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StreetSmarts

merchant had too many chargebacks, applied too many
times for services or another agent had already submitted
the deal. Whatever the reason, it's a waste of time for you Fintechs may do a poor job of
and the business owner. underwriting, but they board

We've gained a ton of data from recent consolidations that business faster.
we can leverage. Crowd-sourced intel on prospects would
benefit the entire merchant application chain.

Customer portals larger merchants? Payroll is another money maker that
is being used by Toast, Square, QuickBooks and other
Having a portal for your merchant was a big thing about fintechs.
15-plus years ago and never caught fire for several reasons.
Early prototype portals were not that impressive, and It's go time!
retailers who were just using countertop terminals didn't ISOs need to get going now. If you have not built an
bother to log in on a regular basis. automated boarding tool, it's time to partner with someone
and get one now because Stripe, Square and other fintechs
Today, however, these portals have a lot more to offer. are eating our lunch.
Merchants can see authorizations, batches, statements (no
more snail mail) and they can even manage chargebacks While the days of going door to door are not over, the way
on the portals. Chargeback documents no longer have to to get business is changing, and it's time to go fintech.
be mailed or faxed; responses can be uploaded directly Fintechs may do a poor job of underwriting, but they
into the portal. board business faster. We spend our time trying to get their
customers to switch to us but they are outmaneuvering us
Embedded finance is another area where fintechs are way inonboarding accounts.
ahead of ISOs. We need to offer loans in the customer
portal, which some companies have already implemented, Another thing to keep in mind, which I discussed in a
but we need to offer credit cards, lines of credit and previous Street Smarts column, is that fintechs don't sell
equipment finance, not just cash advance. processing; they sell product, and their customers don't
complain about high processing rates because they want
Loans offered in the portal: some companies have this but the technology. ISOs that own their tech can attract and
more need this. retain more customers by capitalizing on emerging trends
like these:
Give merchants a reason to log in and keep coming back.
Does your ISO have its own gateway and virtual terminal? • Buy now, pay later: Consumers can opt into BNPL
Why not offer a free Woo Commerce plug in and API for during in-store and ecommerce checkouts. It's time
for ISOs to participate in BNPL revenue streams.

Call me today! • Digital assets: With all the current buzz about
stablecoin and digital assets, it remains to be seen
Let me help you if cryptocurrency will gain steam in the merchant
with your community or if ISOs will be last to incorporate these
nascent currencies into our platforms.
advertising Hey ISO owners, let's end outdated practices. How many

success. products and services on the go-fintech checklist in the
707-284-1693 sidebar accompanying this article does your company
offer? It's time to invest – time to change – and time to Go
Fintech!

Want to know more? Keep reading The Green Sheet and
consider following me on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.
com/in/allenkopelman/ where we can share ideas and sup-
port each other.

R R ick Aston Allen Kopelman, a serial entrepreneur, is co-founder and CEO of
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. and host of B2B Vault: The Biz
Senior Media Partnership Specialist to Biz podcast. Email him at allen@npsbank.com and connect on
and
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenkopelman/
Rick@greensheet.com
Twitter @AllenKopelman.
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