Expand revenue, grow your base with issuer-side residuals

Plink, established in March 2022 and based in Santa Monica, Calif., is the fourth fintech startup for founder and CEO Mitch Jacobs, a serial entrepreneur who has consistently focused on the ISO community. Before Plink, Jacobs pioneered a stored-value solution, venture-backed payment processor and leading alternative lender, Ondeck.

John Wisniewski, senior business development manager at Plink, described the company as a passionate, experienced group of ISO veterans, card issuing and compliance gurus, data scientists, engineers, sales support experts and customer success specialists. We can’t continue to race to the bottom, he said, adding that the issuing side of the business is a powerful source of new value for merchant accounts.

Wisniewski stated he and fellow Plink executives believe ISOs are pivotal to the financial fabric of the U.S. economy. Plink team members, he pointed out, help merchant acquirers drive value and profitability using merchant account residuals as a pathway to wealth creation.

Issuer-side residual income

Plink delivers issuer residuals to the merchant account to create new residual income streams backed by best-in-class training, lead sourcing and resources, Wisniewski stated, adding that the company’s deep market experience and technical knowledge give partners an edge. The Plink team is also easy to work with and provides partners with personal assistance, proven strategies, revenue-driven technology and a full resource suite to help them grow their merchant portfolios, he noted.

When merchant level salespeople (MLSs) lead with our data, they can establish trust before they ask to see a merchant statement, Wisniewski said, while noting that MLSs can use Plink data points to lead from a position of knowledge and educate merchants about relevant business economics. These benefits, combined with Plink’s growing Main Street Network of top 300,000 merchants and 350 financial institutions, have powered 1 billion issuer-connected transactions, he said.

Advanced technology stack

Plink connects ISOs to several card-issuing features that are compatible with any current merchant account and do not require any integration, Wisniewski stated. He cited the following features and benefits:

• Full wallet and community data: A single-access view of real-time digital wallet data and community data provides an anonymized profile of competitor and community spending.
• Cash back controller: Automatic adjustments for cash back on cardholder debit or credit card based on trends in their spending in ways that are always cash positive for the merchant.
• Integrated publishing: A direct connection to credit and debit card email, app, website and other digital communications that are standard for the industry.
• The Main Street Network: A fast-growing network of over 400,000 qualified merchants that already have this new feature available to them and just need an ISO to tell them about it.
• The Residual Revolution: An opportunity to increase residuals from 50 to 100 percent with Plink’s issuer-side residual steam capabilities.
• Interoperability: An ability to add new features to the merchant account and earn Plink’s issuer residual, even if a merchant is on a contract or has no interest in switching auth and settlement.

A game changer for ISOs

Reflecting on the company’s rapid growth, Wisniewski said Plink has focused on developing and testing its network with hundreds of banks and thousands of merchants. We’re excited to bring a mature, game-changing program to ISOs at a critical time, and that’s where our focus will be for the next few years, he stated.

“We know that selling to merchants is one of the hardest things to do and admire the incredible tenacity and focus of successful ISO platforms,” Wisniewski said. “We come to work every day thinking about how we can deliver merchant account features that will help drive the success of our many friends and colleagues that we have had in this industry for over 20 years.”

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