How Much Money Do You Need to Save to Make Something Worthwhile?

Would you walk away from a $20 bill laying on the street? How about $50? $100? You may be able to save that and more in your business each and every month if you accept credit cards. Find out more NOW.

One of my newest passions is the rip-off's in credit card processing. Most businesses, no matter how small, are pretty well resigned to the need to accept credit cards. Our main business has been accepting them for 19 years and I've had lots of experience with a variety of different merchant service providers.

Then a few months ago a friend had a major problem with her provider and blogged about it. Since I check our rates every couple of years I realized I hadn't done that in a while and started checking around. And because of her issue I really did research this time, not just shop rates.

What I found was amazing. The vast majority of providers charge "junk fees" every month that just add to their profit. Do you have a "statement fee" or a "customer service fee" on your statement? Those are pure profit centers for the provider. I actually have a list of about a dozen junk fees that commonly charged. And did you know that even a merchant provider can request a copy of a charge slip...it's called a "retrieval" and yes, they charge you a fee for it. So less than honest merchant service providers will often pad their profit in a month by issuing retrieval requests for no reason except to add to their profit that month.

I delved deep into this and finally found my current Merchant Service Provider. No statement fees, no batch closing fees, etc., just a great rate with a business that is honest and straightforward.

I'm actually doing a video interview later today on this subject. But my question to you is how much money do you need to save in order to make you sit up and take notice? If someone said they'd save you $20 a month each and every month would it be "worth" it to you to take action? What about $50 a month? $100? $300?

This is money you are currently spending that would stay in your pocket. You don't have to do anything, sell anything, buy anything...it's just saved money. And yet I know people who just don't take the action necessary to do it. And this is not just about credit card processing, but changing a vendor for a better price, canceling a service you really don't use, doing something different, anything, that would save you money. At what point does keeping more of your money make you take action?