Summary
Payments made with a card (credit, debit, or prepaid) where the billing address is outside of the United States (referred herein as "International Card") are subject to an additional 1% processing fee.
United States’ insular areas, specifically Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands, are considered part of the United States.
Included in this article:
- International card acceptance options
- Do not accept international cards
- Add international card fee to client payment
- Accept international cards and firm absorbs the cost
- Deciding which setting is right for your firm
- Reporting for international card fees
International card acceptance options
You have a few options in regards to accepting international cards and can choose one of the following:
- International cards are not an accepted payment method.
- International cards are accepted and the additional international card fee is charged to the client at the time of payment.
- International cards are accepted and the additional international card fee is charged to Aiwyn at the time of payment; Aiwyn in turn invoices the firm for the additional international card fee.
Do not accept international cards
If you choose not to accept cards where the billing address is outside the United States, then when the client attempts to make a payment with their international card and enters the billing zip code, they will receive an error notification informing them that your firm does not accept international card payments.
Add international card fee to client payment
If you would like to accept international cards and would like to pass this additional fee on to the client at the time of their payment, then when the client enters their international card details and billing zip code, they are presented with a full cost breakdown prior to submitting their payment.
Example Payment Summary with International Card:
If this configuration setting is in place, when an international card payment is made, the corresponding international processing fee is added to your daily payment export file as a new separate column.
Accept international cards and firm absorbs the cost
You can accept payments made with international cards, but instead of passing the additional fee onto the client, you are billed for the additional 1% cost associated with international card payments on your Aiwyn invoice.
Deciding which setting is right for your firm
Before you choose a setting, it's important to explore the level of impact. Ask yourself the following:
- How many clients do I have that are international?
- If not many, then accepting and absorbing the cost is the least impactful to client experience
- If not many, then disabling international cards might be better from a cost perspective but may impact the client experience for clients with international cards
- If some or many, then passing the fee will help to protect the firm's costs associated with payments made with international cards
- If some or many, then allowing international cards and absorbing the fee will protect the firm's potential legal concerns and still allow international clients to make card payments
Every firm is different, just as your clients are different. We want to support you with the best options for protecting both the client experience and your firm's costs.
When you decide what is right for you, or if you would like to change this setting in the future, please contact support@aiwyn.ai
Reporting for international card fees
- When you chose to have the client pay the international fee for their transaction, you will not receive reporting for this fee as Aiwyn both charges the client AND subtracts the charged fee from the payment amount before remitting funds to the firm
- When a refund or dispute occurs for any card payment that had an international fee included, the international fee is added to the amount that is subtracted from the future payout of the firm. Aiwyn keeps the international fee paid by the client to cover the cost of the transaction that is charged to Aiwyn, but in order to fully refund the client the 1% fee must be recovered from the firm.
Examples of a transaction with an international fee reversed
Scenario: credit card refund or dispute + international fee
** please note this scenario only applies to a firm for whom Aiwyn is not taking any transaction fees from the firm's daily payout
| Original payment | $100.00 |
| Processing fee rate for client | 3.5% ($3.50) | client pays this fee |
| International fee rate + scenario amount | 1.0% ($1.00) | client pays this fee, but Aiwyn keeps it |
| Net payment amount to firm | $103.50 |
| Amount debited from firm when a refund or dispute occurs | $104.50 ($100 + $3.50 + $1.00) |
| Amount returned to client | $104.50 |
| Display of reversal to firm |
|
Scenario: credit card refund or dispute + international fee
** please note this scenario only applies to a firm for whom Aiwyn IS taking any transaction fees from the firm's daily payout
| Original payment | $100.00 |
| Processing fee rate for client | 3.5% ($3.50) | client pays this fee |
| Transaction fee rate and amount kept by Aiwyn | 3.5% ($3.50) |
| International fee rate + scenario amount | 1.0% ($1.00) | client pays this fee |
| Transaction sweep amount | $3.50 + $1.00 = $4.50 | firm has paid neither of these fees |
| Net payment amount to firm | $100 |
| Amount debited from Firm when a refund or dispute occurs | $104.50 ($1.00 + $4.50) |
| Amount returned to Client | $104.50 |
| Display of reversal to firm |
|
Firm must pay the original processing fee and international fee back to the client.