Trusted High Risk Payment Processor

A high risk merchant account is a business that the banks or credit card processors feel is at a higher risk for fraud, chargebacks, and other financial losses. When you have a high risk business, many payment processors will charge higher fees to account for the potential economic loss through your company.

Sometimes, payment processors will require more credit checks and further investigation into the business before confirming whether they’ll help with payment processing. You’ll likely need to provide far more financial statements to credit card and bank processors so they can determine how high risk your business really is.

High risk doesn’t immediately mean you have a subpar business. According to banks and credit card processors, many excellent companies have this title. There are three main factors that these processors use to determine if a company is high-risk. If you have a higher chargeback ratio, you can be considered high-risk.

Generally, any business with a chargeback rate over 1% is high-risk. Businesses that operate in new or highly regulated industries like cannabis or the adult industry can often be high-risk because of their uncertainty.

Lastly, accepting a large number of transactions on the phone or by mail is a higher risk than in-person transactions. Sure, it’s great for you because you’re earning an income, but banks tend to frown upon high-average transactions.

The main difference between high-risk and low-risk merchant accounts is the financial risk associated with each. Low-risk accounts are at a far lower risk for economic issues like fraud and chargebacks, while high-risk accounts are more likely to have these financial issues.

Some examples of low-risk merchant accounts are gas stations, grocery stores, pet stores, auto part stores, and parking garages. Most people aren’t going to dispute grocery store charges and gas charges because they’re basic necessities, unlike disputing CBD store charges.

Since these businesses are regularly used and less likely to experience financial issues, most processing companies will work with them before high-risk industries.

How long it will take you to set up a high risk merchant account will depend on what payment processor you choose to go with.

When you work with a payment processor who usually doesn’t work with high risk businesses, it can take several days to weeks to set up. It can take several days or weeks because they need far more financial information to verify how high risk your business is.

When you set up a high risk merchant account with Best Merchant Services, you can get your merchant account in as little as 24 hours! We are accustomed to working with high risk companies and won’t make you wait for ages to hear whether you’ll have a merchant account with us.

Typically, you can’t get a bank or payment processor to consider you a low-risk merchant after you’ve been a high risk merchant. Technically, if you lower your transaction rates and amounts, don’t allow for international transactions, and have few chargebacks, you might be able to become what some consider low-risk.

Remember that while that’s unusual, it also comes with a price. You’ll lose a lot of business and strive to have your business reclassified as a low-risk business. Plus, there are several industries like cannabis, CBD, firearms, and the adult industry that will never be considered low-risk by payment processors.