Accepting debit and credit card payments in your organization is a great way to increase cash flow and offer convenient payment tools to your members and clients. Before getting started it is important to learn the best ways to protect yourself from members disputing payments made to your business. When a cardholder calls the issuing bank of their credit card to dispute a transaction listed on their account it is called a chargeback. At Client we want to help our groups protect themselves from day one by collecting the following information from cardholders.
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1. Obtain authorization from the cardholder for the specific dollar amount being charged. Authorization means a signature from the cardholder can be collected on paper or electronically.
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2. Confirm the name on the card. If the name is different from your actual client, obtain additional approval from the actual cardholder.
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3. When accepting credit card information over the phone or through your website, ensure you have a charge authorization or previous agreement to charge payments on file.
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4. If you are accepting payments from relatives or other third parties make sure you have the proper documentation. The authorization form or agreement should include the name and invoice number if possible. Obtain signature from the third party to confirm they are accepting responsibility for the payment.
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5. Obtain initials next to any specific cancellation policies included in your member or client agreements.