What is a Payment Gateway?

Simply put, a payment gateway is the connection between an online payment device (i.e. website, phone etc...) and the bank that processes any given credit card transaction. Whether being used for an eCommerce store, or a mobile payment application, the payment gateway is a piece of software that works behind the scenes to securely transfer sensitive credit card information from an online payment form to the payment processor.

To get a visual idea of how it works, take a look at the picture below:

Payment Gateway Vs Merchant Account

Sometimes people get the payment gateway confused with the merchant account, but they are two different things. If you look again at the picture above, you can see that the payment gateway is part of a larger process. The phrase "merchant account" is the umbrella term that defines that larger process. In other words, having a merchant account gives you the privilege of being a part of that process by allowing you to accept credit cards. The payment gateway is just the software application that plugs your website or mobile phone into that process.

When necessary, your merchant account provider will bundle a payment gateway with your merchant account so you can accept online payments. Most of the time that gateway will be Authorize.Net because it's so popular. However, some providers have in-house gateways like the Quantum Gateway by CDGcommerce which competes with Authorize.Net.

Payment Gateway Features

Here are some of the major features you can expect to get from a payment gateway:

Payment Gateway Integration

Payment gateway integration refers to the process by which one would connect the gateway software to some sort of payment device. That device is usually an eCommerce shopping cart. The integration process can be easy or difficult depending on how you're integrating. If you're using a shopping cart like Shopify or MagentoGo, there are pre-built payment gateway modules that make integration a breeze. It's when the shopping cart doesn't have a pre-built module that integration becomes tough. In that case, you'll have to do a custom integration which requires the talents of a knowledgeable web developer.

Conclusion

So there you have it! If you're an eCommerce merchant, you better believe that you're going to be using a payment gateway to process online payments. So make sure that the gateway offers the features you're looking for, and that it integrates easily with the shopping cart software that you're using.

Why You Shouldn’t Lease a Credit Card Machine

One of the biggest mistakes a small merchant can make is choosing to lease a credit card machine rather than purchase one. I can't blame them though, because after all, it does sound appealing -- especially if you're strapped for start-up capital.

Although the practice of leasing has declined in recent years, some sales reps will still try and convince you that leasing is the right option for you. They'll tell you a bunch of great things like, "you're not required to pay any money up front," or "you're guaranteed a replacement terminal if yours breaks."

Those selling points might sound good, but I'm here to tell you that they're not. I'm here to tell you that a terminal lease will end up costing you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. I'm also here to tell you that with the fees you'll end up paying to lease a terminal, you could purchase that same machine in a matter of months...if not immediately. Heck, you could probably buy more than one.

Additionally, if you lease a terminal you may also be required to purchase equipment insurance, which is another added cost. And, not to mention, you may even have to return the damn thing at the end of your lease. WTF?!

Why Buying a Credit Card Machine is the Best Option

Listen, a terminal lease carries with it a 48 month lease agreement (which is the usual term). The cost of that lease can run anywhere from $50-$100/month. That is a LONG time to be paying for a machine that doesn't cost more than $400 these days. Why not just purchase one outright?

The cost of the purchase is completely tax deductible, and you won't get stuck paying $2400 for a machine that costs $400. That's 600 percent in interest over the course of four years. Yikes!

Even if you can't afford to pay cash for your machine, you can just charge it to a business credit card. The interest paid is still tax deductible, and assuming you have a 14 percent APR, if you pay the same $50/month toward your credit card balance that you would have paid toward your lease, you'll have the terminal paid off in less than nine months. That's a savings of nearly $2,000 that can be better directed into developing and expanding your business. It's really a no-brainer.

The "Free" Credit Card Machine

Some processors offer up "free" terminals to their merchants, but as we all know, there is nothing free in this world. Generally, a free terminal carries with it a yearly "Terminal Replacement" or "Warranty" charge of anywhere between $50-$100/year. That's still much less than what a lease would cost you though.

So, if you can't buy one, see if your processor will give you one for "free." Both CDGcommerce and Gotmerchant.com have a free terminal program that'll run you about $79/year.

Conclusion

If you're already locked into a lease, you most likely won't able to break the contract. As I mentioned before, a lease term is usually 48 months, so you'll have to find out when that term ends before you can walk away without a penalty.

