365 Billing US Update
 

There has been a lot of open speculation about us on the boards lately. We were content to let rumors be rumors because we have no desire to discuss the health of our organization on a full-time basis.

To respond directly to the question regarding our banking relationship, our merchant acquirer has not, in fact, decided to exit the high risk space. Our acquirer is in the process of moving its entire high risk portfolio to a sponsor bank on another BIN, with whom they have an existing and long-standing relationship, for reasons completely unrelated to 365. This transition has been planned over many months and is being executed, and as we expected it to be completely transparent to our customers, we saw no reason to inform them or the market of the change. This has and will not have any affect on our ability to take transactions for US clients.

Simply stated: Our US acquirer will not change. Our US processor will not change. The links we have in place for the physical processing of the transactions will not change. The only thing that is changing is the BIN under which our acquirer is processing. If you are one of our customers and would like more detail on this I would encourage you to call me.

The fact that so many billing companies have come and gone over the years has made the entire marketplace understandably sensitive. We understand this sensitivity and will continue to communicate to the marketplace at the highest levels.

When we started 365 Billing we were committed to the simple proposition that this business could be taken to a new level. We believe that we can take it there. The support we have received from the market and the growth we are experiencing today are a testament to the hard work and professionalism of our staff.

We are looking forward to a long and successful run in this market and we hope to do business with as many of you as possible on the way. For those of you who are already customers, your wires are going out as scheduled today.

Very Sincerely Yours,
Mark Smith
President

Thanks Smitty.

:winkwink:

I think Ron from CCbill should apologize for trashing you guys and good to know all is well! :pimp

I see this happen everyday in business. A company knows of something that is changing and knows it will not affect their clients but they also decide not to tell their clients about it. Someone, client or not, sees something that they are unsure of and the rumors start.

You learnt this lesson by getting your name smudged a bit. To everyone else out there, transparency is a great thing. Let your clients know before a change happens. Explain to them what is going on and how it affects or does not affect things and you will endure a lot less of a headache. Be proactive so you do not have to reactive!

Excellent advice!!!

There aren't many companies in this industry that take this approach, so rumors will always start flying. Of course there is always that saying "There is no such thing as bad press."

that is great to hear :)

Mark,
My icq has been lit up like a Christmas tree for two days now with links to this thread and the one yesterday. After the Phillipines incident in August, some people are very confused as to how banks handle business, so maybe this will give you a chance to clarify the situation, if you like. I certainly have no knowledge of your particulars, so I don't feel the need to speculate when you're here and can give some solid answers.

1. What do you mean by acquirer? This is typically your bank, however your statement above mentions your acquirer moving to another banks BIN. Perhaps you can define acquirer for everyone and clear up the confusion.

2. Can you define processor as well? In saying that the bank is changing but the acquirer is not, then saying that the BIN is moving to another bank, but the processor is not changing, there is some confusion here as well. Will Columbus B&T continue to be your sponsor bank for your IPSP business? Or is the other, as yet unannounced, IPSP bank approval going to take your business instead? (the last half of the paragraph is my own question, not one from icq)

3. While this process is happening, is there any possibility that you may be inadverdently cross border acquiring? Are your US clients' transactions still being routed through to a US bank or are they being temporarily sent to a non-US bank?

4. And last but not least, given the situation in the Phillipines, did you have prior approval from Visa to move to this new bank, or are you still in the process of arranging approval? Many of the CNP/Bankard accounts were caught completely unaware of any issues until they were in a situation where time became their enemy, since CNP/Bankard assumed they would receive approval from Visa to re-arrange the existing business and then were shocked when they did not.

