THE TRUSTED CREDIT CARD PROCESSOR

Chosen Payments 

Jeff Brodsly, President & CEO, Chosen Payments
Jeff Brodsly, President & CEO, Chosen Payments
Thousands of retailers trust Chosen Payments with their credit card processing because of their advanced technology solutions.
Jeff Brodsly is a man with great vision and a deep appreciation of technology and towards the customers of Chosen Payments, a credit card processing company he launched in 2008. Brodsly is President and CEO of this unique Merchant Services Provider. Starting from the ground up as a merchant-level salesperson and evolving into operating one of the nation’s most prestigious credit card processing companies, Brodsly has propelled Chosen Payments into a tech embracing company delivering solutions and services that made Chosen Payments an easy choice to be named – Best Retail Technology Solution Provider.
Since the initial launch of Chosen Payments, Brodsly and the company have consistently been recognized as a leader in the credit card processing space. With technology steadfastly having such a huge impact on consumer to business transactions, as well as society in general, Chosen Payments quickly jumped to the forefront of this by adapting their business model to be technology focused. The company has consistently earned inclusion in First Data’s President’s Club. This is the highest honor a credit card processor can receive in their industry. Chosen Payments was named the 800th fastest growing privately held company in America by Inc. Magazine. Through his innate ability to develop long term and trusting partnerships, Jeff invests most of his time overseeing the company while maintaining a hands-on approach with Chosen Payments staff, merchants and business partners. The company’s motto since inception has been, “Your Partner in Success”. It is not simply a motto but rather a mission for all company associates to live by.
The company was founded in Brodsly’s hometown of Moorpark, California but has since grown to include offices in Utah, Michigan, Kansas, Arizona and Georgia. In 2013, Jeff was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce.
A Technology Driven Company
By embracing technology and constantly staying on the forefront of new developments, the tech solutions offered by Chosen Payments to merchants makes a huge difference in payment processing by living and breathing the mantra of the company, “Your Partner in Success”. Operating on a philosophy that no two merchants are assumed to have the same exact needs, Chosen Payments begins the partnership approach by first serving as a business consultant who examines the unique and specific needs of each merchant. The company then focuses on leveraging technology to offer the best available fees and most efficient processes. This includes what type of Point-of-Sale, back office or e-commerce system is being used, annual sales volume, how customers transact business with the merchant and many other components that most credit card processors simply ignore in the onboarding process. As an example, Chosen Payments offers many different choices for accepting payments from the traditional counter terminal to integrated POS transactions, contactless payments, website payments, recurring payments, mobile app payments and more. As a consumer in today’s society, one would not be fully utilizing what big household names like Apple and Amazon have done in the world if they were not embracing these products and services. Smart phones compared to flip phones has changed the world. Similarly when compared to other credit card processors, Chosen Payments has also changed the payments landscape and earned this recognition.
Driven by technology, Chosen Payments employs a Chief Technology Officer as well as Solutions Architects and software developers in-house that can create custom solutions. The company also operates a tech support call center based in California, Atlanta and Arizona. In addition to handling credit card transactions, Chosen Payments offers ACH processing services, gift cards, loyalty programs, white label mobile apps, merchant cash advances and even customized text message marketing for merchants. Chosen Payments is committed to drawing more customers into a merchant’s business using technology in various applications, helping both the merchant, and Chosen. Marketing your business is not normally a function of a credit card processor but Brodsly says delivering on the motto of, “Your Partner in Success” means delivering as a partner as opposed to simply being a vendor or utility used to process credit cards. The motto and the concept of the motto was hatched by a young Brodsly while participating in a business academy while still a high school student at Moorpark High School.
Brief History of Credit Card Processing
Back in the day when retail merchants first began accepting credit cards for goods and services, there was much room for improvement in the manual process of accepting credit cards. Similarly, those that could afford a cell phone carried around a briefcase looking contraption that served as a mobile phone. The technology we now enjoy simply did not exist in the past The process was cumbersome and getting paid was a slow process that began with using a credit card “machine” to initiate the process.
While they were called machines, that word likely conjures up an image of something much different than the mechanical devices actually used to accept a credit card. The process involved a manually imprinted transfer of the raised numbers on a customer’s credit card. This imprint was made onto a “charge slip” that consisted of two pieces of paper with carbon paper between them and the customer signed the charge-slip for the purchase. One copy was sent to the merchant’s bank as a request for payment on the transaction and the bank did all the work to eventually deposit the funds into the merchant’s bank account.
