Five Tips for High Risk Merchant Account Approval 

Accepting card payments is the single most important part of most businesses.  After all, debit and credit card processing represents the greatest source of cash flow into your company.

Here are 5 quick tips to help improve the likelihood of high risk merchant account approval. Pay attention to the details, prior to submitting the application.

1. Make sure all links on your website work. Go through every link on your site to be sure everything is functioning correctly. Common sense, isn’t it?
Don’t assume that because your links worked when your site launched that they still work. Glitches happen all the time on sites. Broken links create an unprofessional image of your company.

2. Is the phone number on the site working? How is the phone being answered? Polite, professional phone answering is the first impression callers obtain about your business. If the line goes to voice mail, identify the name of the business. Let the caller know when the contact will be returned.

As part of the underwriting process, a “cold call” is often made to the business. It’s amazing the number of times these calls are not returned in a timely fashion. Underwriters may also send out “cold” emails to support or customer service addresses to see how these requests are responded to. Provide a phone number, email address, and time frame of when customers can expect a response from you.

3. Ask your merchant account provider to give you a list of what should appear on your site. For example, shipping, returns, privacy policies need to be clearly displayed.

4. Underwriters are no different than anyone else these days. The first thing they do is to Google your company and the names of the principals of the company. Beat them to the punch. Prior to submitting your application, Google your company name. Google the name of all principals associated with your company.

If there are negative comments in forums, respond to them with your side of the story. If there are excessive negative comments, you can engage the services of an online reputation management company to help you get back on track.

5. Remember, a merchant account is essentially a short-term line of credit banks extend to a business. Therefore, credit rating are going to be checked. Be sure the signor on the account has a credit score of 600 or above.

Conclusion

Be smart when applying for your high risk payment processing account.  Follow the steps above.  And get your accounts approved quicker, easier, and with more favorable terms.  

Are you ready to apply for a high risk merchant account?   

For more information, contact info@paynetsecure.net today