Portable Terminals, A Brief History

A credit card machine is an instrument a machine or a terminal used to process credit card transactions at point of sale. The machine empowers you the merchant to swipe credit cards of your customers capturing the necessary data for transaction approval and funding.

A number of solutions exist, ranging from integrated registers to wired terminals, but portable options allow merchants to carry the capability to make a sale wherever they go.

Of the portable solutions available, you might want to consider a mobile or wireless processor that integrates with your smartphone. These phone systems are fast becoming the portable standard due to their convenience, easy setup and integration easy access.

For more professional or high volume needs, merchant account providers offer portable terminals for operation in the field so to speak, enabling your sales staff to meet and greet with customers, confident and capable of being able to close a sale on location.

With a portable machine you can offer your products or services on their doorsteps, and receive payment from them right away.

Incredibly convenient.

With portability in mind these credit card machines have been designed to be lightweight and easy to bring along. A number of terminals are being offered currently that you can carry in your pocket as unobtrusively as your cell phone.

Going Beyond Simply Accepting Payments

Basic functions of credit card processing machines include:

Accepting credit cards, debit cards, and other types of charge cards as a means to pay for the products or services purchased.
Secure transmission and processing of the data from the cards, allowing for instant payment verification.
Portable hand-held machines perform the two basic functions above wherever and whenever the merchants need the same.
Terminal Types

Portable credit card transaction processing machine are available that offer:

Wireless machines that can sit stationary on your location but are easily movable and transportable as the need arises.
Mobile phone processors perform the same functions as the wireless credit card machines except that these processors are hand held devices that can easily fit into the pocket and carry anywhere you need integrating with your current smartphone
Features

Basic features you can find in portable or mobile solutions are:

Magnetic strip readers that reads the data contained in the card
Key pad to input data for manual transaction processing
Receipt printer that prints out the transaction automatically
Screens, color, digital and touch that serves to provide instructions or can be used for point of sale signatures
There are certain models with additional features to extend or enhance the basic functions of the machine.

Relevance

In todays competitive world of business, merchants who want to grow their business and increase their profitability should have the ability to go mobile should the need arise.

To accommodate mobile or offsite credit card transactions, portability offers you flexibility and sale closing capability to seize the moment.

Benefits

Here are some of the most important benefits and how you can get the most from your machine:

Portability It would not earn its name if such machines were not portable. Portability is in fact the most obvious benefit you can enjoy. Just as you need to be mobile, you can easily carry the machine and enjoy its lightness and compactness.
Convenience Because the mobile credit card machine can always be with you, you are ever ready to make an important sale.
Perceived Value to Customer Your customers and clients will appreciate the ease of completing the purchase without unnecessary steps.
Cost Saving Being able to avoid manual processing after the fact of a sale or because of a phone sale will qualify you for lower discount rates with most merchant account providers, meaning less of your charge amount is deducted. The savings can be significant..
Portability opens up opportunities to expand your operations to cover off-site transactions resulting in sales growth and increased profitability.

Increase in Privacy and Security You no longer have to document the credit card transaction manually, reducing the risk to security breaches and privacy problems. With manual documentation and processing of the transaction, you write the credit card and all necessary information on a prescribed form, which carries the risk of getting lost, stolen, or misappropriated.
The above risks make customers hesitant to give their credit card information when you require manually processing the transaction off-site. With credit card swiping with a portable device you increase your customers trust and increase the odds of their willingness to do business with you.

Strengthens customer relations You increase customer satisfaction when you make it convenient for them to do business with you. Your customers will enjoy the convenience of carrying and using their credit cards instead of cash.
Especially with large purchases, a portable solution makes it convenient and secure for your customers, as they do not have to worry about bringing hefty sum of money.

They benefit from the convenience and security; your business gets to enjoy an increase in sales volume.

In the conduct of todays businesses, the capability of being mobile or on the go is an advantage that every merchant can benefit from. Using a portable credit card machine opens up new markets that you could not otherwise reach.

Decide to use a mobile solution for your processing needs and you might surprise yourself with the expanded options and flexibility your business can enjoy.

The average Indian shopper today is likely to have at least two credit cards in his wallet. In fact this number has been on the rise with banks and credit card companies sending free lifetime credit cards with -attractive features’ to anyone who they think fits the bill. These cards sometimes come as a -surprise gift’. p>

As a customer you have the choice to use the card or return it. If you receive a credit card, which you had not asked for you just need to cut it into two and send it back to the bank, declining the offer.

The more cards you have the more tempted you will be to avail the offers on each of them and at some point in time discipline could give way to reckless spending leading you into a maze of spiralling debt before you realise what hit you.

For a spender who is not disciplined in prompt repayments, debt can mount in accelerated proportions.

If you use your credit card extensively or even if you use it once in a while, it would be prudent to access your credit report from Cibil (Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited). You can manually access your credit report by placing a request with Cibil, details of which are available at www.cibil.com.

Though currently you can pay for this report through Cibil’s online payment gateway, you cannot access your credit report online as of now but this will be enabled in future. Once you make your payment Cibil will send you a hard copy of your credit report to your postal address.

Having access to credit reports is a definite step for the genuine borrower with an excellent credit profile to increase his negotiating power. So, how can you ensure your credit report gives you this negotiating power?