If you're not currently in a lease, but are considering one, don't be deceived by exaggerated claims from sales reps. Instead, do your own homework and calculate the total cost of leasing vs. owning. I'm sure you'll find that the best and most affordable option lies in ownership.

What is a Virtual Terminal?

A virtual terminal is basically the web version of a physical credit card terminal or Point-of-Sale (POS) machine. It is a software application that is hosted online, usually on the service provider's servers, and can be accessed from any internet connected web-browser.

A virtual terminal will allow you to input your customer's credit card information directly into a web-based payment form, which you can then use to process an electronic transaction.

To get a visual idea of what a virtual terminal looks like, see the picture below:

(Click to Enlarge)

As you can see, the virtual terminal web-form looks pretty much like any payment form that you'd find on an eCommerce website.

You just fill out the required information, and hit the "Submit" button.

Historically, Mail Order or Telephone Order (MOTO) merchants were ideal candidates for a virtual terminal, since they don't have access to a physical credit card, but that has changed in recent months.

A few merchant account providers (like CDGcommerce) have begun offering a USB credit card reader that connects to your virtual terminal, so you can process card-present transactions right through your computer.

Here's an example of what one of those card reader's looks like:

So what you do is hook up this reader to your PC, which interacts with your virtual terminal. Then, when you want to process a payment where you have the actual physical credit card, you can just swipe it through the reader. Pretty cool!

The obvious advantage of using something like this is that you won't have to buy/rent/lease a traditional credit card terminal if you're only processing retail credit transactions without a signature. The downside of course, is that you can't collect signature's or accept debit transactions. At least, not yet.

As I mentioned above, I like the CDGcommerce USB reader option, but there are more and more providers that are starting to offer this service, so ask around.

The Bad Credit Merchant Account

Have poor credit? These days it's hard to find someone who doesn't.

I can't count how many emails I've received from merchants desperate to get a merchant account, but unable to do so because of their low credit score. The truth is that they can get a merchant account...they're just not looking in the right place.

Most processors have a low risk tolerance and aren't willing to accept merchants with bad credit...unless they can minimize the risk somehow. Below you'll find some ways that you can help alleviate that risk for them.

How to Obtain a Merchant Account Even w/ Bad Credit

There you have it! All is not lost when you have bad credit.

Learning About the Terminated Merchant File (TMF) aka MATCH List

Chances are, you're reading this article because you've just found out that you've been added to the Terminated Merchant File (TMF) or MATCH list. And now you're scrambling to figure out what this "list" or "file" actually is, and how you can get yourself off of it. Am I right?

Well, don't feel too bad, because you're not the only merchant who's been caught off guard. The truth is that most merchants don't know that they are TMF'd or MATCH'd until they submit an application for a new account elsewhere and find that they are declined. At which point, the reason for the decline is revealed to them.

I hope that in this case, I'm catching you before you've been placed on the MATCH list, but if not, I'll do my best to help you out anyway.

You might have already noticed that this infamous "list" goes by a couple names:

1. Terminated Merchant File (TMF), and...
2. MATCH (Member Alert to Control High-Risk).

Until recently, "Terminated Merchant File (TMF)" was the default term used by everyone, but lately it has been replace by "MATCH." So, for the sake of this article, we're also going to refer to it as MATCH, but just remember that they both pretty much mean the same thing. I also want to clarify that I'll be using the words "list" and "file" interchangeably as well.

What is MATCH?

MATCH is a system created and managed by MasterCard. It is essentially a database that houses information about businesses (and their owners) whose credit card processing privileges have been terminated for reasons which I'll discuss later.

It is used by acquiring banks (aka merchant processing banks) to screen potential applicants to see if that applicant has been terminated in the past. Acquiring banks also have the ability to add or remove merchants to or from the MATCH database, given they have justification.

In a nutshell, the MATCH file is like a "blacklist" that banks can cross-check when they take on new business. That way, they won't get stuck with any bad apples.

The biggest downside to the MATCH system is that MasterCard does not verify or confirm the accuracy of the information reported to or listed in the MATCH database by the acquiring bank. As you can see, that gives the acquirer full discretion in deciding whom to add to the list. It's a system without any checks and balances, which is a bit dangerous if you ask me.

What Happens When You're MATCH'd?

