Continuing to pry settlement funds being withheld by First Data Bank, and transitioning to their new processing bank, Internet Billing Company (iBill) reiterated in a statement posted to a handful of Adult webmaster boards that the company's top priority during the transition is paying its clients. Several were stranded to await outstanding payments due when iBill's merchant deal with First Data Bank expired earlier this month and a court would not compel First Data to honor a purported commitment to help iBill with its transition.
The company also said it was trying to free up more capital to speed past-due payments, and thanked the Adult webmaster community for its support during the tricky transition. "We know how serious this matter is to you," the September 29 statement said. "Please be assured that everyone here at iBill is working diligently to correct these matters so that we can all return to business as usual."
"As you all know, we have been working through the difficult issue of transitioning our domestic IPSP business to our new domestic merchant bank at a pace that was faster than what was initially proposed or had been planned," the iBill announcement said. "In order to ensure proper compliance for our US sponsored merchants we will not be accepting Visa transactions until each US sponsored merchant has completed their new iBill merchant agreement with our new domestic bank.
"All US clients will continue to have the ability to offer MasterCard, Discover, JCB, American Express, Online checks, Web 900 and WebPhone," the announcement continued. "iBill account managers will have agreements available on Friday, October 1st. Planned implementation is scheduled for as early as Friday, October 8th."
European Union iBill clients are not affected by the new merchant agreement directive applied to American clients. But iBill also said there would be no new Visa fees charged, either.
iBill has declined to name the bank, citing confidentiality agreements, until the deal between the two begins to operate officially. But Forbes.com said earlier this week that the new iBill processing bank is Long Island-based Merrick Bank, believed to have assets of $500 million and also processing credit transactions for rival CCBill.
iBill said further that they plan to operate under three business models. The first, iBill Direct US, involves iBill "sponsor[ing] and accept[ing] the risk on behalf of our clients. Not only will clients have the ability to take advantage of the iBill products and services that they know today – 24X7 customer service, risk management, RevShare affiliate program, and password management – but, they will now be funded directly by the bank and will have the option to be funded daily. We are extremely excited about this program and feel that it puts us steps ahead of our competition."
The second, iBill EU, will continue current processing relationships with European Union-based clients but moving toward "a direct merchant relationship with our EU processor and bank. This option will be similar to iBill Direct US, which allows for direct funding from the bank."
The third, Asia-Pacific Merchant, involves iBill establishing a merchant relationship in that region. Details of this program were expected to be revealed in the first full week of October.