Hope this gives you the chance to clarify for everyone. I think it's rather sad here that RonC is being called a liar and people are saying he's trying hurt your reputation; I've known Ron and family for many years and that's not something I've ever seen from them. Ron's a good guy, running a very solid business, and he believes in telling it like he knows it to be. You saying that your bank is changing, but your acquirer/processor is not, leads one to believe that Ron is indeed correct in what he is saying. I'm not going to say anything more until you've had a chance to reply at this point.

thanks for clearing everything up for everyone mark!

what does 'BIN' mean for dummies like me ?????

great to hear :)

In the same way that your Visa/Mastercard has a string of numbers on it which identify the bank that issued it, as well as the fact that it is your card, acquiring accounts -- merchant accounts so to speak -- have a string of numbers.

Everything is posited on these number strings -- if you lose your card, the new one has a slightly different group of numbers, to make the card unique -- thus, changing your bank (acquirer) would also change the number string on the back end. Banks may have multiple BINS, just like you may have more than one card in your wallet, but BINS are unique to the banks, and don't move around.

http://216.219.227.13/Looney_Bin/Loo...ex-graphic.gif

Welcome to GFY... :upsidedow

ADG Webmaster

if that is all to BIN than it is a no-brainer .... same bank ... old biz ....

why post?

"Our acquirer is in the process of moving its entire high risk portfolio to a sponsor bank on another BIN"

Mark's sentence here would indicate they are moving to another bank, not another BIN within the same bank. Giving them the chance to clarify things will help them I think.

so 365 will be pocessing somewhere in Nigeria or Panama, now?

Kimmy Kim ?

I believe that Ron received some information regarding our sponsor bank that he believed was relevant to the marketplace and posted what he knew. He posted again in response to our update and we appreciate his response.

I am happy to answer any of the questions you have posted directly and without qualification to anyone currently billing with us and I would welcome a call, email or ICQ from any of them.

Our banking relationships are proprietary between 365 and our customers and posting detailed information about those relationships on a public bulletin board is not something that I am prepared to do. As long as you have been in this business I?m surprised that you would even ask me to.

As a final note, we absolutely are not and do not plan to process outside of the US for any of our US IPSP clients. Doing otherwise would be in clear violation of the VISA regs.

Mark

What happened to transparency?

Mark,
I think you know me well enough, and have for years, to realize that I am not asking you to post bank names, BIN numbers or even employees home phone numbers on a board.

In all seriousness, my post was designed to give you a chance to allay public gossip about your situation, as well as to express my personal displeasure with comments made about Ron. Most everyone recalls that I worked for CCBill a few years ago, and still believe they are one of the best in the business as an IPSP. I also believe that everyone in this business who knows me understands that I do not wish to see any processor or any bank have issues with the card associations since it's a situation that creates havoc for the entire industry.

We all stand or fall by our payment processing, since it really doesn't matter what you are selling if you cannot get paid for it. And given that what appears to be a former employee of yours was making a derogatory post about your company in another thread, I felt that you would appreciate the opportunity to reassure people that you were doing normal business.

In any case, good business to you guys! I'll see you in LA in a November, I hope?

in other words?

Where did you read that ?

I trust my processing with nobody but Netbilling these days.

Good for you, but without the volume netbilling has nothing to offer to most of us.

bump for transparency

I took the BS out of the opening post and that was what remained.


I think kk saw the same thing and tried to push 365billing mark to say it, but he must have felt threatened and curled up into a ball

That was not in the original post by Mark Smith, if you continue this mis-information, it will become actionable.

bump for the truth.

My intention was not to spread mis-information, that was the intention of the first post in this thread.

My post was a tongue-in-cheek edit of marks quote to show my interpretation of what he posted. Don?t get your panties in a bunch, this is done every day on this and other message boards.

Pay your employees first before you start threatening legal action.

Again, you are inferring we haven't paid our call center, which is the start of the thread where you posted, "Heard good things about us".

How about stop playing the fence? Having your livelihood fucked with isn't something I take lightly. Do you?

I have heard good things about you and was going to talk to someone there about putting you guys on as my secondary after epoch, but with your statement above, I was a little disappointed and I called it how I saw it

You have a point, ill stay out of this thread. Good luck in the future, sincerely

We know who CCBill and Paycom process with...so again, bump for transparency.