Your current processor is eating into your margins. Every swipe, every transaction—another chunk gone. And the worst part? You probably don’t even know exactly what you’re paying because the fee structure reads like a legal document written in another language.
Here’s what changes when you’re not hemorrhaging money on processing fees: you can actually plan. You know what you’re paying. You get funded the next day, not three days later when you’ve already had to cover payroll. You can accept the payment methods your customers actually want to use—contactless, mobile wallets, fleet cards for your commercial clients—without wondering if your system can handle it.
The businesses we work with in Chantilly and across Northern Virginia typically see their effective rates drop significantly. One client went from 6.95% to 3.46%. That’s real money back in your business every single month.
We started in South Florida nearly two decades ago with one goal: stop the industry’s race to the bottom on service while racing to the top on fees. We’re a registered ISO of PNC Bank, which means we have the backing and security of a major financial institution without the bureaucracy that makes you wait on hold for 45 minutes.
We’ve been serving businesses in Chantilly and the broader Northern Virginia market because we understand what you’re dealing with. The tech corridor businesses need integrated solutions that talk to their existing software. The retail shops in Westfield need reliable point-of-sale systems that don’t crash during weekend rushes. The service companies running fleets need specialized fleet card processing that their current provider can’t figure out.
You’re not getting a call center in another state. You’re getting people who know that when your payment system goes down, your business stops.
First, we look at what you’re currently paying. Not just the advertised rate—the actual effective rate after all the fees, surcharges, and fine print. Most business owners are shocked when they see the real number.
Then we talk about how you actually take payments. In person, online, mobile, all three? Do you need wireless payment acceptance for off-site work? Are you running a loyalty program or gift card program that needs to integrate with everything else? What about check acceptance or business cash advances during slow seasons?
We set you up with equipment that makes sense. You can lease, purchase, or do terminal placement depending on your situation. The system gets integrated with your existing software—your accounting, your inventory, whatever you’re running. We don’t make you change your entire operation to fit our boxes.
You start processing. Funds hit your account next day. When something breaks or you have a question, you call someone who answers. That’s it. No phone trees, no ticket systems, no waiting three days for a callback.
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Credit and debit card processing is the baseline—Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, all of it. But Chantilly businesses need more than baseline. You need online payment acceptance if you’re doing any e-commerce or taking deposits before jobs. You need wireless options if you’re mobile or doing events.
For commercial clients, fleet card processing is non-negotiable. Your B2B customers want to use their fleet cards, and if you can’t take them, you’re losing jobs to competitors who can. Same goes for check acceptance—some industries still run on checks, and turning away that payment method means turning away business.
Loyalty and gift card programs drive repeat business. The data shows customers spend more when they’re in a loyalty program, and gift cards bring in new customers while giving you cash up front. We can set these up to integrate with your point-of-sale system so you’re not running three different platforms that don’t talk to each other.
Northern Virginia businesses are dealing with tech-savvy customers who expect modern payment options. Contactless payments aren’t a nice-to-have anymore—85% of consumers prefer them. Digital wallets are projected to handle 65% of e-commerce transactions by 2030. If your system can’t accept Apple Pay or Google Pay, you’re already behind.
The honest answer is: it depends on your business type, average transaction size, and monthly volume. But here’s what you need to know about how fees actually work.
You’ve got interchange fees—these are set by the card networks and are the same for everyone. Nobody can negotiate these down because they’re fixed. Then you’ve got assessment fees from Visa and Mastercard. Also fixed. What changes from processor to processor is the markup on top of those base costs.
Most processors hide their markup in confusing fee structures. They’ll quote you a low rate but then add monthly fees, statement fees, PCI compliance fees, batch fees, and a dozen other charges. Your “2.5% rate” ends up being 4% or higher when you divide your total fees by your total processing volume.
We show you the actual markup and all fees upfront. No surprises on your statement. The businesses we work with in Chantilly typically see total effective rates between 2.5% and 3.5% depending on their industry and card mix. If you’re currently paying over 4%, something’s wrong.