When a merchant is placed on the MATCH list, the business name, principal, and any business partners are all recorded on file and basically blackballed (for the most part) from opening any new merchant accounts elsewhere. Once on the MATCH, it is extremely difficult to obtain a new merchant account by any other bank.

Since merchant processing is a business with a high risk of loss to the banks, MATCH is used by the banks to see if the risk of opening an account is less than a bank's risk tolerance.

If an acquiring bank finds that a merchant applicant is in the MATCH system, they are allowed to contact the prior bank who placed that merchant on the list and ask why that particular account was shut down. From there they can make a decision to accept the application, decline the application, or provide a conditional acceptance based on certain restrictions to prevent a similar type of scenario.

Why Do Merchants Get MATCH'd?

The reasons for being added to the MATCH database can vary. Having too many chargebacks, participating in fraudulent activity, or money laundering are all activities that can get you listed.

In the past, MasterCard made it really easy for acquiring banks to add merchant's to the list, but in recent years, they've become more strict with their guidelines.

Here's a quick table I pulled from the MasterCard website (see table 11.3). The numbers before each category are "reason codes," so if somehow you only have a reason code, you can look for it in the table to find out what it means.

Code	Description
01	Account Data Compromise The Merchant unknowingly or unintentionally facilitated, by any means, the unauthorized disclosure or use of account information.
02	Common Point of Purchase (CPP) The Merchant knowingly caused or facilitated, by any means, the unauthorized disclosure or use of account information.
03	Laundering The Merchant was engaged in laundering activity. Laundering means that a Merchant presented to its Acquirer Transaction records that were not valid Transactions for sales of goods or services between that Merchant and a bona fide Cardholder.
04	Excessive Chargebacks With respect to a Merchant reported by a MasterCard Acquirer, the Merchant's chargebacks in any single month exceeded 1% of its MasterCard sales Transactions in that month, and those chargebacks totaled USD 5,000 or more. With respect to a merchant reported by an American Express acquirer (ICA numbers 102 through 125), the merchant exceeded the chargeback thresholds of American Express, as determined by American Express.
05	Excessive Fraud The Merchant effected fraudulent Transactions of any type (counterfeit or otherwise) meeting or exceeding the following minimum reporting Standard: the Merchant's fraud-to-sales dollar volume ratio was 8% or greater in a calendar month, and the Merchant effected 10 or more fraudulent Transactions totaling USD 5,000 or more in that calendar month.
07	Fraud Conviction There was a criminal fraud conviction of a principal owner or partner of the Merchant.
09	Bankruptcy/Liquidation/Insolvency The Merchant was unable or is likely to become unable to discharge its financial obligations.
10	Violation of Standards With respect to a Merchant reported by a MasterCard Acquirer, the Merchant was in violation of one or more Standards that describe procedures to be employed by the Merchant in Transactions in which Cards are used, including, by way of example and not limitation, the Standards for honoring all Cards, displaying the Marks, charges to Cardholders, minimum/maximum Transaction amount restrictions, and prohibited Transactions set forth in Chapter 5 of the MasterCard Rules manual. With respect to a merchant reported by an American Express acquirer (ICA numbers 102 through 125), the merchant was in violation of one or more American Express bylaws, rules, operating regulations, and policies that set forth procedures to be employed by the merchant in transactions in which American Express cards are used.
11	Merchant Collusion The Merchant participated in fraudulent collusive activity.
12	PCI Data Security Standard Noncompliance The Merchant failed to comply with Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard requirements.
13	Illegal Transactions The Merchant was engaged in illegal Transactions.
14	Identity Theft The Acquirer has determined that the identity of the listed Merchant or its principal owner(s) was unlawfully assumed for the purpose of unlawfully entering into a Merchant Agreement.

How Long Are You On the List?

According to this MasterCard PDF (see section 11.2.6), you'll remain in the system for 5-years.

How Do You Get Off the List?

Lets say somehow you've ended up terminated and on the list. So now what? Well, the only way to get off MATCH is through the same bank that put you on it in the first place. Once you discover you are listed, the first step is to call your former provider.

You're most likely going to have to jump through hoops, sitting patiently through many phone transfers, until you get to the right person, or get forwarded to the processing bank themselves. But, once you find the correct contact, you can then find out the explanation and reason code for why you are on the file, and ask what you need to do to get off.

