Recurring Credit Card Charge Authorization Form: Fill & Download for Free

The most beneficial way to pay your bills depends on your definition of beneficial. Here is a quick review of the three payment options you mentioned and possible benefits as well as takeaways.Checking Account - If you make a payment from your checking account also known as EFT (electronic funds transfer) you are authorizing a merchant to electronically remove money from your bank account. You can often times set up monthly bills on recurring drafts. This form of payment is similar to an actual paper check from an accounting and legal standpoint. Recurring monthly EFT payment method will often accompany lower service charges and processing fees from the merchants and eliminates the possibility of late payment fees or negative payment history. A negative aspect to this payment method is that a transaction can be re-presented one or more times if the funds are not available the first time the transaction is attempted. A re-presentment is when a payment is requested from your bank again after funds are unavailable and usually happens 3-5 days after the first attempt. This is legal and your bank assists merchants in this process.Savings Account - A payment from your savings account is processed exactly the same as a payment made from a checking account. Something to consider is that many banks do not offer over overdraft protection for a savings account.Credit Card - If you make a payment using your credit card there are a few things to consider. When a credit card payment is processed an authorization is sent to your credit card company immediately and then the deposit transaction is processed usually within 24 hours. This sometimes results in a pending transaction and the actual transaction appearing together on your account until the authorization "falls off" the in 3 to 5 days. Depending on your credit card you may also incur interest for the balance. The benefits to using a credit card are that you can dispute transactions very easily with most credit cards and if your information is compromised it is much easier to get a new credit card than a new bank account. Keep in mind, every merchant is charged a fee to process a credit card payment so this cost may be passed on to you.I hope that this information is helpful and my personal choice would be to use my checking account with reputable businesses to set up monthly automatic EFT payments if you are a responsible budget keeper. Companies almost always pass on a savings for using this method when accompanied with paperless billing options.

Correctly managing Chargebacks is an exotic mix of science, philosophy, psychology and law.I have developed Chargeback management systems for both merchants and acquirers for about 15 years and there is not really a one size fits all system. Unfortunately, most of chargeback management training is done on the fly by overtaxed staff at the merchant's acquiring bank.More to the point, the training for the merchant happens in real-time while the chargebacks are taking place and the "training" is perhaps limited. In most cases, as contradicting as this may sound, staff that manage the chargeback unit of nearly every acquiring bank is perhaps not the best place to find the best answers.There Are Always Two Sides To A ChargebackThe very first thing one must understand is the basic system, when the card is not present has a decided bias to the consumer, thus a very high percentage of chargebacks are sided with the consumer. One of the major reasons many of us use Payment Cards is because as consumers we know we are protected if a transaction is invalid, or even if we were unhappy with a transaction. Until one becomes a merchant, we do not see the impact the "other side" of this equation really means. There is a great possibility of consumer abuse of the chargeback system. Over the years I have seen unbelievable stories that cover the spectrum of human creativity.The added insult to the injury of losing principle amount in a chargeback, there is also some form of chargeback fees and overhead from responding to the retrieval request. And finally there is the dreaded 1% rule where if >1% of your monthly volume is in chargebacks, there are escalating fines that run into the tens of thousands of dollars.I could (and perhaps will) write a book on chargebacks and the impact it has on merchants, the consumer and the economy. You and I are paying hidden inflated costs because of the potential losses the merchant and the acquiring bank experience.The Promise And Peril Of Recurring TransactionsThere is a tremendous number of opportunities in recurring transactions. This automated system can be used to bring not only convenience but a galaxy of new products and services that would otherwise be too costly. I will focus on some of the particular issues companies doing recurring payments face. There is the downside that you discovered. I have seen the downside end many companies ideas about using this type of service. As I mentioned, a book can be written about how this all can be managed, I will point out just a few.Instant No Hassle Cancellation Policy Clearly Displayed EveryplaceTo be successful in any recurring environment there has to be best of class customer service. If the service you offer is on the Internet, great care should be made to prominently display a simple one