Stay ahead
of account changes 

Find out more

Stop problems
sooner 

Find out more

Turn authorization data
into revenue 

Find out more

What a Downgrades
Report tells you 

Find out more

A message from your account manager

A declined payment can mean a missed sale. A downgraded transaction can quietly increase payment acceptance costs. Outdated account information can make an important business change more difficult.

Payments Insider helps you address these issues sooner. This month, learn how to keep your account details and user roles current, monitor the payment activity affecting your business and use authorization and downgrade reports to uncover opportunities to protect sales and reduce avoidable costs.

Account updates are now platform-first

Payments Insider: From nice-to-have to necessity

As regulatory security mandates become more digital, requirements for business account updates get embedded into secure online channels. The platform supporting your payment processing account is Payments Insider, and as of June 30, registering for access to Payments Insider has shifted from a nice-to-have to a business necessity.

All business account updates must be initiated within Payments Insider. Customer Care can answer questions and guide you through the forms, but for compliance reasons, Customer Care cannot make updates on your behalf, as they had been able to do in the past. 

Not yet registered for Payments Insider? Do it now. It takes only moments to complete.

Already registered but haven’t checked the accuracy of your payments account details in a while? We recommend checking the accuracy of your payments account details within Payments Insider at least once a year. (And, how long has it been since you checked your preference settings?)

Most importantly, if you have a change in principal ownership of the company or organization, make that update before it changes hands – which will save you a lot of administrative work down the road.

Who can make account updates?
For security purposes, the following updates must be completed by a principal contact or an authorized signer.

Watch the videos below to learn how to make updates to your account:

• How to update your legal business name (DBA ownership) in Payments Insider*
• How to update your checking account information in Payments Insider*

Understanding the terms

• Principal user: Principal user/owner/contact refers to the person shown on file as the owner or authorized signer for the account. There are some account activities that can only be completed by the Principal for security purposes. Review this article for more information on principal users.
• Owner: The owner of the account. This may or may not be the same person as the owner of the business, depending on how your account was originally set up. There are some activities that can only be done by the business owner or authorized signer for security reasons. There can be multiple owners of a business listed.
• Authorized signer: This is a person who may or may not have ownership in your business that the business owner has given authority to make financial decisions or other changes on your account with such authorization shown on our account records.

A confirmation of your changes is now viewable by clicking on the bell icon when logged into your Payments Insider account.

Stay ahead of account changes
Payments Insider access helps ensure the right people can make important account updates when they are needed. Register now, confirm that your principal and authorized signer information is current, and review your account details regularly.

Back to top

Use Payments Insider to spot problems sooner

Many Elavon customers use Payments Insider to review monthly statements, but the platform can do much more than help you reconcile account activity. By setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitoring them daily, weekly, monthly or on a custom schedule, you can gain valuable insights into your payment operations, cash flow and risk exposure.

With Payments Insider, you can track:

• Settled batches and settlement activity to confirm transactions are being processed and funded as expected.
• Funding amounts deposited to your bank account to help manage cash flow and identify unexpected fluctuations.
• Authorization and downgrade activity to uncover processing issues that may be increasing costs or reducing approval rates.
• Chargebacks at the transaction level to identify trends, monitor fraud risks and take action before disputes escalate.
• Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) activity and missed opportunities to better understand international transaction performance and potential revenue opportunities.

Rather than waiting until month-end, Payments Insider helps you proactively monitor performance, identify areas for improvement and respond quickly to emerging risks, giving you greater control over your payment operations.

Back to top

Turn authorization data into revenue

Every decline tells a story

Every approved transaction represents revenue earned. Every declined transaction could represent a missed sale. The Authorizations Report in Payments Insider helps you understand what's happening during the transaction authorization process so you can identify issues that may be affecting customer payments, customer experience and operational efficiency.

By reviewing authorization activity regularly, businesses can uncover the causes of payment declines, spot emerging trends and take steps to help improve payment acceptance rates.

What does the report show?
The Authorizations Report provides detailed information about authorization activity, including:

• Approval and decline responses
• Authorization codes for approved transactions
• Reasons transactions were declined
• Confirmation that card payments were successfully submitted for processing

How can your business use this report?

1. Reduce lost sales: Review decline reasons to understand why transactions aren't being approved. Patterns such as expired cards, insufficient funds, or incorrect card information can affect sales and may reveal opportunities to improve checkout processes or employee training.
2. Identify potential operational issues: An increase in certain decline codes could indicate terminal, network, or configuration issues. Monitoring authorization activity can help you identify and address problems before they have a broader impact on your business.
3. Improve the customer experience: When employees understand the reasons behind payment declines, they can better assist customers and suggest alternative payment methods to complete a sale.
4. Support reconciliation and payment research: Authorization codes provide confirmation that approved transactions were submitted for processing, helping support payment investigations and internal reviews.
5. Monitor payment trends over time: Regularly reviewing authorization performance can help you establish benchmarks, track approval and decline rates, and identify changes that may affect revenue.

The more transactions you successfully authorize, the more opportunities you have to convert sales. By monitoring authorization activity and decline trends, you can identify issues early, improve payment acceptance and help ensure you're not leaving revenue on the table.

Back to top

What your Downgrades Report is trying to tell you 

Every business looks for ways to improve revenue and profitability. Sometimes that opportunity isn't found in generating more sales, but in reducing unnecessary costs associated with accepting payments.

The Downgrades Report in Payments Insider helps businesses identify transactions that didn't qualify for the most favorable acceptance rates and understand the reasons why. By monitoring this report regularly, you can uncover operational issues that may be increasing acceptance costs and take steps to address them. 

What does the report show?
The Downgrades Report provides visibility into:

• Transactions that were downgraded
• The card types involved
• Reasons transactions received a downgrade
• Patterns and trends that may be contributing to higher acceptance costs

How can your business use this report?

Identify avoidable acceptance costs
Many downgrades occur because a transaction did not meet card network requirements for the best available rate. Reviewing downgrade reasons can help pinpoint activities that may be driving higher fees. 

Spot process improvement opportunities
The report can reveal recurring issues, such as delays in settling transactions, missing verification information or inconsistencies between authorization and settlement amounts. Identifying these patterns allows you to address them before they become ongoing expenses. 

Support employee training
If specific locations or employees are consistently generating downgraded transactions, the report can help identify where additional training or process improvements may be needed.

Monitor operational performance over time
Regular review of downgrade trends can help you measure whether corrective actions are working and whether processing efficiency is improving.

Protect profit margins
Small increases in payment acceptance expenses can add up over time. Monitoring downgrade activity gives your business an opportunity to identify avoidable costs before they have a meaningful impact on revenue. 

Why it matters
Many businesses focus on growing revenue but overlook the impact that payment processing inefficiencies can have on the bottom line. The Downgrades Report helps you identify transactions that may be costing more than necessary and provides insight into actions that can help reduce those costs. 

By reviewing the report regularly, you can improve payment acceptance practices, strengthen operational discipline, and retain more of every sale.

Back to top