Depending on why you're on the file, getting off can be easy or impossible. It is nearly impossible to get off the file for being identified of fraudulent activity. Banks obviously hate fraud.

Often a termination resulting from too many chargebacks can be corrected with time. Banks will wait until all chargebacks have been rectified and there are no further chargebacks from the merchant's former customers, before removing a merchant off the list.

If you believe you were erroneously added to the file, you must work with the bank that added your listing in order to get your business name removed or file details changed. Once investigated, if the acquirer agrees that you were listed in error, they must immediately request a correction.

If you've tried all the phone calls and spoken to every representative, your last option may be to seek legal counsel and head into a possible arbitration.

Can You Still Get a Merchant Account?

Believe it or not, there are some processing banks that will approve your account even if you're in the MATCH system. Obviously, the reason has to be within reason (pun intended).

I know personally that Durango Merchant Services is willing to accept some TMF/MATCH merchants, so you might want to give them a try.

The Bottom Line

Avoid getting placed on the list at all cost! Being an honest and scrupulous merchant is the only way to be a functioning merchant. Once on the list, do whatever your previous bank says in order to get taken off. Remember, being MATCH'd not only stops your current credit card processing operations, but prevents you from doing any future operations under any other business names. It can quite possibly be the end of the road for your processing career, so be sure to take it seriously.

The Cut-throat Business of Chargebacks: Protection, Prevention, and Prevailing!

No other phrase instills fear and anger into the hearts of merchants like the word, "chargeback."

Although a pain in the ass, chargebacks are an essential part of any modern-day business that accepts credit cards.

Way back when, the chargeback system was created by creditors to protect consumers from fraudulent charges, as well as to keep merchants honest and accountable. But, if you've ever been on the receiving end of a chargeback claim, it feels more like a personal vendetta. The key is to remain calm, and not take it personally.

What are Chargebacks?

In short, a chargeback is a reversal of funds transferred.

Contrary to a return, which involves a consumer directly approaching a merchant and requesting a refund, a chargeback refunds the consumer via the card issuing bank and the merchant's bank.

When a customer notices what they suspect to be an incorrect charge on their credit card statement, they may notify their issuing bank to reverse the charge. The issuing bank then reverses the dollar amount from their cardholder's account, giving them a credit. At the same time the issuing bank debits the merchant's bank, who in turn debits the merchants account.

Since chargebacks were originally set in place to protect the consumer, in the world of chargebacks, the merchant is considered guilty until he proves himself innocent. In other words, if chargebacks were a casino blackjack game, the consumer possesses house odds.

Too many chargebacks, whether successfully repealed or not, can harm a merchant's reputation, result in a freeze of their merchant account, a complete termination of their account altogether, or even an investigation and criminal charges. Not to mention chargebacks come with their own slew of fees and penalties, which if proven valid, are debited from the merchant's account.

Clearly the best thing a merchant can do in regard to chargebacks, is avoid them at all cost!

Reasons for Chargebacks

There are countless reasons chargebacks are issued. Some of them are technical errors, like having an expired authorization or a simple bank error. Others are clerical, like an accidental duplicate billing, incorrect dollar amount billed, or a refund that was simply never issued.

Frequently, it’s a matter of the consumer's perception on the product/service quality, in which they are dissatisfied with their purchase and would like a refund.

Finally, some chargebacks are legitimate cases of fraud, in which a consumer’s card information was stolen and the purchase was made without their consent.

Preventing Chargebacks

Here are some tips for avoiding chargebacks:

Conclusion

Lastly, if you know you've made a mistake, own up to it and accept the chargeback. We are all human and people make mistakes. If you receive a chargeback for a non-matching account number and you know you keyed the number in incorrectly, or wrote it down wrong on a telephone order, accept the chargeback. Same can be said for an incorrect dollar amount. As a merchant you want to maintain an honorable reputation, which may involve admitting when you're wrong and throwing in the towel. In the end, consider it a lesson learned, thus helping you become more cautious and meticulous in future transactions.

How to Avoid Merchant Account Holds, Freezes and Terminations

Nothing can bring your business to a screeching halt like a hiccup in your payment processing flow.

Whether it's withheld funds, a freeze on processing ability, or a complete termination of your account; any and all scenarios are a nuisance at best, and devastating at worst.

In the following article we'll discuss the main reasons why processors hold funds, freeze transactions, or close merchant accounts entirely. We'll also look at ways to prevent such undesirable outcomes.

