Most businesses work with a banking institution to set up a merchant account to process and transfer transaction funds to their business checking account. When banking institutions work with businesses for merchant accounts, they prefer to minimize their exposure and stick to businesses with low risk. However, this makes it difficult for some types of businesses to work with traditional banking institutions.
Businesses that have hard to place merchant accounts will have to work with a payment processor that is willing to take on their account. At First MCS, we provide merchant services for hard to place merchant accounts throughout Chicagoland including Chicago, Naperville, Elgin, and Schaumburg, IL. Our professionals can help startups as well as businesses within industries often overlooked by tier-one banking institutions with secure and convenient payment processing and point-of-sale (POS) solutions.
What are Hard to Place Merchant Accounts?
There are several factors that determine whether a business account is considered a hard to place account. These factors include accepted payment methods, transaction sizes, fulfillment timeframes, and industry. It is important to remember that being considered a hard to place account by traditional banking institutions does not mean there is anything wrong with your business. Banking institutions prefer to work with businesses with traditional business models and are averse to working with businesses that may use a more modern business model.
The following factors determine if a business is a hard to place merchant account:
- Industry: Businesses within certain industries are considered hard to place accounts if they are subject to heavy oversight, seasonal, taboo, have high average ticket sales, or offer intangible products and services. Industries that fall within this category include cannabis, firearms, alcohol, tobacco, jewelry, tech, construction, nutraceuticals and supplements, and credit repair.
- Possibility of chargebacks: A chargeback is when a cardholder asks to reverse a charge and the funds are credited back to their account from the business account. Banking institutions check chargeback ratio, which is the percentage of total transactions that end in chargebacks, and they typically don’t allow higher than a one percent chargeback ratio.
- High average ticket amounts: Traditional banking institutions typically do not want to work with businesses with high average transaction amounts such as jewelers.
- Personal credit score: The personal credit score of the business owner is considered by banking institutions along with the business credit score when assessing the financial situation of a business.
- Methods of payment accepted: Businesses that only accept cash payments or card-not-present (CNP) payments may be considered hard to place accounts. CNP payments include credit card payments over the phone, online, through mail orders, or through mobile wallets. Traditional banking institutions prefer to work with businesses that accept card-present payments and tend to avoid businesses that use modern CNP solutions.
Merchant Services for Hard to Place Merchant Accounts
At First MCS, we believe that businesses that are considered hard to place merchant accounts deserve to work with a payment processor that will help their business grow. We provide a range of merchant services for hard to place merchant accounts that include payment processing, POS solutions, virtual terminals, and more. Our payment processing solutions are cost effective and convenient as well as PCI compliant to keep your transactions secure.
Our merchant services for hard to place accounts include the following:
- Credit card processing: We provide credit card processing solutions for CP and CNP payments that include POS terminals and virtual terminals and gateways for wireless and mobile payment processing. Our credit card processing is PCI compliant to protect customer data and prevent fraud, and we offer chargeback mitigation to help reduce the number of chargebacks.
- POS systems: We can provide your business with a point of sales (POS) system that accommodates your specific needs when it comes to payment options and acceptance.
- Terminals: We provide technologically advanced terminals for safe and secure on-site payments.
- Wireless/ mobile systems: We can implement wireless and mobile programs that allow for on the go payment processing with any mobile device and without an internet connection.
- Virtual terminals and gateways: Our virtual terminals and technologically advanced gateways allow for safe and secure electronic payment processing for CNP transactions. These solutions are PCI compliant to protect customer data and your business from fraud.
- Check processing: We can implement a PCI compliant check processing program that allows you to accept paper checks while minimizing fraudulent or bounced checks.
Call First MCS for Hard to Place Merchant Services
If you haven’t had any luck getting a merchant account for your business with traditional banking institutions, talk to our professionals at First MCS. We can provide complete merchant services for businesses with hard to place merchant accounts in the Chicago area including Chicago, Naperville, Elgin, and Schaumburg, IL.
You can call First MCS at (866) 673-3099 or submit a contact form to learn more about our services for hard to place merchant accounts.