Since those days, so much has changed through the use of improved technology that many banks decided to ditch their behind-the-scenes processing operations and outsource the task to credit card processing companies. The introduction of credit card processors provided many advantages for merchants. Most importantly was providing the long-needed representation of merchants in the complicated world of credit card processing. The big picture includes issuing banks such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One and others, card brands such as Visa and Mastercard along with a host of other card issuers such as American Express, Discover and Diners Card. There are also acquiring banks that work with companies like Chosen Payments to provide next-day funding by advancing money to merchants immediately. Companies like Chosen Payments are on the hook for these advances while the acquiring bank collects the money from the card issuing banks after-the-fact. Chosen Payments negotiates lower processing rates for their clients and assists with chargeback disputes, none of which would be possible without their technology solutions. Not all credit card processors provide that type of assistance or offer much more than a mechanism for transmitting credit card transactions. They facilitate getting paid over the next few days after transaction has been completed but offer little other service. Chosen Payments goes above and beyond by embracing customer service and technology and blending them together to deliver what they call, “White Glove Service”. It has proved to be a winning combination for this award-winning company and it was an easy choice to name Chosen Payments The Best Retail Technology Solution Provider because upon closer look, they are a technology based credit card processing company that blazes the path in the adoption of new technology. The company is proud of their simple rate and fast funding programs making the process easy to use and understand for all merchant types.
Point-of-Sale Integrations
There are many different POS systems in the retail brick and mortar space as well as many retailers offering website sales platforms, so the integration of credit card processing is an important component for Chosen Payments to deliver. With so many specialized vertical market applications dedicated to different types of industries, Chosen Payments has created their own Gateway Integration Kit and Software Development Kit that provides plug-ins for various off the shelf retail solutions as well as custom coding for integration into virtually any POS, ERP or back office platform. This is important to note because some software solution providers may claim an “exclusive relationship” with a particular credit card processor and claim their software only works with that processor. This is usually an attempt to force a merchant into using a much higher priced credit card processor that is likely sharing the inflated fees charged to you with the software provider. Chosen Payments can integrate with nearly any system as well as many different software applications at no cost to the merchant and offer a benefit of lower fees and better technology. The Chosen Payments tech team welcomes all custom integration opportunities and same day price comparisons are available to see how Chosen Payments compares to your current processor.
Contactless Payments Technology
If you accept credit cards in a traditional retail environment, you know that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of conducting routine business including a large effort to avoid spreading germs while conducting business. There is no doubt that passing credit cards between people presents an inherent risk of transferring germs between people. The same can be said for entering PIN codes on counter mounted keypads. While contactless payments were first introduced in the 90’s, they were slow to be adapted. However, there has been a recent surge in the use of contactless payments that began with the introduction of Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Chosen Payments provides technology to accept two different types of contactless payment. The first is for your customers who use payment systems such as Apple Pay. Consumers can link a preferred credit card to their Apple Pay account and then use their smartphone to complete the transaction at retail locations. Actual charges are passed on to the associated credit card or charged against funds that have been previously deposited into the Apple Pay account. Customers don’t have to worry about touching anything but their own phone using a pay app. The payment apps are essentially a card-less credit card and Chosen Payments has offered these solutions to all their clients recently during a COVID relief program. The credit card processing industry predicts an 80% increase in pay app users over the next four years. “This is the time to make sure you are offering this technology”, says Brodsly. He says, “Now days consumers really want to spend in retail locations that embrace these clean and easy processes. It’s a win/win as consumers love the ability to shop with their smart phone and merchants earn trust by being at the forefront of technology driven solutions.” In the second type of contactless payment, credit cards embedded with radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology allow a customer to tap their physical card on the card reader without the need for a signature or PIN code. Brodsly says, “As the pandemic continues, your customers will be very appreciative of this option and those retail businesses with outmoded technology will find themselves at a disadvantage”. Chosen Payments has also rolled out a new form of contactless payments using a barcode scan. In this scenario, a paper receipt is presented to the consumer and the consumer scans the barcode with their smart phone .From there the consumer is automatically taken to an online payment app where they can enter their card info or use a card stored in their mobile “wallet” on their phone. This frictionless transaction is quickly proven to be another reason Chosen Payments is a leader in the space. As payment technology continues to evolve, Chosen Payments invests in resources to remain on the forefront of examining how any and all new technology can improve the purchasing experience for both the consumer and merchant.