Hold vs. Freeze vs. Termination

There's not always a clear definition between a hold on funds, a processing freeze, or account termination, so let's define each one:

Setting Expectations, Then Sticking to Them

Initially when opening a merchant account with any processor, the merchant is responsible for signing a document known as a "merchant service agreement (MSA)." This piece of paper lists all the rules and fees the merchant must abide by, including limitations on average processing volume (i.e. average monthly sales), average ticket (i.e. average individual transaction amount), and business merchandise.

Since breaking any of the rules in the service agreement can result in a merchant account hold, freeze, or termination, merchants should carefully read the fine print and be completely honest and forthright in their disclosure of all aspects of their business. Accurately listing your projected average monthly volume, average daily ticket, and business services and/or products is extremely important. Going outside the realm of those declarations can result in immediate repercussions by the processor.

Preventing Freezes, Holds and Terminations

There are plenty of reasons why a processor might take action against your account. Here are the most common ones, and ways to prevent them from happening to you:

Conclusion

As a merchant, you will only notice a freeze or hold once a customer tries to swipe their credit card to start a transaction and it does not go through, or by reviewing your checking ledger and not seeing anymore deposits coming through.

So, once you are held, then what?

Well, unfortunately you're pretty much powerless. You must simply let the process run its course. Every hold incites an investigation, which results in either a release of funds OR termination of the account depending on if you are found at fault or innocent.

Whatever the result of the investigation, avoiding a hold is your primary defense. Besides bringing your business to a standstill, frozen accounts can look bad on your business record, preventing other providers from wanting to do business with you in the future, and making it harder to get a merchant account elsewhere.

Although the system of checks and balances is put in place to protect both merchants and customers, the system is not foolproof, and often times innocent merchants get flagged. In these cases, it's best to have a backup account already instituted to continue day-to-day business, until the investigation is completed and you are absolved of all suspicions.

In a worst case scenario, a merchant account hold results in account termination, following which the merchant is added to the terminated merchant file (TMF). The business world’s version of a "scarlet letter," the TMF list mars reputations, increasing difficulty of obtaining future merchant accounts from other providers, not to mention the additional penalties of being fined and possibly indicted with criminal charges. At this point, obviously legal counsel is a merchant's best recourse.

The bottom line in maintaining live processing and regular deposits is in keeping open lines of communication with your provider. Make your account contact your best friend, and let them know of any and all changes to your business. Get the contact information for the underwriting or risk department, so you can get in touch with them as well. Being proactive is the best protection against a plug in your stream of business.

The Effective Rate: How to Quickly Find Out if You’re Paying Too Much in Processing Fees

One of the first thing's that I do when I analyze a client's merchant account statement, is calculate the "effective rate."

The effective rate of a credit card processing statement is the total processing fees divided by total sales volume. It's usually expressed in the form of a percentage, and in my opinion is one of the quickest ways to find out if you're paying too much for your merchant account.

The best way to explain the effective rate would be to show you an example, so on that note...

Example

For this example, we'll use the following statement:

Let's assume that the above statement is for a business that sells backpacks, and sells them exclusively online. A straight eCommerce business.

I've highlighted the totals sales volume in green, and the total fees in red.

So, what is the effective rate for this statement?

If you guessed, 5.99 or 6% (rounded) you would be right.

Let's do the math again:

$5907.03 / $98511.45 = .0599 or 5.99%.

Now, what does that 6% tell us?

Well, we know for sure that about 6% of this merchant's processing volume goes to fees, but is that 6% good or bad? Is it too high, or just right?

To determine that, we need to figure out how much the merchant should be paying. We need to know if 6% is industry standard, or if it's much higher. So, how do we determine that?

Have you heard of interchange rates?

If you don't know what interchange rates are, I suggest you read this article, then make your way back here. In the meantime, I'll give you a quick recap.

We already know that every credit card transaction has a specific cost, and it's usually in the form of a percentage. You can think of interchange rates as the "wholesale price" of those transactions. Moreover, every transaction is different depending on the environment it is processed in (e.g. eCommerce vs. retail), and the type of card that is used (e.g. rewards vs. business). So, every transaction has a different wholesale price, or rather, interchange rate.