step way to end the service. The more prominent this is placed, the less chargebacks will take place. In fact, a clear to understand, "Promise" declaration that states something along the lines of "Instant No Hassle Cancellation". This is likely a part of the selling of the service, but many do not carry the message through in a meaningful way on all pages of your site. The process should be less painful for the consumer than calling the card issuing bank. If possible the cancelation system should generate a meaningful receipt also sent by email with the exact time of cancellation.I would experiment with a monthly email pro forma invoice that is also a bit of a marketing message that speaks to what is new each month.Display A Phone Number And Answer All Messages In Less Then 24 Hours Or LessThere must be a phone number on the website that is at the very least responded to in less then 24 hours. I know this is contrary to the new world we think we live in where twitter seems to be a better answer. The fact is when 99% of adults have a problem with something that is related to money they require, no they demand to speak to a human voice. If they do not speak to your human voice, they will speak to the guaranteed human voice that will respond to a cardholder complaint at the Card Issuing Bank and that assures that you will get a chargeback.Your Service's Name and Phone Number Must Be On Customer's Payment Card StatementsThe way your business appears on the Credit Card Statement of your customer should be very, very well thought out. There ls very limited space and the name of the Service and or website should be listed and not perhaps an unrecognizable corporate name. There also must be a phone number that the customer can use to question the transition. And yes, once again there must be a person that answers messages in less than 24 hours. In fact, the best thing you can do is to create a "hotline" number that appears next to your name on the consumers statement that you know is only used on credit card statements, I would then have that number route to a message that states what the service is and how easy it is to cancel, just by leaving a message.Understand The Chargeback ReasonsThe chargeback system has quite a number of arcane and perhaps unintelligible ways to transmit reasons for a chargeback. You will be receiving a Retrieval Request from the Card Issuing Bank. In this you will be receiving either a single sentence saying that the charge was not authorized all the way up to a few paragraphs speaking to the customer's reason for the chargeback. In the end the chargeback is likely to be granted under these Reason Codes:Reason Code 41: Cancelled Recurring TransactionReason Code 53: Not as Described or Defective MerchandiseReason Code 57: Fraudulent Multiple TransactionsReason Code 60: Illegible FulfillmentReason Code 62: Counterfeit TransactionEach reason code has it's own folklore and is more of a hazy guess then an exact science. In many cases the chargeback reason code Dart Board (not just humor here, I have actually seen one) is used by the Card Issuing Bank. So take the reason codes lightly and find out the real reason by contacting the customer.It is absolutely important that the Retrieval Request is responded to in less then 48 hours. I am aware that you may be told you have 15 or so days, just answer in 48 hours or less. You are fully able to contact the customer and to negotiate a solution that does not involve the chargeback and ask the customer to see if they are willing to rescind the chargeback. This may not stop chargeback fees from the Acquiring bank, but it will limit the number of chargebacks attributed to your business.Not Just A Solution Supplied By TechnologyI know this all sounds like some work, that is because it is. Automation and Tech only go so far. Even the hardcore technologist will demand to "talk to someone" if the issue they face is believed by them to be large enough. This is where so many companies fail, engineers are amazing at a great number of things, but some tend to fail spectacularly in implementing customer service policies (my contradiction is I have an engineering background). None of this is not simple, but if the right plan is implemented it is not nearly as hard as it seems.Understand I am not addressing this subject in theory, I offer this from 28+ years of working with merchants and the real life problems and solutions on a small scale and on a very large scale.Finally it is absolutely important to have the correct merchant account, set up in the correct manner, with the correct MCC code, with the right bank, using the right payment gateway service. There is, and never will be a one size fits all relationship. Be certain you pick the right Payment Card processor that truly understand exactly what you do. The wrong general purpose processor will at best make your business had to run and at worse drive you out of business.Why They Leave Is As Important As Why They BuyIn the end there is a psychology behind all chargebacks, it is not always obvious and if it seems so, it means perhaps the real motive was not understood. Upstanding the reasons a consumer acts in a certain manner when they are requesting a chargeback is just as, if not more important as understanding why they may want to use your service. Focus on both sides and there is no doubt you will find better success.

