As Which? takes aim on the industry, letting agents have been told they could save themselves thousands of pounds by changing to a different provider of payment card machines.
Nicholas Parnes, who has been in the property sector for 35 years, said agents have no need to pay variable fees of 2% or more on every transaction.
Agents are under fire from Which? because, the consumer watchdog claims, they are among businesses which are routinely surcharging customers who make payments by credit or debit card.
Which? has now filed a ‘super complaint’ to the Office of Fair Trading in which agents are specifically named as levying over-the-top charges.
Which? wants the passing on of debit card charges to be outlawed, and caps to be put on credit card charges.
The OFT could now investigate agents. Although Which? has claimed that estate agents abuse the practice, in reality it is letting agents who routinely handle money, taking rent and deposits by credit and debt cards.
But Parnes says that if agents switched to PaymentSense, which supplies stand-alone and portable chip and pin machines, they would save at least 1% on each credit card transaction and pay only around 10p per debit card transaction.
The lower rates charged by PaymentSense are also fixed for five years, says Parnes.
He said: “It would appear that most agents are currently overpaying for their merchant services and are under-served.
“In the past, I have been charged around £20 a month for a terminal in my office, and paid a variable rate of anywhere between 2% and 3.5%. Having rates guaranteed for up to five years is a great benefit because it allows you to budget.”
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Comments
To pay in cash cost's me close to 1% in bank charges! I pass this on to tenants who want to pay in cash but tell them to pay on line is free.
I see no reason to thin the bottom line by paying bank charges without good reason.
Try it, you may be surprised at the reaction of some who are happy to pay. Happy days.
I sincerely hope that Nicholas Parnes has paid you for this advertisement!
Have the OFT and Which not got anything better to do. They need to look at the banks and their closed shop on this, not the estate agents. I have been to many other businesses who charge extra for credit cards but are happy not to charge for cheques, even if the bank charges to take cheques. We offer the option of cash, BACS or CHAPS transfer etc. It is the tenants choice on how they pay, we do not demand a surcharge for these options. If they are looking into this, how about airline extras for luggage, they would argue that there is an option (don't take any luggage) and seem to get away with it.
Hi all!
With regard to the "Which? takes aim on letting agents over credit cards" article, I take this opportunity to set out the financial benefits of Letting and Estate Agents switching to PAYMENTSENSE for the provision of their Merchant Services.
PaymentSense are partnered with Bank of Scotland Merchant Services to supply standalone and portable Chip and Pin Machines exclusively to SME’s and they guarantee low rates on Chip and Pin terminals and Debit and Credit card processing charges.
ALL Terminal and Card processing Rates are CAPPED for up to FIVE years.
(Last year, 5 of the 6 major banks raised their prices for merchant services. HSBC raised their prices 3 times in 6 months!)
Paymentsense provide UK based Customer Services and a 24-7 technical help line. (Their competitors operate during normal business hours, often using overseas call centres)
An express Application Service without Set Up charges or Membership Fees and the installation and connection of new terminals or upgrades, operational within days!
No other supplier can achieve this (The industry norm is 4-6 weeks).
Many Small and Medium sized businesses are currently overpaying for Merchant Services and are under served.
PaymentSense saves money and helps their customers to grow their businesses.
All that I really need is to see at this time is sight of a recent Merchant Statement from your current provider so that I may prepare a quotation for you, without obligation and free of charge, of course! You may send this to me by fax to 0208 959 7900 or by e-mail, if you prefer, as an attachment.
OR
If you prefer, just give me a call on 0808 284 9652 (Freephone) for more information
Whether you are new to cards or not we may help you!
I look forward to hearing from you!!.
With kind regards
Nicholas
BTW:
PaymentSense are also partnered with Bank of Scotland Merchant Services to supply Virtual Terminal/ Gateway and E-Commerce services at exceptionally low rates exclusively to SME’s. PaymentSense has the most robust and cost-effective solution for SME’s looking to accept payments online. Whether new to card payments or shopping around after yet another price increase from your current provider. •Virtual Terminal and E-Commerce account •Merchant Management System •Multiple Currencies •Integration support •Fraud Screening •Low annual fee. •250 free transactions per month & Discounted merchant acquiring rates.
NICHOLAS PARNES
nicholas.parnes@paymentsense.com
http://www.paymentsense.co.uk/
Tel no: 0808 284 9652 (Freephone)
Fax no: 0208 959 7900
PaymentSense is registered with Visa Europe and Mastercard as a Merchant Service provider of Bank of Scotland Merchant Services. Bank of Scotland Merchant Services is a service provided to Bank of Scotland by First Data.
More businesses sign up with PaymentSense than with any other Merchant Service provider in the UK.
***No Set Up costs***No Membership Fees or Installation costs***Capped rates***Guaranteed low rates*****24/7 UK based Technical and Customer Support***Quick Set up (within days)***State of the art and Future proof Terminals***
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