Get you coming and going

JoAnn Strommen

Today's email: Sounds like another rate increase. Add ‘complete cover/donor cover’ so “we don't have to pay fees” (LOL) but then increase contract fee. Disappointing

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2023 Updates to Blackbaud Merchant Services and Blackbaud Payment Services

As we simplify our payment offerings and accelerate innovation, Blackbaud Merchant Services customers will have access to features such as Daily Disbursements (all currencies excluding Euro), Credit Card Updater (USD and CAD) and premium fraud management services. In conjunction with these latest releases, some of our Blackbaud Payment Services rates will change on January 13th, 2023, including BBMS card processing, direct debit, and PayPal as well as interconnect. We are working quickly to bring ongoing enhancements across all markets in compliance with local regulation and user preferences.

Faith Murray

@JoAnn Strommen, they have to pay for inflation raises for their staff, lol.

I wonder… if you already pay for Credit Card Updater does that mean you lose that bill? ?

La Donna Borth

@Faith Murray we don't have Credit Card Updater. But, if it will be included with our new fees, I am now curious to hear the thoughts from others with experience using this tool.

Daniel R. Snyder

@Elizabeth Johnson I believe you use CC Updater or am I mistaken?

Elizabeth Johnson

@Dan Snyder Yes we use Credit Card Updater. We used to pay for it monthly and then when we moved to daily distributions and paid for that it was included. I love it. It catches credit cards nearly every month for small details like expirations dates and new numbers for the credit cards that opt in. Some that have cards from really small co-op banks we still need to follow up on but saves us time (sorry I don't have actual stats on how much time it saves us)

La Donna Borth

@Elizabeth Johnson Thank you for sharing your experience and opinion of it's value! I am interested the Credit Card Updater, but wasn't sure I could get it through the budget process. It does sound like a time saver.

La Donna Borth

@Dan Snyder thanks for identifying an experienced user of Credit Card Updater!

Faith Murray

@Dan Snyder, we do also use the CC Updater service. It's easy to use, does seem useful and it has only costed us $30/month, which isn't bad. Our rationale was that if it saves one monthly donor a year, it basically pays for itself.

Overall the updates have been very helpful - it reduces how many people we've had to call up for new payment info and allows us to focus more of our interactions on friend-building and stewardship instead of transactional contact. My only complaint is that I don't have full control over who to include or exclude when accepting updates. There have been a rare couple of times that the cards were processing fine until the updater service, and then afterward they didn't work anymore. I'd like the ability to exclude any donor who has already manually updated their card within the past 4 months or so.

Austen Brown

Those looking into adding Credit Card Updater to your contract, or even if you already have it, the next time your org comes up on a renewal you can negotiate to have CCU included with no monthly charge and without having to change your BBMS disbursement cycle.