Applying for a merchant account can be a daunting experience, especially if this is your first time in the market.
When a firm goes bankrupt or has a large number of chargebacks (the reversal of cash requested by the customer from your account back to the customer), merchant processors face financial risk and liability. It’s an obvious opportunity for fraudsters. So, before forming a partnership, banks and merchant account processors do their study.
When a company does not match the requirements for a low-risk merchant account, a high-risk option generally meets its needs. These accounts enable businesses with high chargeback rates, poor credit, or a bad reputation to accept credit and debit transactions, but getting one is far from guaranteed. If you make a few errors on your application, your business may be unable to accept your consumers’ payment options.
If your high-risk merchant account application is rejected, it could be due to one of the following issues:
Lack of appropriate documentation
Give the account provider the most accurate summary of your firm that you can when completing an application. To accomplish this, you’ll need current monthly statements that include information about your business’s monthly volume, chargebacks, and decline rates.
High Decline Rates
Customers’ banks may reject transactions when they make purchases from your business owing to incomplete information, anti-fraud regulations, and other reasons. Even while this issue may be unavoidable, if it persists long enough, it may have negative effects. Some merchant account providers could refuse to work with you if more than 10% of your transactions are refused.
You Are Enlisted On The MATCH List
Those who engage in fraud, money laundering, collusion, illegal activities, and other offences are listed on the Member Alert to Control High Risk (MATCH) list. You can find it challenging to get a merchant account for up to five years if your name or that of your company shows on the list.
Make sure the directors you choose—or even the company’s largest shareholders—have a spotless record to avoid being included on the MATCH list.
Your Company Is Linked to Fraud or Illegal Activity
The acquiring bank may reject your merchant account application if it determines that your goods or services are connected to fraud or unlawful activities. Among the instances are:
- A merchant attempting to sell controlled substances.
- Adult material that is prohibited, such as child pornography, excessive violence, or bestiality
- Products on a website that don’t match the description or price
High Chargebacks
High-risk accounts typically give sectors that frequently deal with disputed transactions more latitude. The same is true for companies that provide services like annual memberships or automated recurring billings, which can lengthen the duration during which a business is exposed to chargebacks. However, there is still a line that some service providers won’t go beyond. The likelihood that your application will be approved will rise if you avoid making too many chargebacks.
Issues with Licences
Companies typically require a business license to approve a merchant account. In many cases, this can be as straightforward as obtaining a company license, but some internet businesses, including pharmacies and gambling websites, are subject to tougher regulations that limit where they can operate and what they are allowed to sell. You could not be eligible for a high-risk merchant account if your business is unable to acquire these requisite permits.
Tax liabilities
To open a merchant account, you must provide both personal and business information, especially if you need to issue a guarantee on behalf of a specific person. Establish a debt-resolution mechanism to make sure a tax lien won’t have an impact on your application since it is a huge red flag for service providers.
Unclear Sales Volume
One advantage of opening a high-risk account is the potential to generate large sales volumes. But the best course of action is always to be transparent. If you declare volumes that are out of proportion to the size of your typical ticket, your application might not hold up under review by a service provider.
Failing to comply with Merchant Agreement Terms
If you go over the processing thresholds set in the merchant agreement of your service provider, you risk offending them. Understanding the terms to which you have signed is crucial because failing to do so could make it difficult for you to obtain future merchant accounts.
Abominable E-Commerce Enterprise
There is a list of sectors that the majority of high-risk credit card processors do not accept. This does not imply that the enterprise is unlawful. It can only signify that the processor lacks a financial partner that accepts this particular sector of e-commerce. Based on the level of risk, acquiring banks choose which e-commerce sectors they want to embrace, and the bank may simply judge your sector to be too hazardous.
The aforementioned advice can assist you in taking the proper actions to quickly and easily obtain acceptance for a merchant account.
For your business’s Low, Medium, or High-risk levels, Radiant Pay has the ideal combination of merchant account services to let your profits flow smoothly. Any legitimately operating business that sells memberships, services, or goods online is qualified to apply for a merchant account.
