Requirements for high-risk businesses

Does your business fall into a high-risk category or involve risk-elevating factors?

If the answer is "yes", then working with a provider like CardCorp could be instrumental in obtaining the right merchant account.

What requirements apply to high-risk businesses?

As a merchant with elevating risk factors, you can expect to face additional requirements for approval.

For instance, you may have to provide:

Processing history or financial statements
Business plans and projected cash flow models
Operating licences or permissions
Supplier agreements
Product formulations
Other documents or proof acceptable to the merchant account provider.

CardCorp can help you navigate this application process.

What is the issue with high-risk businesses?

Most merchant account providers do not accept high-risk businesses as a matter of policy.

Merchant account providers that do accept high-risk business models generally don't apply their preferences evenly across all businesses with elevated risk factors. So, if your business falls into a high-risk category, you may have difficulty finding a suitable merchant account.

Many businesses fall into categories earmarked as high-risk - such as gambling or pharmacy - but for others, there may be no specific delineation for what constitutes a high-risk business outright vs. a business with factors that elevate risks, such as charging models, delivery times, target markets, etc.

Accordingly, each merchant account provider (acquirer or acquiring bank) defines their acceptance criteria based on their appetites and risk perception across various thresholds.

How can CardCorp help?

CardCorp maintains partnerships with multiple acquirers and deeply understands each partner's risk appetites and policies toward different higher-risk business models. Accordingly, we can help you successfully navigate the application and approval process.