Meeting the Payment Needs of Small Businesses and Their Owners

Visa® Business check card helps you serve the large and growing small business segment by meeting the day-to-day payment needs of business owners and their employees.

The card is an efficient option for small businesses to draw on funds in their business DDAs to purchase a wide variety of goods and services, as well as to automatically pay recurring bills. And, it provides business owners with control, flexibility, and the power to track transactions, log expenses for tax purposes, and view line item detail on goods and services purchased—while earning Visa Extras points redeemable for valuable rewards.

Visa Business check card transactions are covered by the Visa Zero Liability Policy and provisional credit protection policies, adding an extra layer of security for cardholders.*

What It Does

Provides a debit-based solution to displace petty cash and checks for everyday business purchases at the point of sale and to support card-not-present payments including Internet and mail order/telephone order (MOTO) purchases and automatic bill payments.

Market Opportunity

Core small business spend (non-payroll) is forecast to grow to $5.7 trillion by 2010—an increase of 21 percent compared to 2005 anticipated spend; 96 percent of small business purchases are currently on payment types other than small business cards.

Target Audience

All existing and prospective small business customers—from micro-businesses to companies with up to 100 employees and/or $25 million in sales.

Why Offer It

Strategic importance: Enhances return on business DDA relationships by delivering a superior small business payment solution that can significantly expand your penetration of this fast-growing segment.

Customer relationships: As part of a business DDA package, Visa Business check card is a powerful relationship builder—proven to enhance customer loyalty and promote expanded deposit and cross-sell relationships.

ROI:

• Increases DDA revenue opportunities
• Reduces payment processing costs by displacing cash and checks
• Contributes to lower account turnover and preservation of core deposits
• Serves as a new account acquisition tool
• Enhances cross-selling opportunities
• Resides on consumer platform; no new infrastructure development required

Risk management: In the United States, virtually all purchases are authorized electronically; funds are settled in one to three days.

Risk and fraud prevention tools and programs include:

• Advanced Authorization. Real-time risk evaluation for 100 percent of transactions processed through the Visa network. Advanced Authorization identifies fraudulent transactions and protects against phishing and other types of systemic fraud.
• Verified by Visa. An optional service that protects card and personal identity information through personal pass codes.
• Fraud Reimbursement/Compliance. A compliance process that enables issuers to recover fraud losses resulting from Visa Operating Rules violations.
• Cardholder Information Security Program. Data security requirements that apply to any entity that stores, processes, or transmits Visa cardholder information.

Product leadership:

• Small business-focused attributes. Convenience and reliability wherever Visa debit products are accepted.
• Compelling business case. Strengthens small business customer relationships, while generating incremental revenue and enhancing the value proposition of business DDAs.
• Comprehensive support. Support every step of the way—from planning to seamless integration to identifying new areas for growth—to maximize sales volume and ROI.
• Brand synergy. Your brand—combined with Visa—provides a powerful incentive for new business customers and existing ones to continue banking with you.

Features and Enhancements

Interlink® and Plus® ATM Network: At your option, you can provide cardholders with PIN-based POS access and cash back and/or additional ATM locations.

Rewards: Visa rewards programs—such as Visa Extras, which is a core feature of Visa Business check card—can play a key role in expanding card usage and attracting new small business customers.

Bill payment: Your business customers can achieve the ease, peace of mind, and time savings of automatically paying recurring bills.

Stand-in processing: If you (or your processor) are unable to provide online authorization, stand-in processing automatically makes the authorization decision on your behalf to maximize system reliability and cardholder trust.

Back-office upgrades: Innovations such as Visa Account Updater (bill payment), the Preauthorized Payment Cancellation Service (PPCS), Visa Resolve Online, and Re-engineering Disputes (RED) increase the efficiency of your back office.

Why Small Businesses Want It

Acceptance: Accepted everywhere that Visa credit products are welcomed.

Convenience: Faster and more convenient than writing a check; additional cards available for authorized users (employees and contingent workers).

Funds management: Track business spending, including transaction line item detail by card, for all business purchases.

Tax reporting: Expenditures are logged for easy tax reporting.

Record-keeping: Transaction line item detail on goods and services purchased.

Multiple layers of security:

• Continuous monitoring. Ongoing transaction monitoring detects suspicious or unusual activity.
• ID theft assistance. Visa helps victims recover in the unlikely event of identity theft. Through our partnership with Call for Action, victims can receive confidential assistance from trained identity theft counselors.
• Verified by Visa. When your financial institution supports Verified by Visa, cardholders may select a personal password to help assure that they are the only person who can use their card to make purchases at participating Internet sites.
• Visa Zero Liability Policy. Cardholders are not responsible for fraudulent purchases, even if their card is not lost or stolen.*
• Three-digit code. A three-digit number on the back of the Visa Business check card helps ensure that the cardholder is in possession of his/her card when making phone and Internet purchases.
• Chargeback protections. Cardholders have the right to refuse payment if something is wrong with the goods or services.

How To Grow It

Acquisition: Determine which small business customers are most likely to accept and use your Visa Business check card, and segment into target groups. Then, define how you'll reach each target. Implement your first direct mail campaign.

Activation: Set activation goals and determine which segments to address, using a communications strategy to reach new customers, inactive customers, and never actives.

Usage: Establish goals and determine which user segments you'll target to encourage increased activity. Then, formulate a plan based on portfolio-segmentation data and motivate usage among segments with the greatest potential for profitability.

Growth Tools

Visa Online: Visa Online (www.us.visaonline.com), an exclusive service to members, is your comprehensive resource to help you grow your Visa Business check card portfolio.

Use Visa Online to access market-ready programs, customizable support materials, and time-tested planning tools to enhance the success of your Visa Business check card program:

• Incentive programs. Market-ready direct mail programs offer attractive incentives from nationally known merchants. These programs fit your budget and help you reach your usage and customer retention goals.
• Database marketing. Fresh cardholder data, automated tracking and fulfillment, and comprehensive reporting to enhance the effectiveness of the merchant-based incentive programs you offer.
• In-branch materials. Brochures and tent/counter cards to encourage new customer relationships and to promote customer and employee incentive programs.
• ATM/statement messages, statement inserts, and newsletter articles. Low cost/high impact tools to supplement your marketing efforts.
• Smart Moves for Effective Business Card Marketing. A comprehensive educational series that highlights valuable strategies and best practices for Visa Business check card marketing and management programs.
• Visa Business Check Card Predictive Models. Tools that help you forecast customer behavior—enabling you to effectively target your customer base and get the most value from your direct marketing budget.
• Automatic Bill Payment Propensity Models. A scoring system for cardholder data that helps reduce the cost of marketing programs by identifying small businesses that are most likely to use their Visa Business check cards to pay their bills.
• Business Marketing Guide. A guide through the promotional sequences for acquisition, activation, and usage. Also provides information on target markets, recommended marketing tactics, and available materials.

Advertising: Ongoing national media advertising, including television, supports Visa Business check card penetration, activation, and growth.

Research Findings

Between June 2004 and June 2005, the number of Visa Business check cards in the United States increased 19 percent, while sales volume grew 27 percent. (Source: Visa Operating Certificates, Visa USA Business Research and Reporting)

For More Information

For more information, please call your Visa Account Executive or Contact Us.