Next business day for most transactions. That’s the standard we hold to, and it’s what you should expect in 2025.
Here’s how the timing actually works: you process a transaction today, those funds are batched and sent for settlement at the end of your business day, and the money hits your bank account the next business day. If you process on Friday, you’ll see funds Monday. If there’s a bank holiday, it shifts by a day.
Some processors hold funds for 48-72 hours or longer, especially when you’re a new merchant. They’ll say it’s for “security” or “risk management,” but really they’re using your money as a float. Unless you’re in a genuinely high-risk industry or you’re brand new with no processing history, there’s no reason for multi-day holds.
The cash flow difference between next-day funding and three-day funding is real. If you’re doing $50,000 a month in credit card sales, three-day holds mean you’re always waiting on $5,000 of your own money. That’s $5,000 you can’t use for inventory, payroll, or covering expenses.
Yes, and you should be. Running separate systems for online and in-person payments creates more problems than it solves.
When you have one merchant account handling both channels, your reporting is unified. You can see all your transactions in one place, reconcile your books faster, and actually understand your sales patterns. Your customers can buy online and return in person without you having to process refunds across different systems.
The technical setup is straightforward. You get a payment gateway for online transactions—this is the software that securely processes card-not-present payments through your website or app. Then you get a point-of-sale system or terminal for in-person transactions. Both connect to the same merchant account, so funds from both channels flow to the same place.
For Chantilly businesses doing any kind of hybrid model—taking deposits online, processing final payments in person, or vice versa—this integrated approach is essential. You’re not paying two sets of fees, you’re not managing two relationships, and you’re not trying to reconcile two different statements at month-end.
You call us and someone answers. Same day, usually within an hour. Because when your payment system is down, you’re losing money every minute.
We provide 24/7 technical support specifically because payment problems don’t only happen during business hours. Your system crashes on a Saturday afternoon during your busiest time, you need help now, not Monday morning. We troubleshoot over the phone, walk you through fixes, or dispatch replacement equipment if needed.
Most issues are software-related and can be fixed remotely—connection problems, settings that got changed accidentally, integration hiccups with your POS system. Hardware failures happen but they’re less common. If your terminal dies and we can’t fix it remotely, we get you a replacement rushed out.
The bigger question is prevention. We set up your system with redundancy in mind. If your internet goes down, can you still process with a backup connection? If your main terminal fails, do you have a wireless backup? For businesses that can’t afford any downtime—restaurants, retail shops, service providers—we build in backup options from day one.
Need? Technically no. Should you? Absolutely, especially in Northern Virginia where your customer base expects it.
The numbers tell the story. 85% of consumers now prefer contactless payments. Digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay are growing faster than any other payment method. Younger customers—the ones who’ll be your customer base for the next 20 years—use mobile wallets as their primary payment method.
When a customer pulls out their phone to pay and you can’t accept it, you look behind. It’s like not accepting credit cards in 2010—technically you could still operate, but you were losing customers to competitors who made it easier. The same thing is happening now with contactless and mobile payments.
The good news: if you’re getting new equipment or upgrading your system, contactless acceptance is standard. You’re not paying extra for it. The terminals we provide are contactless-enabled out of the box. You just need to make sure your merchant account is set up to accept these payment types, which we handle during setup.
Pull your last three months of statements and do the math. Take your total fees paid and divide by your total processing volume. That’s your effective rate—the real number that matters.
If that number is over 3.5% and you’re running a normal retail or service business, you’re overpaying. If it’s over 4%, you’re getting taken. We see businesses in Chantilly paying anywhere from 3% to 7% effective rates depending on how bad their current agreement is.
Switching costs are usually minimal. Most processors don’t charge you to leave anymore because those early termination fees got regulated and challenged enough that they’re not worth the bad press. You might have a lease on equipment that you need to finish out, but that’s separate from your processing agreement.
The real cost is staying put. If you’re processing $30,000 a month at a 5% effective rate when you could be at 3%, that’s $600 a month you’re losing. Over a year, that’s $7,200. Over three years—the typical length of a processing agreement—that’s over $21,000 left on the table.
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