ACTIVITY 8 - CREDIT CARDS

DISPLAY OF CREDIT CARDS TO BE TAKEN

A business should always display the type of credit cards authorised by the credit card company for that firm.
The first credit card was Diners Club, invented for people who did not wish to carry cash. Diners Club and American Express were privately owned companies to provide credit facilities. In the 70’s in order to stop the loss of business the banks offered a similar service called Bankcard.

BANKCARD, MASTER CARD AND VISA CARD

Bankcard is the most commonly used credit card within Australia.

The big advantage is that Bankcard can be treated as cash and used by establishments receiving it almost instantaneously.

MasterCard and Visa Card are two other major credit cards with a similar service.

Before the late 80’s Bankcard, MasterCard and Visa used different types of vouchers but these have been standardised for an imprint can be taken for any of these three cards. For the remainder of this activity when speaking about Bankcard this also included MasterCard and Visa.

THE FEATURES OF BANKCARD, MASTERCARD AND VISA ARE SIMILAR;

Sales Vouchers
Merchant Summaries
Credit Vouchers

FILLING IN A BANKCARD VOUCHER

Place the Bankcard, face up in the imprinter
Place the sales voucher face up in the imprinter over the card
Make the imprint by firmly dragging the handle completely across the sales voucher and returning to the original position
Remove the sales voucher and discard the cover sheet and first carbon
Make sure the details are clearly imprinted on all copies
Fill in the date, a brief description of the sale and the amount of the sale
Initial
Ask the cardholder to sign
Compare the signature with the signature with the signature on the back of the card
Check the Warning Bulletin to see if the account number appears on the most recent edition
Check the date is valid. (within the dates stated on the card)
Check the card has not expired
If the sale is over the floor limit obtain Authorisation from Bankcard
If the signatures do not agree or the account number is listed on the Warning Bulletin phone Bankcard on extension 500
If the card dates are not valid or the imprint is not possible phone Bankcard authorisation for operator advice
When all checks are met give the cardholder a copy of the sales voucher and their card

PHONE AUTHORISATION

If sale exceeded floor limit
If card number is listed on the Warning Bulletin
Signatures on Sales Voucher and Bankcard do not agree
Bank Card validity dates are not current
Customer is not carrying Bankcard
Imprint is not possible to read
Complete the sale
Hand cardholder’s copy of the sales voucher and the bankcard to the customer

HOW TO OBTAIN PHONE AUTHORISATION

Take Bankcard and voucher to the phone
Phone authorisation number. An emergency number is also listed but should not be used unless regular number is not operating
If the reason for ringing is either:

the card holders account number appears on the warning list or
the signature does not agree
ask for extension 500

If the Bankcard is not current or
The card is not presented or
The imprint is not possible to read
Tell the operator who will advise you

When requested state
The full cardholder account number
The last six or seven digits of you merchants number
The amount of the sale in whole dollars
If approval is granted you will be given an authorisation number. Write this in the appropriate space in the voucher
If approval is declined advise the cardholder to contact the Bankcard department of his/her bank

Do not offer any reason why authorisation was declined

CANCELLING OR CHANGING AMOUNTS ALREADY AUTHORISED

Occasionally a customer may not wish to proceed with a purchase after you have obtained an authorisation or You may wish to amend the dollar amount already authorised for sale In these cases it is important you telephone bankcard authorisation to cancel the authorisation obtained and to obtain new authorisation for any amended amounts

HOURS OF AUTHORISATION
Bankcard is available 24 hours a day

FLOOR LIMIT
Your approval Floor Limit should be recorded on a page
Do not divulge the floor limit to cardholder’s or persons other than your staff

It is an amount allocated to merchants individually for security reasons.
Individual Bankcard sales are not restricted to this limit.
Sales over the amount may be made by obtaining Authorisation
The ensure payment for sales above the floor limit
The Bankcard must be current
Authorisation must be obtained
The authorisation number recorded on the sales voucher

BILLING OUT ON A BANKCARD VOUCHER
You are obliged to lodge bankcard copies of the sales and credit voucher within three business days of the transaction. This is to detect irregular transactions promptly
When preparing bank deposits separate the sales and credit vouchers and add in batches of no more than 100 vouchers.
Imprint the merchant’s name on the Merchant’s Summary with the Merchants Identification card in the Imprinter. If the imprinter is faulty this may be done manually

Complete the Merchants Summary using;
Date
Total number of Sales Vouchers
Total Dollar value of Sales Vouchers
Total number of Credit Vouchers
Total Dollar value of Credit Vouchers
Net total of all vouchers. If a minus circle the amount.
Your signature on the Merchant Summary

Place in the envelope
The Bankcard copy of the summary
The Bankcard copies of sales and credit vouchers
The adding machine batch tape

Supply order for more stationery if required
Ensure the summary may be read through the window of the envelope
Seal the envelope

All voucher should be kept for at least 30 days for reconciliation against Bankcard Statement which is issued monthly
Fill in a normal bank deposit slip using the merchant summary are the last cheque details
If the value of credit voucher exceeds the value of the sales vouchers it must not be deposited in your bank account but handed to the teller with your cheque to the value of the net credit amount.

DINERS, AMERICAN EXPRESS ETC.

These are private companies and do not use the same impress machine as Visa Bankcard or MasterCard. Each company has its own type of voucher and impress machine and accepting this type of card a Company Identification Plate and impress machine would be issued by the credit card company.
There is a commission of about 7½%, to the merchant, charged by Diners etc. for the use of the card and as a condition of sale most merchants included this commission in the price of the goods. The cardholder accepts or rejects the conditions of sale. The up-front commission charged to the purchaser is usually about 10% as this covers the cost of accounting.
The details are filled in similar to the other cards and authorisation needs to be obtained if the sale etc exceeds the floor limit or other criteria
Vouchers are batched and placed in the Diners etc own Envelope and are mailed directly to the Credit Card Company. The Credit Card Company works out the commission and deducts this from the total amount of the vouchers.

A purchase of $100 would have a Credit Card Commission charged to the purchaser of 10% making the total price of the purchase $110. This is then sent to the Credit Card Company who deducts 7½% and returns a credit voucher to the merchant for $101.25.

The Company mails a credit voucher back to the merchant who banks this as if it were a cheque. Because of the extra office work involved these types of credit cards are not popular in Australia.