When to Sign Up for High Risk Merchant Services

There’s a huge shift towards online shopping these days, and as a business, you have to take advantage of that trend by processing credit card transactions online as well. But if you are among those tagged as high-risk merchants, getting a payment processing account would be more challenging than usual. 

So when exactly is the best time to sign up for a high-risk merchant account?

What makes a business high-risk?

There are many reasons banks tag your business as high-risk. For one, it’s what happens to your business if you have too many chargebacks or you belong to an industry with such risk. 

Your business may also be accepting recurring payments such as subscriptions or you’re transacting in different currencies, which have a higher risk for fraud. Of course, there’s the issue of bad personal credit that’s always a red flag for banks.

When should you sign up for high-risk merchant services?

There really is no perfect time to sign up for high-risk merchant services. But doing it as soon as possible would give you a huge advantage in running your business because you can now offer more payment options for customers and you can cater to online orders through your payment processing account. 

Having a high-risk merchant account also gives consumers more confidence in your business and it allows you to grow faster in the future.

What should you expect with a high-risk merchant account?

Now, if you’re ready to sign up for high-risk merchant services, these are some of the things that you should expect:

• Higher processing and account fees because payment processors want to make sure that they don’t end up losing money from your business.
• At least a three-year contract, which is longer than a low-risk merchant account. If you cancel your contract early, you can expect to pay higher early termination fees.
• Limitations on the number of transactions or the amount of money that you can process per month.
• Required rolling reserve money or an emergency fund that will be used for chargebacks. You can also expect higher chargeback fees.
• Fewer options for payment processing plans that are costlier than regular packages offered to low-risk merchants.

Of course, it’s very important to look for the right high-risk merchant services provider that will fit the needs of your business. 

For this, you need to do some due diligence and visit the provider’s website, read reviews, discuss your needs with them to see how they deal with merchants and of course, read the contract, preferably with your lawyer, to know exactly whether they’re the right fit for your business or not.

 

Sign Up for High-Risk Merchant Services with First Card Payments

At the end of the day, having a reliable payment processing system will bring a lot of benefits to your business. 

So, even if you will have a harder time than others in securing a high-risk merchant account, you need to do so with a reliable credit card processor right away. Once you have the capability to process credit card payments, all your efforts will surely be worthwhile.

Contact us to learn more about high-risk payment processing and apply for a merchant account today!