Atlanta, GA · Standard risk
Credit card processing for Atlanta agencies & consultants
Large invoices on net terms, where the cost of card acceptance is worth comparing against ACH honestly. Here is how that plays out for a agency operating in Georgia.
Georgia · zero-cost position
Surcharging generally permitted
Our reading as of August 2026. Verified per engagement — not relied on from a web page.
Credit-card surcharging is generally reported as permitted in this state, subject to the card-brand rules: the surcharge may not exceed your actual cost of acceptance, it may never be applied to debit or prepaid cards, and it must be disclosed at the point of entry and again at the point of sale. A cash-discount program is also available if you prefer that framing.
Georgia permits surcharging. Atlanta is a payments-industry hub, which means local merchants field more solicitations and more aggressive teaser pricing than almost any other market — and more contracts with equipment leases buried in them.
What Atlanta means for a agency
A major payments-industry hub, which ironically means Atlanta merchants field more processor solicitations and more aggressive teaser pricing than almost anywhere else.
On a $20,000 retainer, card interchange is a meaningful expense, and many agencies absorb it without ever comparing it against ACH. The right answer is usually a mix: ACH for large recurring retainers, card for speed and for smaller milestone invoices, with the choice priced transparently for the client.
Where Atlanta agencies & consultants lose basis points
- Level 2 data absent on commercial card payments
- Large invoices keyed by staff rather than paid by link
- Milestone payments processed without linkage to the original engagement
How we would structure it
- Honest ACH versus card comparison per payment type
- Pay-by-link so clients enter their own verification data
- Level 2 data capture on commercial cards
- Surcharge or client-elected card pricing structured compliantly
- Zero-cost structured as a surcharge or cash discount program for Georgia, with the disclosure and receipt language installed as part of the work
Built in Chicago
EY Loma Solutions is a Chicago practice, and every piece of software we ship is designed and built here. When we build a agency a custom CRM with payments inside it, that work is done by our own people in Chicago — not offshored and not white-labeled from somebody else's platform.
How our CRM builds workQuestions
Atlanta agencies & consultants, answered
Can Atlanta agencies & consultants legally run 0% cost processing?
Georgia permits surcharging. Atlanta is a payments-industry hub, which means local merchants field more solicitations and more aggressive teaser pricing than almost any other market — and more contracts with equipment leases buried in them. For a agency specifically, we would structure this as a surcharge or cash discount program sized against a $1,500–$40,000 average ticket. As of August 2026 that is our reading of the Georgia position, and we re-verify it as part of every engagement rather than relying on a page like this one.
What should a Atlanta agency be paying to process cards?
The only number worth comparing is your effective rate: total fees divided by total volume processed. For agencies & consultants with a $1,500–$40,000 ticket and a card mix that is large card-not-present retainers and milestone invoices, the cost drivers are specific — level 2 data absent on commercial card payments is the most common one we find. We derive your effective rate from three statements at no cost.
Do you have Atlanta references, or are you remote?
We are a Chicago practice and we work with merchants across the United States, Atlanta included. Every engagement runs the same way regardless of geography — statements in, arithmetic out, in writing. A major payments-industry hub, which ironically means Atlanta merchants field more processor solicitations and more aggressive teaser pricing than almost anywhere else.
Is agency in Georgia hard to get approved?
No. Agencies & consultants are standard risk in Georgia, so you should be looking at a competitive market of acquirers. If you have been quoted high-risk pricing for a standard-risk category, that is worth questioning.
Do you build custom CRM software for Atlanta businesses?
Yes — all of our software is designed and built in Chicago. Frequently. Pipeline, scope, retainer and invoice in one system is the canonical case for an embedded-payments build. Builds are delivered with source code and full data export, with card, ACH and recurring billing embedded in the workflow.
Atlanta agencies & consultants: find out what you are actually paying.
A statement review costs you nothing and takes us under an hour. Surcharging generally permitted in Georgia.