Accepting Credit Cards for Sessions

Clients can now use a credit card (MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover) to pay for counseling and psychotherapy sessions at both Fitzgerald Counseling offices. This includes copayments and coinsurance payments.

We are using the Square processing system, which is a neat solution for small businesses. A small card reader is used with a cell phone to send payments securely. Receipts are automatically e-mailed to clients for later use or for reconciling their credit card statement. Debit cards that process as credit cards can also be used (in signature mode).

Similar to many other businesses that process retail credit card transactions, a signature is optional at our practice for amounts under $25.00.

As an added feature of this service, we can now process cash and check copayments through Square as well, so that clients will automatically receive a receipt via e-mail just like with a credit card transaction. This can be helpful for flexible health spending accounts and/or tax returns.

We hope that this convenience will be a welcome addition for our clients. I first became aware of the Square system when Fooda, a fun program that brings local restaurants to workplaces, came to Adler School of Professional Psychology to serve lunches. The cell-phone-based system is perfect for businesses that operate at several different locations, because it does not require a landline-connected credit card reader. Unlike other credit card processing solutions we have investigated, this does not require any setup fee or monthly fee. If you are a small business owner, it is worth checking out. Their website is www.squareup.com.

Accepting Credit Cards for Sessions by Fitzgerald Counseling is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.