1. Incorporation – in the State of Delaware as a Delaware C Corp.If you ask “Why Delaware” ? – We couldn’t find anything convincing for “Why not” ?Total cost for incorporation – $1278Break up:Lawyer Fees – $1005 (Ryan Roberts at Startup Lawyer). I would highly recommend Ryan. He was very professional and knowledgeable and very easy to work with thru email and skype. He charged us a flat fee for the full service startup incorporation package and this included a Memorandum of Association, Articles of Association, Restricted Stock Purchase agreements, Technology Transfer agreements, Proprietary Information agreements etc.Incorporation fees – $148 (Delaware C Corp).Registered Agent fees – $125 (This is a yearly fee. A registered agent service is mandatory to incorporate a delaware corporation if you live outside Delaware). (Bloomberg Excelsior Business Services)2. Employer ID Number (EIN – TAX Number)Every business in the US needs a EIN number (also known as Tax ID number). After Incorporation docs are ready, fill form SS4 and call the IRS Philadelphia center directly at (800) 829-4933 (This is the only office in the US that processes EIN for US business that are incorporated from foreign countries). They will give you the EIN on the phone. It may be helpful if you have a fax nearby at the time of calling. You can fax the filled SS4 form to them so that you don’t have to spell out all the details on the phone.3. US Physical AddressYou need a physical US address for receiving business documents. There are several mail service forwarding providers charging different rates.My choice was Virtualpostmail.com – a web 2.0 company who seemed to be miles ahead of others in what seems to be a very traditional industry. I chose the $20 plan.They scan mails and send you an email; you can choose emails that needs to be opened and the contents scanned or just forward those mails to any other international address.Before you can operate your account, you need to submit a notarized form 1583 from USPS to authorize Virtual Post mail to open mails on your (and your companies behalf).4. US Bank AccountYou need a Business checking account with a US bank. If you already have a personal bank account with a US bank you can try calling them to open a business checking account. I think this is the best option. I tried calling Wells Fargo and the person on the phone told me that I cannot open a bank account with Wells Fargo and that I had to physically go to Delaware and try opening it from Wachovia. I am sure this person was wrong and I think it should be possible with Wells Fargo. I love the bank but somehow could not get my business account opened there.If you do not have a US bank account but if you are visiting USA in the near future, you can just walk in to a bank with the incorporation documents of your company and open an account.I posted a question regarding this in Quora and a very nice gentleman who was an advisor to many startups contacted me and referred me to Silicon Valley Bank (who are considered very startup friendly) and I was able to open the account from India itself.Initially I found it amusing that I was asked to pitch my business idea or send a presentation of my business plan in order to open a business checking account. But I guess Silicon Valley bank offers so many other services to startups but our needs were pretty simple. But SVB has been great till now in terms of responsive support.5. Merchant AccountThe most popular alternatives are Paypal and Credit Card Processing for Merchants to Accept Payments Online or Anywhere (they have many resellers). You can go to FeeFighters (Note: They were acquired by Groupon in 2013) to compare providers and choose one that works for you. I skipped the options provided by FeeFighters and went directly with Braintree Payment solutions even though they were slightly more expensive compared to others as I had read good things about them and I did not understand all the hidden fees etc.Braintree provides me a merchant account, a payment gateway, a PCI compliant vault to store customer Credit card data and can process recurring subscription billing.We thought we will worry about the fees when we are making millions of dollars and losing considerable money on fees6. Business Credit CardI applied for a mastercard credit card through Silicon Valley Bank – the card is secured with a money market account – basically secured with cash in my bank account.7. US Phone NumbersWe have a free Google Voice number and a Skype number which is $50 per year. The Google Voice number forwards the calls to our Skype number.