Merchant cash-advance company AmeriMerchant LLC says the hundreds of merchant-services sales offices working with transaction processor First Data Corp. will have an easier time selling AmeriMerchant’s services through an agreement announced Dec. 14.
The agreement enables First Data to “batch split” settlement payments, meaning the Atlanta-based processor can split a merchant’s AmeriMerchant fee from the merchant’s settlement amount, David Goldin, AmeriMerchant president and CEO, tells ISO&Agent Weekly. Merchants receiving advance funds from AmeriMerchant repay the debt based on a percentage of their credit and debit card receivables.
The deal will make it simpler for sales agents to sell AmeriMerchant’s cash-advance services, Goldin says.
Previously, New York-based AmeriMerchant had to use other means to ensure repayment of advances on First Data’s network, steps that delayed merchants from receiving their settlement funds, Goldin says. Now the process is seamless, and there is no settlement delay, he notes.
“We’ve been working on this for two years,” Goldin says.
First Data does not release the number of sales agents with which it works.
In conjunction with the agreement, AmeriMerchant is offering an extra 1% commission to First Data independent sales organizations when they sign up a merchant for a cash advance. The commission is about $2,000 on the average advance amount of $20,000. Approximately 70% of AmeriMerchant’s customers renew their cash advances, Goldin says.
