How Luis gets paid, in plain terms.

What an ISO is

Luis Your Money Man is an Independent Sales Organization, or ISO. An ISO is a company that sets up merchant accounts on behalf of a payment processor. It is the part of the industry that meets the business owner, explains the options, and stays the point of contact afterwards.

The bank behind every merchant account

Only banks that are members of the card networks can hold merchant accounts, so every account, whoever sells it to you, sits on top of a sponsor bank. The processor handles the transactions, and the ISO handles the relationship with you. Your merchant agreement names the bank and the processor. It is worth reading that page before you sign with anyone, because those are the companies whose terms you are actually agreeing to.

How ISOs are paid

Generally, ISOs are paid from the processing on the accounts they set up. That money comes out of the markup and fees on your account, not out of interchange, which goes to the banks that issued your customers' cards and which nobody can discount. Some ISOs also earn on equipment or software they sell.

The simplest way to know exactly how Luis is paid on your account is to ask him. It is a fair question, and you should ask it of anyone who sells you processing. Anyone who will not answer it has told you something.

What that means for the advice you get

Being paid on processing means an ISO benefits when you sign. That is a real incentive, and pretending otherwise would be the start of a dishonest relationship. The way Luis handles it is by making it easy to check him:

• The fee check is free and ends with "stay where you are" whenever that is the right answer.
• The guides show you how to audit your own statement, so you can judge any offer, including his.
• The blog reviews other platforms honestly, strengths first, with no affiliate links.
• No price is quoted before your numbers are known, so there is no teaser rate to walk back later.

What Luis can offer

As an Independent Sales Organization, Luis is not tied to a single product. He offers a wide range of point-of-sale software and hardware, so the recommendation starts with how your business actually runs. A client on the wrong system does not stay a client.

What to ask anyone selling you processing

1. How are you paid on my account, and does it change if I lease rather than buy equipment?
2. Which processor and which bank will my account actually be with?
3. What is the contract term, does it renew automatically, and what does it cost to leave?
4. Is the pricing flat rate, tiered, or interchange plus, and what exactly is the markup?
5. Will you put all of that in writing before I sign?

The longer list is in twelve questions to ask before you sign.