, can help spur on the digital payments revolution.

About North Payments: North Payments is a leading provider of payment services enabling businesses to transact online safely, fast and with ease. By allowing companies to process payments quickly and in multiple currencies with confidence and ease, North Payments increases revenues whilst reducing risk and costs of doing business. Supporting FTSE listed companies as well as small businesses, North Payments is transforming online business.

The Future is Bright…The Future is Alternative Payments

According to a new report by GP Bullhound on the future of technology payments, the use of the humble credit card is fading as virtual and physical payments are instead becoming one-click mobile checkouts.

It is something I believe everyone in the industry saw coming: this new report states that alternative payments as a group are forecast to account for close to 60% of the total online transaction value by 2017 – up from 43% in 2012. Alternative payment methods are the driving force behind big business now, which I have seen first-hand. I know one reason why my payment processing business, North Payments, is so successful is because we will offer any kind of alternative payment the merchant wants, be it China Union Pay, Google Wallet or PayPal, because these forms of payment are becoming more and more popular to the consumer, due to safety and security at checkout and ease of payment.

Mobile payments are becoming one of the biggest trends in alternative payments. Now companies like Apple (with their creation Apple Pay) have seen the huge money-making potential in alternative payment products so consumers can buy goods and services easier, faster and with more security than using a credit card online or at the checkout.

We saw an exciting gap in the market and North Payments has become one of the first payment processing companies in Europe to offer Apple Pay as an alternative payment, which is proving extremely popular method of payment for our merchants to offer.

Technology is built to fit around consumer’s lifestyles, which are faster and busier than ever before. If companies can offer services which speed up or simplify things, such as making a transaction, then consumers will latch on to these technologies quickly. If people can avoid carrying around credit cards but still make payments safely and easily then they will.

In many ways, the mobile is this bridge between the online and the offline world, providing the consumer with new ways to transact while broadening the scope of what is currently defined as an “online payment transaction”.

The future, I believe will continue towards developing payment methods that make it as easy as possible for the consumer to complete an online purchase, no matter from which type of device.

Plastc – Too Good To Be True?

Plastc is a new electronic payment device, which wants to make your life easier. Plastc stores all your credit cards, loyalty and gift cards on the one card, but is the size and shape of a normal credit card, fitting easily into your wallet. It pairs with an app on your phone, on which you can store an unlimited amount of cards, whereas the actual electronic device only stores 20 cards at any one time. You can toggle between your cards through a touch screen to decide which one to pay with and then swipe or use your PIN as normal when paying.  Impressively, Plastc plans to launch with seven partner banks, including American Express, Citi and Chase, and supports Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

No one will deny that that is a lot of information stored on one card, the first question that comes to mind is, “Is that secure?” but the Plastc device has a PIN lock and must be synced to a smartphone at all times so if you (perhaps unknowingly) become separated from your card, you will receive proximity alerts to you phone. After a certain period of time away from your card, it automatically deletes all data on the card. The app will also and impressively have facial recognition technology to verify identity when dealing with sensitive data.

This is a truly revolutionary product. Storing all cards in one would solve many a problem of today’s lifestyle. But is this all too good to be true? It may very well be. There is currently no functioning prototype for Plastc, and it is planned for release in less than a years time. A similar card, Coin, launched in 2013 and was due to be shipped last year, however was pushed back to 2014 for reasons not given, however Coin has still at least been beta tested.

The security protection does seem extremely convincing, however as a fraud and risk specialist, I see a couple of flaws here. I know how easy it is to retrieve PIN details, and one PIN on the card itself is perhaps not safe enough. Most worryingly, perhaps, is that apps can be hacked. This is nothing new, there have been many incidents of computer hacking and the release of sensitive information in recent years and this app could be the perfect target for cyber criminals. Another possible problem is that if your battery on your phone dies then one assumes the card doesn’t work anymore. Plastc wants to become the only card you need when you are out, but if the card only works when it is synced to your phone and the phone is technically “dead”, then the only form of payment you have for the night is gone.

Facial recognition seems very “Minority Report” too, but I wonder, if it is so easy to implement, why is this futuristic type of security not available everywhere now? If, and when, Plastc is released in 2015, will this technology actually be on the app or will it be simply too difficult to implement?

Another possibly fatal flaw is that Plastc is only supposed to have a 30-day battery life. If you simply forget to charge it or lose Plastc, you could find yourself stuck with no way to get home for the night.

I don’t think Plastc will fully replace a normal credit card. As we can see there are many possible flaws that can occur with Plastc. People always prepare for the worst-case scenario and will probably always carry a normal credit card as well as Plastc, thereby not fully solving the problem of no cards needed. I think mobile payment technology, especially Apple Pay, will take off much quicker than Plastc as people usually always have their phones with them, making Plastc redundant.

Until something like this is fully trustworthy, I do not think I want to be the one to road test is and find myself stuck. If it works, I think it is fantastic. Let’s keep an eye out for when Summer 2015 comes around, we will either results or the stalling of a too-good-to-be-true idea.