Help switching card payment provider
Switching sounds like a job. In practice it is a statement, a five-minute comparison, one call and a terminal swap. Here is exactly what happens, in order.
Step 1 — Check your contract
Before anything else, find out when your current agreement ends and whether there is an exit fee. Most card machine contracts run for 12, 18 or 48 months, and some renew automatically unless you give notice.
Call your provider and ask for your contract end date and your settlement figure in writing. You are entitled to both, and nothing about asking commits you to anything.
Step 2 — Get your real numbers
Take your most recent monthly statement and note seven things: card machine rental, debit rate, credit rate, business card rate, PCI fee, authorisation fee and anything listed as other or miscellaneous.
Those seven figures are all the free calculator needs. You don't have to give anyone your details to run it.
Step 3 — Compare, then decide
Put your figures in next to the published Open Rates prices and see the monthly and annual difference. If it isn't worth moving, you have lost five minutes and nobody will ring you.
If it is worth moving, you choose whether to take it further. That is the whole point of the site.
Step 4 — One call, then the paperwork
If you ask to move forward, you get one call at the rates you have already seen on screen. A consultant confirms the package, answers your questions, and only then is there anything to sign.
The application is short. You will normally need your business details, bank details for settlement and proof of ID.
Step 5 — Terminal swap and first settlements
Your new terminal arrives pre-configured. You plug it in, take a test payment, and send the old one back in the packaging provided. There is no closed period and no day without card payments — you keep trading throughout.
Settlements usually land in your account on the next working day. Your first full statement on the new rates arrives at the end of your first month.
What you don't have to do
- You don't have to cancel anything yourself before you know the numbers.
- You don't have to close your bank account or change your card details.
- You don't have to take a call at all unless you ask for one.
- You don't have to be tied in — our contract exit fee is published at £0.
Have this to hand before the call
- Your latest card processing statement
- Your current contract end date and any exit fee
- Rough monthly card turnover and average transaction value
- Business bank details for settlement