Gift Card & Loyalty Programs
In another display of taking merchant services to a higher level with technology, Chosen Payments offers services intended to drive new business and increase transactions with existing customers through the use of gift card and loyalty programs – both in person and via an eGift card. The Chosen Payments Gift Card program provides many advantages for both the merchant and the consumer. The most recognized benefit that most merchants notice immediately is the increase in revenue without an immediate expense offsetting that revenue. Consumer Reports noted that some $3 billion gift card dollars were not redeemed in 2019. While immediate revenue is great, gift cards provide a practical gift that is easy for consumers to obtain, easy to give and easy for the recipient to redeem. The Chosen Payments Gift Card program allows consumers to check their own balance online. Merchants can easily add money on a gift card using an online portal and process gift card transactions just like a credit card transaction. In fact, Chosen Payments customized logo emblazed gift cards have a magnetic stripe and look similar to a Starbucks gift card or other national chain gift cards. Chosen Payments gift cards make a small business look sophisticated and tech savvy. Speaking of Starbucks, you might know that Starbucks has one of the best loyalty programs around. Chosen Payments offers a similar loyalty program that will encourage your customers to come back more often and spend more money on each visit. As an example, Starbucks allows customers to earn “stars” based upon purchases. On preselected dates, “double stars” are awarded for purchases. This encourages loyal Starbucks customers to make it a point to visit Starbucks on those days to achieve a reward such as a free cup of coffee. The Chosen Payments Loyalty Program harnesses technology to connect you with your customers in new ways that build loyalty. Customers who opt-in to the loyalty program provide valuable targeting information such as their physical address, date of birth, anniversary and shopping trends. Knowing shopping trends alone is leveraging technology to grow sales. “If you knew your customer really liked a specific brand of women’s blue jeans, every time you have a sale or promotion involving those blue jeans you can send targeted marketing messages to those who are much more likely to buy than a customer who usually buys men’s tee-shirts from you”, says Brodsly. The information is easy to obtain when you ask your customers to sign up for a VIP Club, Birthday Club or other creative name. Armed with this data, special offers can be created such as a free birthday gift for coming into your business. This is how Chosen Payments helps merchants build stronger relationships with customers and in effect, earning loyalty.
Business from Anywhere
Chosen Payments was quick to recognize that business owners want to conduct business from anywhere at any time. In such, Chosen Payments designed a custom mobile application that allows their clients to manage their business from their smartphone. As an example, most consumers have their Wells Fargo or Chase Mobile App on their phone to manage their account, make payments, etc.
The Chosen Payments mobile app does the same thing for merchants and allows a birds-eye view into the daily, weekly, monthly sales, transactions processed, as well as processing transactions and communicating with the Chosen Payments team for support. This is one more technology solution that sets Chosen Payments apart from the competition and makes them the Best Retail Technology Solutions Provider.
A Philanthropic Company
Since the birth of Chosen Payments, the company has grown to process over $4 billion annually for companies across America. Brodsly says, “I didn’t come from money. In fact, I came from nothing”. It is that background growing up that molded Brodsly’s philosophy of giving back to his community and well as supporting numerous charitable causes across America both large and small. Chosen Payments staffers give back by providing sweat equity to various charity event as volunteers. The company donates several hundred thousand dollars each year toward causes that Brodsly or his staff members believe in. He strongly encourages Chosen Payments team members to get out in their community and volunteer. Corporate responsibility is very much a part of the fabric of who Chosen Payments is.
An Award-Winning Company
The rapid growth of Chosen Payments combined with the delivery of high-end technology solutions has drawn much interest in the company and resulted in the inclusion in many magazine articles as well as being featured on FOX and CBS News. Chosen Payments holds board seats on seven different vertical industry trade associations in a nod to the business expertise that Brodsly and his team bring to the table. The company has been featured in Retail CIO Magazine as one of the Top 10 Credit Card Processors in the nation, named #1 Credit Card processor in America by Mirror Review Magazine and ranked #33 on a list of the fastest growing privately held companies in the Los Angeles area by San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Brodsly was named one of the Top 40 Executives Under Forty in the merchant services industry by Discover Card. Brodsly attributes the success of Chosen Payments to its commitment to technology and the company’s dedication to merchants that extends far beyond simply processing credit cards for them.