Understanding ghost card payments:
Ghost cards can help you streamline the purchasing process at your company while allowing you to track expenses by each department while earning a percentage of the interchange fees.
Who benefits from issuing ghost cards? Mid- to large-sized companies can benefit by switching to ghost card payments from other purchasing methods. A ghost card for payments can be assigned by you to individual departments. Everyone who works within the department to which a card number is assigned can use it to make ghost charges.
Ghost cards make it easy to assign certain purchases to different departments. You can also choose to issue ghost card numbers to specific suppliers that can charge the numbers for all the purchases that certain departments make. Ghost card payments can also be restricted, allowing for controls that prevent misuse by employees.
Where are ghost card payments accepted?
Ghost cards are accepted by vendors and suppliers that accept payments by credit or debit card. Ghost cards can be branded as Visa, MasterCard, Discover and Amex.
How ghost cards can protect your business.
Ghost cards have controls that are customizable to your company. These controls allow you to set and enforce daily, weekly or monthly spending limits. You also have the ability to limit single purchase amounts and prevent cash withdrawals.
Ghost cards payments allow you to get rid of petty cash, reimbursements and check writing.
Issuing ghost card FAQ:
*Do I still have full control of payments from start to finish? YES! We offer automated payments and get your company integrated to the service, but you still have complete control of making every payment when, where, and how you see fit.
*How much does this service cost? It may sound too good to be true, but this virtual card service is totally FREE. We offer competitive rates on ACH and check payments as well. However, we will never charge your company for the card
service we offer. If anything, you will make and/or save money using virtual cards.
*Does this complicate the process on my end? Not at all! This is a service that will truly organize, simplify, and optimize your Accounts Payable
department. Every step of the payment process is all located in one central location rather than in
filing cabinets, separate offices, and even separate buildings.
*Is it time consuming? I have a lot on my plate right now.
That is exactly the reason we are so ready to help! We fully understand this may sound like a time-consuming process but it will have a direct correlation to making Accounts Payable less time consuming. The transitioning process itself, takes little to no time apart from actual meetings with the Revolution Payments team to help get set up.
*How can I see what was paid and still outstanding? By going into the user interface (UI) you are able to view all transactions (past and present) and
determine there, whether you have made your payment or not.
*Do you offer an approval process before payments are sent out? Yes, that is an option. Typically, we assume that approvals are done on the client side through their accounting team/ERP and the payments that are being sent to us are already approved. However, if
that’s not the case, we can add a layer of approval in our system to accommodate or enhance those controls.
*Why would my suppliers accept cards rather than checks? The implementation of ghost cards is on the rise across businesses on a global scale. Suppliers accept card payments over check payments because they are guaranteed and card transactions mitigate fraud and risk. They receive the benefit of getting paid much faster than the typical check. Additional benefits are that virtual cards are not lost in the mail, reconciliation is much
easier, and all card processing fees are tax deductible.
*Why don’t I just use my personal card with cash back? You could; however, your personal card will be on every invoice and its sensitive information is much less protected that way. There is no way of telling if your credit card information is on a sticky note
on someone’s computer somewhere across the country. With Singe’s services, your card information
is similar to a proxy number, thus giving you the necessary protection to ensure your business’ account information is always safe.
*What if I don’t have the IT capacity? It’s not needed! At Revolution Payments, we are ready and able to provide white glove service for all of
your needs and issues that may arise.
*What happens to my current staff? Optimization! Your current staff will use the Singe Payables service to make your payments as usual,
just in a much more efficient fashion. This immediately frees up more time for your staff to work on additional projects and tasks while still making the same payments.
*Can I continue to use my own bank for ACH and/or check? I have a good relationship with them and I don’t want to damage it.
Of course! You will only give us a file with all card transactions made while giving the ACH and check
payments to your bank. You will still get the same rebates on card transactions!
*What if a vendor/supplier doesn’t accept credit cards? That’s not a problem – We are able to make check or ACH payments through the same payment file process that is used to create cards. All outstanding payments can be included in the same file, and we’ll pay each supplier according to their preference. As for a card payment that’s been sent out and is subsequently not processed or rejected by a vendor, we can either preemptively cancel the payment and reissue via another method or let the card expire (all payments expire after 90 days). In Either case the funds associated with an expired card or closed will be refunded (within 14 days) to the buyer.
*How long does the implementation process take to be able to issue ghost cards? One to four weeks depending on requirements as well as number of vendors, but we can typically go
as fast or as slowly to meet any client’s desired pace. A lot of times we’ll set a target completion goal around when the client’s next “check run” is planned.
*What if I add a new vendor? Simply put, we do all the boarding of your new vendors. Just give us required information to load, then once it is set up, you will send payment files just like any other vendor.
*What if a vendor accepts only partial payment (runs the card for an amount less than the card limit)? The vendor can take the remaining payment amount at any time until the card expires. Another option is to cancel the card and begin the process of reversing the remaining funds to you.
However, the refund cannot be finalized until the card is either canceled or expired and all current authorization activity is completed (no pending transactions). A reversal of funds should take no more than 10 business days.
*When does Revolution Payments send us our rebate? We have two ways of sending rebates. By default, RPS makes rebate payments on a quarterly basis; however, we are able to provide these rebate payments on a monthly basis upon special request.
*What if a vendor changes their information? If the vendor reaches out to RPS we’ll update them accordingly and notify the client. If they
notify the client, you can either update the merchant record in the UI or you can notify Singe, and we’ll update the vendor’s information for you What if my Payment Instruction File (PIF) fails? The PIF will fail and all associated payments will not process. The error will need to be corrected and
the PIF resubmitted. The RPS team will work with you to identify what caused the error.
*What if my funds ACH transfer occurs after the bank’s cut off time (5pm ET)? The payment process will begin the following day and all steps detailed above will simply move back one day. What if the transferred funds and the total payment amount in the PIF are not equal?
RPS will notify your organization if the PIF total does not match the amount of funds submitted.
Have questions about issuing ghost cards to your clients? Give us a call.. 888 790 3450