At MONA we take pride in our partnership with PIA and are honored to have been featured in their latest article. Here’s what they had to say about their latest experience with our team:

MONA Payment Solutions, a merchant services and credit card processing company, has been a PIA Partner since 2018. During this time we’ve used them for our own merchant services needs, too. A recent experience served to reinforce why we continue to enthusiastically recommend MONA Payment Solutions to our members. 

How MONA Payment Solutions helped us 

“There’s a payment button on our website that we wanted to change,” says Kristy Villanueva, PIA Director of Member Services. “We wanted this button to automatically create a recurrent payment, on a schedule, but we couldn’t figure out how to do this. We called MONA Payment Solutions and their response was, ‘No worries. We’ll take care of it for you.’” 

“I gave Kristy a choice,” recalls Meagan High, Relationship Manager at MONA Payment Solutions. “I could walk her through how to change that button. Or she could make me a user on their system and let me log in and do it for her, which is what she chose. I asked a few questions to ensure I set things up exactly the way Kristy wanted, and then I simply took care of it. Once the payment button was updated I did some research to ensure that the notifications that would go out to PIA members who used the button would be clear.” 

While Meagan was creating this button, she saw some other things that also needed to be updated or adjusted, and took care of these, too. When it occurred to us that we’d like to get notifications when someone pays online, Meagan saw to it that this was in place by the next morning. 

“The way that MONA Payment Solutions helped us,” Kristy affirms, “is exactly how we service our members. But there aren’t a lot of companies that will pick up the weight and help you like that, which is why we’re so particular about the groups we partner with. Our Partners are an extension of our Association. To make the cut as a PIA Partner, one of the most crucial criteria is that they must provide ‘above and beyond’-level service to our members.” 

How MONA Payment Solutions can help you

“If there’s something we can do to help a customer,” Meagan shares, “we’re happy to do it. As the ‘middle man’ between you and the huge credit card processing companies, we are here to help.” For example, they can: 

• Fix issues with credit card processing terminals – Instead of calling the processor’s 800 number and being put on hold, call the customer support team at MONA Payment Solutions instead. For basic issues they’ll walk you through troubleshooting steps. If that doesn’t do it, they’ll initiate the call with the processor, stay on the line with you throughout the call and ensure the problem is resolved. 

• Update bank account information – “Because the processor deposits funds directly into the merchant’s bank account,” Meagan points out, “getting bank account changes quickly and accurately updated in the processor’s system is vitally important. We fill out the paperwork and handle all the ‘back and forth’ with the processor until they confirm that the change has been made.” 

• Negotiate rates on your behalf – If you’re not happy with the merchant fees that you’re paying, MONA Payment Solutions can pull statements from the processor, see what you’re paying and contact the processor to see if there’s room to lower the fees. If the answer is no, they’ll explore options with one of the other processors they work with. 

• Help you institute surcharge solutions – “We offer both surcharge solutions and cash discount options,” Meagan states. “We can help you determine if one of these is right for you, get it in place and even create marketing fliers about this for you that explain the program to your customers.” 

• Deal with the aftermath of fraud – What do you do if a malicious actor attacks your website with “card testing” software, generating credit card numbers in rapid succession until it either gets approvals or causes the processor to shut your virtual terminal down? If you’re a MONA Payment Solutions customer you call them, and they’ll deal with the situation for you. “For any type of fraud or chargeback situations,” Meagan states, “we’re the go-between between merchants and the processors to get it fixed.” 

• Fill out annual PCI questionnaire – Once a year all U.S. businesses that use merchant services are required to complete a PCI SelfAssessment Questionnaire, which is a statement of compliance with payment card industry security standards. “This can be very stressful for some merchants,” Meagan has seen, “because of the technical nature of many of the questions. We can either walk them through this or handle it for them.”  

Even if you never contact MONA Payment Solutions with questions or problems, they’ll contact you to complete an annual review anyway. Has any of your contact information changed? Are you able to log in to everything? Are you having any issues? Has anything in your business or business model changed such that your current credit card processing services are no longer the best choices for you? 

Conclusion 

“Merchant services companies often get a bad rap,” Meagan observes. “MONA Payment Solutions is trying to change the narrative. Our goal is to provide hands-on, white glove service. You can come to us for anything related to your merchant services or credit card processing. If we can take that off your plate, we will.” 

To learn more, visit https://partners.monasolutions.com/pia or call MONA Payment Solutions at 805-418-7595.