Top 5 questions to ask a high risk merchant provider

If you’re considered a high-risk business, then you’ve most likely found that credit cards acceptance can be challenging. You want a payment processor who can provide you with a secure and long-term solution that makes payment processing easy.

Credit card processing for high-risk is a whole other ballgame. Frequent chargebacks, load balancing, and fighting fraud are common hurdles, and it’s crucial to have an experienced high-risk merchant provider in your corner in order to maintain a long-term payment solution.

While you’re shopping around, here are 5 questions to ask a potential high-risk credit card processor so you can make the right decision.

1. Do you provide chargeback protection?

Chargebacks are common for high-risk businesses. There’s no way around it. That’s why you’ll need a provider who offers chargeback protection.

Your processor should be able to perform the following:

• 24-hour chargeback alerts
• Dispute assistance and revenue recovery
• Identify chargeback liabilities and merchant error

2. Do I have dedicated customer support?

Whether your high-risk or not, dedicated customer service is crucial when it comes to payments.

That being said, high-risk businesses need more attention.
Fraudulent activity may freeze deposits, a spike in sales could max out your monthly limit or one too many chargebacks could shut down your merchant account.

You need a responsive and knowledgeable support team to jump on these kinds of issues fast.

Ask a potential processor the following:

• Do I get a dedicated account manager with a direct line?
• Do you offer 24/7 technical support?
• Do you offer a ticketing system for requests?
• What’s your average response time?

3. Are you experienced with high-risk payment processing?

It sounds like an obvious question, but you can get burned by merchant providers who don’t understand the high-risk space. It’s a different ball game. It’s usually not their fault, they just don’t know how to play high-risk.

Your provider should know the ins-and-outs of submitting high-risk applications, be partnered with the best banks for high-risk merchants and understand the rules surrounding your specific industry.

Make sure your provider knows how to play the high-risk game. You’ll need a good player if you’re to keep your merchant account for the long run.

4. Do you offer a fraud prevention tool?

As mentioned earlier, fraud is inevitable.

It’s called high-risk for a reason. Whether they’re friendly consumers or outright criminals, your industry attracts fraudsters. In order to keep your merchant file alive and well, you must have a fraud prevention tool working in the background.

A good fraud prevention solution should perform the following:

• Notify you whenever fraudulent activity is detected.
• Use machine learning and behavior recognition to identify fraudsters.
• Rules in place that will automatically block fraud. (Such as IP velocity filters)

Ask your potential provider about their fraud prevention tools. If they can’t speak to any of the information above, count it as a red flag. Every high-risk business needs a payment partner who understands fraud prevention.

5. Do you offer multiple MIDs (Merchant IDs)?

It’s a good idea to have a backup plan. It’s common for high-risk businesses to have multiple merchant accounts because it allows more flexibility. It gives you the option to use load balancing (automatically rotating MIDs so you don’t hit your monthly limits) and you also have a backup incase an account gets shut down.

Activating multiple mids through one provider saves a lot of time and energy. You maintain a single point of contact, build a stronger relationship and get a better overall customer experience.

If you require multiple MIDs, ask the potential processor if they can set all of them for you. If you not, then you will need to use this interview process multiple times.

What’s next

Keep this guide handy while vetting new merchant providers. As a high-risk business, it’s absolutely crucial your payment solution can provide these features and services.

Want to speak with a high-risk specialist right now?

Preferred Payments has high-risk experts standing by. Call us today or click here to book a free consultation with a dedicated account manager who can help you.