I work for Merchant Services in Central Sales in Arizona and I heard our entire department was getting laid off. Anyone hear anything similar? Damn you WF!!
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Hey BM3, some other banks have branch employees handle the merchant deal. It’s like any other agreement. At a competitor, I use to do all the merchant deals while I was the BM. And because of this we didn’t need to mark up the rates as high cause it was considered icing on the cake for the relationship as a whole. Rather than paying a merchant rep like WF does it cut them of of the loop. Because of this, the interchange residual as well as the processing fees were credited to my branch GL. Having it set up this way is better for everyone. The customer gets a cheaper rate, the branch gets more control of their profits and business relationships as well as the bank as a whole earns more.
Not saying it will happen but it was definitely a point of frustration when I was a BM for Wells. Our merchant rep was lazy and if the business wasn’t going to process a certain amount she would waste her time. We lost many deals because of the way the merchant rep was compensated. She would say it’s not worth it, I’m not going to make enough for it to be worth my time. Meanwhile, if it was the branch employee just making money for the branch, he or she could care less.
Interesting rumor. I have no inside information but I could see that being a cost saving measure. Other banks do not have employee mechant representatives as now much is done on line. I hope not as I dont want any of us to lose our jobs, but they could rely mainly on online marketing and outsource like they did for payroll to ADP. I work in the retail branch as a BM3 and there is definately a big push to get Customers to use more of our online services.
why would they get rid of all merchant services? Doesn't make sense.
Why don't you start applying for other jobs at Wells Fargo before your present job there goes away?
Apply for jobs at other companies as well.
I would assume it holds some water if we're moving away from inderect auto loans. Don't put your energy into stressing about it, plan accordingly and brace for what might happen.
The bank needs to generate fee income going forward given that we’re going to be in an ultra-low rate environment for the foreseeable future. I’d expect merchant, TM, and brokerage referrals to be major areas of focus for the retail channel going forward and would be surprised to see us sell off that line of business...
Whoever you “heard” this from likely has no idea. That’s not how these things go. All speculation but I guess that’s what this thread is all about anyways.