Financial Advice: Navigating Credit Card Fees with Jim Luff

Funeral Service Insider: The Podcast

In this episode of Funeral Service Insider, we speak with Jim Luff from Aurora Payments about the complexities of the Credit Card Competition Act and its implications for the funeral industry. Empowering Merchants: "This gives merchants a choice in the fees that they pay, something that's never been offered in the past … every time a merchant accepts a Visa or Mastercard for payment, approximately 2% to 3-and-a-half percent is charged to the merchant and effectively erodes their profitability."

Funeral Industry Dilemma: “If you’re in a small community and there’s a total of three funeral homes and the other two don’t (charge a credit card fee) and you're the only one doing it, well, that's not going to look good. On the flip side, if you get together with those other two and you say, “Hey, we’re all going to do this so we quit giving away our profit. Now you have what's known as collusion, and that is a federal offense.”

Retail Revolution: “The act has gained the support of over 200 state and regional business associations, as well as the International Franchise Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, National Association of Theater Owners, Grocers, Restaurant Association, National Retail Federation. Currently, more than 2,000 retailers, platforms, and small businesses have signed a petition urging lawmakers to continue with the bill and keep it intact and not let modifications take place.”

Government Oversight on Credit Card Processing: “The fact is in 2012, the Durbin Act passed, and that is what gave us the ability to do surcharging and cash-discounting now. So there’s more evolution coming on this, as we continue to see the government encroach on monitoring credit card processing operations, which I don't think is a bad thing. I just don't want to see consumers who place great value in a particular card … (to see) the terms of that change.”

Click here for complete show notes.