Visa and MasterCard set these interchange rates as a standard for the entire credit card processing industry to use as their "base costs." Any entity that resells credit card processing services, has to pay Visa and MasterCard the base cost of each transaction, which is their cut. Anything that is charged above that base cost (markup) is the resellers. Make sense?

Moving on...

For this example, we're going to look at Visa's rates since both MasterCard and Visa's rates are nearly identical.

Open this PDF and scroll to page 3. On page 3 under the column "Fee Program" you'll see some rate categories that say something like "CPS/e-Commerce Basic" etc... Those are the interchange rates for most eCommerce transactions. And, since our example statement is from a strict eCommerce business, then those are the ones that we want to pay attention to.

Here's a snapshot:

Notice anything?

I see 2.10%, 1.80%, 1.54% and 1.70%, but I don't see anything even remotely close to 6%.

What's the deal?

This merchant's effective rate is almost 3x that of the highest interchange rate for his/her transaction type. That's a red flag if I've ever seen one.

So, what's next?

At this point, we need to start looking at the "why's?" Why is this merchant's effective rate so high?

Here's what I would look for:

Is the merchant considered high risk?
In our case, the merchant sells backpacks, and that's not considered high risk. If it was something like an adult store or debt settlement company, then I wouldn't be so surprised by that 6% effective rate. Mainly, because high risk merchants should expect to pay higher rates to process their transactions, regardless of what the interchange rates are.

Are this merchant's transactions being downgraded?
I'll cover this in future articles, but for now, you can learn what downgrades are by going here.

Are there any hidden fees?
Remember, the effective rate takes into account total fees, not just interchange. There could be some hidden or incidental fees that are contributing to that 6%.

Is the processor's markup too high?
This one's pretty self-explanatory.

There you have it! Calculate your effective rate, then cross-check that with Visa and MasterCard's interchange rates. If your effective rate is much higher than the "wholesale price," then start looking into it. If not, call your processor and thank them for their fair pricing.

Note: When calculating the effective rate for your statement, be sure to leave out the sales volume for any American Express transactions. Amex interchange rates are higher than Visa and MasterCard's, so your calculation will become skewed by the Amex numbers. I'll be writing an article about Amex's rates pretty soon here.

Web-Based POS: The Low Cost and Hassle Free Alternative to Traditional Point of Sale Software

POS software is expensive and hard to maintain. Anybody that has purchased one knows what I'm talking about. Even if you manage to find a POS provider that's willing to rent it out to you for a low monthly fee, you still have to worry about high-priced equipment, installation & support costs, updates, upgrades and back-ups. For the business owner who's already busy and broke, that's just too much time, money, and hassle.

Enter the web-based POS, aka "cloud-based POS" or "online POS."

Web-based point of sale software is hosted in the cloud by software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors. What does that mean? It means that instead of you having to download and install the software on your local system, you can access your POS by logging into it online...from anywhere, and at anytime. You just pay a monthly subscription fee for access to the service.

Most importantly, because that software is hosted on the venders servers; updates, upgrades and back-ups become their responsibility, not yours. Leaving you with more time to focus on your sales transactions, not maintenance.

There are plenty of other benefits to going with a web-based POS:

I found some vendors that I think are well worth a look...

Let us know if you have any others that you like.

Save Money on Processing Fees by Getting Processors to Compete for Your Business

For those of you that want a quick and easy way to compare credit card processing rates, you might want to check out CardFellow.com or FeeFighters.com.

Both sites, which are only a couple years old, allow merchants to create a "reverse auction" which forces credit card processors to bid for the merchant's business.

Here's a quick explanation of what a reverse auction is...

A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the roles of buyers and sellers are reversed. In an ordinary auction (also known as a forward auction), buyers compete to obtain a good or service, and the price typically increases over time. In a reverse auction, sellers compete to obtain business, and prices typically decrease over time.

Here's how it works:

1. You create an "auction" by providing some information about your business.
2. Pre-screened credit card processors bid on your account.
3. You pick the best bid.

Like I said, quick and easy!

I think the most important thing about their service offering is that they pre-screen all of their partners to make sure they don't ding you with garbage fees or lock you into contracts. All participating processors have to offer interchange-plus pricing and no contract deals or else they don't make the cut. Not bad at all!

Both CardFellow and FeeFighters are free to use, but both companies receive some sort of "finder's" fee from whomever you sign up with.