Alternative credit payment system now available to small businesses

Angie's List has been serving small businesses for years, and with a recent partnership with Square, the community-centered organization will continue to help entrepreneurs build stronger bonds with clients through easier means of payment.

A new way to pay
Square began as a card-swiping platform, and although the plug-in technology is still available to independent businesses, the company is currently in the midst of a push for its new Square Wallet technology to be used in storefronts according to The Los Angeles Times.

The alternative credit processing business' founder, Jack Dorsey, tells the source he hopes consumers will only have to have a smartphone on hand to buy anything in the future.

"My ultimate goal is for no one to have to carry a wallet," he says.

One major factor in Square's popularity is that nearly any small business can accept payments through its platforms, the Times states. While many credit card processing companies require a credit check for account approval, the young tech business does not - the traditional SquareUp device is free to businesses who open an account, and they are charged only a flat fee of 2.75 percent per swipe.

Denee Carrington, an analyst with Forrester Research, claims that alternative credit data in the United States will boom from now until 2018. She tells the Times that annual consumer spending in the U.S. via mobile payments will jump $12.8 billion in five years, peaking at $90 billion by the end of 2017.

Enabling small businesses with Square
The tech mobile payment company, Carrington states, is particularly good at working with small businesses like those featured on Angie's List.

"Square is doing a really great job at enabling products and services for smaller merchants that they might not otherwise have access to," Carrington says.

Angie Hicks agrees that Square is an especially good fit for a partnership with her business because the card processing company has experience in making it as a small organization.

"Working with Square will help provide happier transactions for our members and service companies," she says. "We're excited to work with Square because they understand what small businesses need to succeed."

Mobile payments through Square benefit the alternative credit and debt collection industry just as any use of card payments do, as the process following the swipe or Square Wallet transaction is the same as a traditional credit payment.