Great High Risk Merchant Payment Processor

A high risk merchant account is a merchant account or payment processing agreement that is tailored to fit a business which is deemed high risk or is operating within an industry that has been deemed as such. These merchants usually need to pay higher fees for merchant services, that can add to their cost of business, affecting profitability and ROI, particularly for businesses that were re-classified as a high risk industry, and were not prepared to deal with the expenses of operating as a high risk merchant. Some companies specialize in working specifically with high risk merchants by offering competitive rates, faster payouts, and/or lower reserve rates, moved here all of which are designed to attract companies which are having difficulty finding a place to do business.

Businesses in an assortment of industries are labeled as 'high risk' as a result of the nature of their industry, the method through which they operate, or possibly a selection of additional circumstances. By way of example, all adult businesses are considered to be high risk operations, as are travel agencies, auto rentals, collections agencies, legal offline and online gambling, bail bonds, as well as a variety of other online and offline businesses. Because working with, and processing payments for, these companies can carry higher risks for banks and financial institutions they can be obliged to sign up for a high risk merchant account which has another fee schedule than regular merchant accounts.

A merchant account is a checking account, but functions more like a bank line which permits a business or individual (the merchant) to receive payments from credit and debit cards, employed by the consumers. The bank that provides the merchant account is called the 'acquiring bank' as well as the bank that issued the consumer's card is called the issuing bank. Another essential component of the processing cycle will be the gateway, which handles transferring the transaction information from the consumer to the merchant.

The acquiring bank may also provide a payment processing contract, or the merchant may need to open a high risk merchant account with a high risk payment processor who collects the funds and routes them to the account at the acquiring bank. In the matter of a high risk merchant account, you can find additional worries about the integrity of the funds, and the possibility that the bank could be financially responsible in the case of any problems. Because of this, high risk merchant accounts often have additional financial safeguards in place, for example delayed merchant settlements, in which the bank holds the funds for a slightly longer period to offset the risk of fraudulent transactions. Another method of risk management is the use of a 'reserve account' which is a special account at the acquiring bank where a portion (usually 10% or less) of the net settlement amount is held for a period usually between 30 and 180 days. This account may or may not be interest-bearing, as well as the monies from this account are returned to the merchant on the standard payout schedule, in the event the reserve time has passed.

Payments to a high risk merchant account are deemed to carry an increased risk of fraud, and an increased risk of chargeback, refund, or reversal. For instance, someone may use a stolen or forged credit or debit card to make purchases, or perhaps a consumer might try to execute an advance-authorization transaction (like renting a car or reserving a hotel), using a debit card with insufficient funds. This increases the risk for the bank as well as the payment processor, since they may have to cope with the administrative fallout of going through the fraud. Ecommerce also can be a risk factor, because businesses do not actually see an imprint credit-card; they take orders over the web, and this can up the risk of fraud considerably.

Whenever a merchant applies for a merchant account with a bank, payment processor, or any other merchant account provider, there are numerous things to consider before settling on a particular merchant provider. It really is often possible to negotiate lower rates, and one should always request multiple quotes ahead of picking which high risk merchant account provider to use for their processing needs.