Paying Convenience Tax

Have you ever heard of “convenience tax”? Well, if not, it’s because we kind of made it up. But people do pay convenience tax all of the time. And even though the idea of paying tax is usually met with derision, this concept is not necessarily a bad thing. We are simply talking about the act of paying something a little extra for the convenience that a certain product or service brings to a customer.

Let’s take the simple example of transportation. Taking public transit isn’t all that expensive (although some regular commuters would disagree). It’s approximately three dollars to take a ride on a bus, streetcar or subway all throughout the city of Toronto on the TTC. Taking a taxi, however, will most certainly cost several dollars more depending on where you are traveling.

Clearly, there are benefits to taking a taxi over a bus. Your trip is pretty much guaranteed to be quicker so you will save time. The ride comes with the promise of your own seat, so you know you won’t be uncomfortable at any point. A taxi also provides you with privacy while traveling so the nuisance of fellow passengers is absent.

Since a taxi ride is more expensive than a trip on the bus, it is fair to say that those who take taxis over public transit feel that paying for the convenience of this type of travel is worth it. In such a situation, “convenience tax” isn’t all that bad. There are, of course, many other examples of situations where customers happily pay convenience tax.

The most pertinent example, naturally, would be the discount fee that clients of Synergy Merchant Services pay for their cash advances. Commonly, our customers comment that the cost of the cash advance is noticeably greater than what a bank charges for a loan. Of course, a bank charges an interest rate and not a one time fee. So how expensive a bank loan is versus a cash advance depends on how long it takes to pay the loan back.

The convenience tax – if you will – that comes with taking a merchant cash advance pays for the incredible convenience of having no fixed schedule within which a client must pay the money back. Our program is void of interest charges, late fees and penalties of any kind. The peace of mind that comes with knowing that there is no date that a payment has to be made by, is worth the cost of the one time fee.

At least, this is what our clients tell us. A merchant cash advance may not necessarily be the least expensive way to get money for your business. But we are confident that is the quickest, easiest and most convenient method for Canadian owners of small and mid-sized businesses to get extra working capital.

Put away the worry of having to deal with the banks. You no longer have to be concerned with getting your payments in on time. Let your Visa, MasterCard and Interac sales do all of the work for you. Paying back a merchant cash advance is done through a very convenient method. Finding out how much money you are eligible for is even easier. Give Synergy a call and see for yourself.