Find the Best High Risk Merchant Account

Finding the best high risk merchant account

Written by a guest blogger for USA Payment

Retail storefront businesses and online business with low risk profile rarely have to face the problem that high risk businesses face. Most of the time, traditional domestic and international merchant account providers deny services to high risk businesses. As a result, these businesses do not have a way out to accept credit card and other electronic transactional payment methods from its consumers and they risk falling behind the competition. In such a situation, there are a few options that can help them find the best high risk merchant account provider.

There are various categories of businesses that are classified as high risk business. In the payments industry, such businesses require a high risk merchant account. The main criteria behind such classifications vary from merchant to merchant. Some merchants are denied an account on the basis of their high sales, which tend to speculate that the business might be fraudulent. In such scenarios, even though the sales are high and the business is making profit, they are unable to accept payment from customers online. Such a drawback in the service can severely hamper the future potential of the company. Some of the aspects of a business that can attract the categorization of a high risk business, requiring a high risk merchant account, include:

• A business that does meet all registration requirements of the law
• The business or a related party is blacklisted by merchant account providers due to bankruptcy or fraudulent transactions
• Inconsistent credit history of the business
• Business generates high volumes of sale due to the abnormally large number of transactions. In such a case, it is possible that there might be instances of unethical business policies or,
• The business is too small and does not support enough profit. As a result it would not be able to afford the high costs of fraudulent business detection tools, other software and miscellaneous expenses towards third party processor fees

There are also a few industries which are regarded as high risk segments and businesses falling in those segments are treated as high risk business. They would require finding the best high risk merchant account provider available in the industry in order to continue their business without having their account cut off or paying fees that are too high for their particular risk. These segments include, but are not limited to, adult entertainment, pharmacy, and travel, ISP hosting business, online auctions, online casinos, telemarketing products, online dating, cigarette and tobacco products and sale of replica products.

In such a situation it is ideal for this business to look for high risk merchant account providers. Currently, there are many banks and processors that claim to offer high risk merchant accounts, but only a select few can be considered the best high risk merchant account providers. Experience and longevity can allow a processor to become a market leader in providing the best high risk merchant account.

When you find a high risk merchant account expert, the procedure can be pretty simple. The high risk business would need to get in touch with the provider, usually by completing a short pre-application. After an initial review of the company’s information, an application is provided to apply for a high risk merchant account and any additional required information is requested. After a short underwriting process, rates and terms are established that are mutually beneficial and will allow the merchant to process without disruption and at a cost that allows them to conduct their business, avoid fraudulent activity, and operate with a profitable margin. All of this becomes possible when traditional routes are avoided for high risk industries and you find the best high risk merchant account provider.

Please contact USA Payment for any questions regarding your high risk merchant account.

What is a high risk merchant account?

High Level Overview: What is a high risk merchant account?

By: Guest Blogger for, but not affiliated with, USA Payment

A high risk merchant account could pertain to any type of business that accepts payments, often times credit cards, with an unusually high potential of credit card fraud. Credit card fraud is not just a problem for business owners but also for the credit card processors. It is a huge problem, with both time and profit lost, for the merchant account providers who have to investigate the fraud as well as the business owners who may be at risk of fraud.

There are a number of reasons why a merchant account provider would consider a merchant services account as a high risk merchant account. Since the credit card holders are not able to physically sign a receipt for an ecommerce sale, many banks and credit card companies will actually hesitate or refuse to approve high risk merchant account requests made by businesses that fall under the label of “high risk” designation. In some cases, this type of business or industry is known for having a high instance of chargebacks or fraud or maybe the business principals have poor or insufficient credit.

With this in mind, acquiring a high risk merchant account can sometimes be very difficult, time consuming, or both; however, there are experts in the field of high risk merchant accounts who know the best options with regard to getting your merchant account approved, sometimes in as little as two days. There are many businesses that routinely fall under the label of the “high risk” designation for merchant accounts including, but not limited to, adult industry, escort services, gambling sites, travel and timeshare sites, pre-paid/contract, tobacco/e-cigs, firearms/guns/ammo, MLM, remote PC tech support, merchants on the TMF list, and many more.

Merchant accounts can be designated as being high risk for many different reasons.  As a result, the merchant account providers have the ability to label your industry as high risk during the merchant account underwriting process. Virtually all online gambling sites and many adult industries fall under this very broad umbrella. If an online merchant is involved in business that does not involve face-to-face transactions, the merchant is probably going to be considered higher risk, but not necessarily high risk or hard to place, to the banks considering their merchant account request.

A majority of businesses that want to accept credit cards will not fall into the high risk merchant account category and will not need this type of account because they offer what are considered to be traditional products and services; however, there are certain niches that are higher risk in nature, and accepting credit cards from customers can present a problem. Merchant services providers understand that higher risk sometimes requires higher cost to cover greater fraud and risk liabilities.  As a result, they charge higher fees or reserves to process transactions for these types of customers. A provider that is familiar with the high risk industry will be able to better underwrite for these risks and provide merchants with more competitive fees and terms than those that typically handle traditional merchant accounts.

Therefore, getting a processor to provide a high risk merchant services account requires expertise in this arena. If you are an unregistered business entity, have a bad credit history, provide a product or service on the high risk industry list, have been banned by other merchant account providers, or plan to pursue an offshore merchant account then you are likely in need of a high risk merchant account. But, if you find that you do need a high risk merchant account make sure the provider has authority to initiate all types of transactions, can process and complete all types of transactions, and has the resources to help protect you against fraudulent transactions. Also, make sure that the high risk merchant services provider keeps your personal and business information completely confidential. It is important to work with a provider that understands the high risk market to ensure your account is set up properly and to keep the account open and active in the long term to make it the safest, most efficient, hassle free, and profitable experience possible.

Blog post from 10/20/2016

Guest blogger

www.merchantaccount.cc

Latin America

USA Payment is happy to extend payment processing expertise to Latin American countries!

USA Payment, who specializes in high risk, offshore and international high risk payment processing, has entered into a new partnership allowing us to better serve our merchants in Latin America as well as e-commerce sites serving and processing transactions for Latin America.

This partnership is available as of June, 2024 for both traditional as well as high risk merchant accounts.
Countries served in this new partnership include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, Panama, and Peru.
This is one more way that USA Payment has proactively improved its international processing capabilities to remain the partner of choice in the payment processing industry.

As always, we look forward to answering any questions you may have. Contact USA Payment today.