Well, what can be the doom for a reckless spender can be an excellent tool for the disciplined borrower. It depends on how you use your credit card. This can be the single most important factor in improving and increasing your credit score.

Here are some pointers on what to do and what not to do in order to achieve this.
1. Judicious use: Making use of a credit card judiciously will help you improve your credit score. Just make sure to choose a card that is suited for you from a well known brand.

2. Low credit limit: Keep a tab on the credit limit of your card. Open a credit card account with a company that will provide you with the highest credit limit possible. High credit limits, even if they are not used, will add merit to your credit score and improve it.

3. Closing credit card accounts: The number of years you hold a credit card account has an impact on your credit scores. So keep your oldest credit and if you must close a card opt for the most recent cards and close them one at a time, maybe once a month over a period of time, as closing them too quickly could also affect your credit score as your available credit limit will take a dip in one go.

4. Bargain for a lower interest rate: If you have never defaulted on payment for a few years, make use of your good repayment track record and speak to the bank officials for a better bargain. Request them to lower your interest rate citing the good track record.

5. Request for hike in credit limit: The most recent card has the highest credit limit. The oldest card has the lowest credit limit. What do you do? In such instances, if you have a good repayment track record, approach the bank and negotiate for a higher credit limit especially since you have been their customer for quite a few years. Most banks will facilitate such a request. You can then go ahead and close your most recent card.

6. Keep a self imposed credit limit: Never exceed 40% of your credit limit. This has a beneficial effect on your credit score. This shows your credit limit is high but you have not burnt it up and have plenty in reserve. This logic helps you attain a much higher credit score. The same logic suggests you should not close any credit card accounts, as they collectively will provide you a high credit limit, which is good for the score.

7. Paying off credit card dues quickly: This will dramatically improve your credit score. Try not to accumulate too much credit card debt. Be wise and pay the dues quickly and keep rotating your cards. Paying off dues timely will spike your credit score.

Credit card companies offer varying benefits and promotions to entice their customers to use their credit cards not only in their everyday purchases but also for major buying decisions. One of the promotions that credit card companies have is the rewarding of points to their users for every purchase that they make.

Credit card holders are often enjoy reward points raining on them. Frequent festive seasons always induce the card holders to enjoy shopping with reward points. Todays customers are debt-shy and they spend like anything. They enjoy earning reward points while spending. Credit cards are heavily loaded with reward points give the opportunity to enjoy holidays at exotic locales, shop for jewellery, fashion accessories, apparel, electronic equipment, cosmetics, etc. Banks have a penchant for giving a reward with their left hand, and simultaneously charging for it with their right hand. Card holders must be aware of a host of complicated rules and regulations before letting themselves be swayed away by these so-called lucrative offers. To begin with, banks do not conform to a uniform set of reward point schedules. For instance, while in case of American Express Bank, card members receive one point for every Rs 40 charged on their credit card, ABN Amro Bank credits one point to the customer for every Rs 50 spent. Standard Chartered credits one point for every Rs 125, whereas Citibank rewards you one point for every Rs 100 spent. Private sector ICICI Bank awards you one reward point for every Rs 200 charged on their card. Also, ICICI Bank links the reward points to the slabs of amounts spent, i.e. upto Rs 75,000 or above Rs 4,00,000. The main hitch here is that redemption of reward points is only after accumulation of minimum required points of 500.

This apart, banks also follow a pattern wherein they credit varying amounts on every point earned, depending upon the card categories. Citibank rewards cardholders Re 1 for every point earned on the Citibank Platinum Card, while the Diners’ Club International and Citibank Gold cardholders receive only Rs 0.65 for every point gathered. The Citibank Silver cardholders on the other hand get Re 0.50 for every point they manage to accumulate. The difference in redemption structures also creep in, based on the outlets offering you redemption facilities.
Whereas to avail of vouchers, redeemable at Zodiac, Wrangler, Arrow or Titan, you should have accumulated a minimum of 500 points. Being a cardholder, it is mandatory to find out the cash transactions that curtail your eligibility to these programmes. Most banks restrict their customers from treating cash withdrawals, interest charges, card fees, demand drafts, service charge transactions, disputed transactions, purchase of foreign exchange, EMI transactions, travelers cheques and other insurance charges as opportunities to accumulate reward points. The rewards points can also be redeemed online by logging in to the concerned bank’s Web site and visit the “Reward Points” section on the credit card page. To web-enable the credit card, fill up the account linking form available on the site. Select the rewards catalogue for the card and accordingly, choose the products or vouchers for which an online order has to be placed. The product or the voucher is then delivered at doorstep.

Card-issuing banks offer cardholders the facility to seek an annual fee waiver, by adjusting the amount against the reward points. One also should check on the available timeframe within which cardholders need to redeem their points. Cardholders cannot exercise redemption rights on expired or delinquent cards. A frequent traveler credit card rewards system for example, a card user who purchases groceries, gas or technically his daily purchases, may have an equal travel reward points awarded to him for every dollar he spends on his regular purchases. On the other hand, should he ever buy plane tickets from an airline company co-sponsoring the credit card hes using, the reward points that he may earn may be higher as this is also one way to help promote the airline companys latest promotions or travel packages.