Ready, Fire, Aim! Last week, the bill that would have given congress more time to evaluate the ramifications of the Durbin Amendment, was defeated. This means that congress now has just a few weeks to figure out how the Durbin Amendment will be implemented. Industry giants are frustrated, financial institutions are frustrated and consumers are left wondering how the ‘financial reform’ bill will affect them- the answer to that question is pretty simple: NO ONE REALLY KNOWS YET! Debit Card Questions: Will my limits be reduced? Will my rewards program be eliminated? Will my card now come with additional fees? Merchant Questions: How will the changes impact my fees? Will I need to change the way I accept credit cards? Processor Questions: How do we deal with the

Conflict is a part of our every day lives; families, children, coworkers, business partners and even strangers have many reasons to find themselves in the middle of a ‘conflict’. For some, conflict is an 8 letter word- one that conjures up feelings of discomfort and pain. For others, it is a word that is synonymous with growth and forward progress. Each month at TMC, we gather as a team and review the previous 30 days of work. We look for the things we did well, the areas that need improvement and we work in an educational session on a topic that impacts our team on both a personal and professional level. This last week- we discussed conflict (we even added some role playing exercises which turned out to

The Internet is a wonderful thing and our team uses it every day! Unfortunately, the Internet is also a place filled with hidden dangers and all kinds of risks as it relates to security, privacy and protection of your personal and business data & computers. We thought you might appreciate and benefit from a few tips on how to prevent Cyber Crime- or at least minimize your personal risk! Click on the link below for some valuable information. PREVENTING CYBER CRIME ARTICLE We discuss credit card fraud prevention every day and this is just one more piece of the puzzle! Stay Safe Out There! Cheri PerrySunday, June 5, 2011

We just chatted with a business owner, who once loved her prior processor. The key phrase is “once loved” because we just helped her do the math on her equipment lease. Her old processor “helped” her out with a low monthly lease payment of $44 a month; which she has been happily paying for the past 10 years. Her processor has billed her a total of $5280 in payments for a credit card terminal we sold 10 years ago for $499. Can you hear the love leave the room? At Total Merchant Concepts, we rarely recommend leases. Every once in a blue moon, an attorney or CPA can make the fiscal case for a small business to sign a lease for a credit card terminal. But in most

PCI Compliance is something that most merchants are familiar with these days. Each year, merchants are required to prove that they are handling credit card data properly, that their systems are secure and that the processes they have in place protect the card data. It all sounds good right? Protect card holder information, make sure everything is safe and secure…….but what happens when things go wrong? We have been fortunate at Total Merchant Concepts in that we have never had a merchant sustain a breach however, in the past two weeks we have been referred to two separate merchants who have been told by their processing companies that their Point of Sale system had been hacked. One merchant is looking at nearly $50,000.00 in fines in addition to

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Mommies, Moms, Mothers, Mamas & Grandmas out there! Every day is special when you are a Mom but TODAY is the one day per year set aside to really honor Mom- for all of the many things she does! Here are some fun facts about Mother’s Day- This year, the average person will be spend $126.90 on gifts, flowers & meals for their Mom Americans buy 140 million cards for Mother’s Day There are about 83 million Mothers in the United States Mother’s Day is the 2nd biggest gift giving holiday in America People will spend 1.9 billion dollars on flowers for Mother’s Day The most popular type of flowers are mixed bouquets, carnations, daffodils, roses & tulips The total spending