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High Risk Merchant Account Guide for 2015

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There are many hard-working small business owners who unfortunately find it difficult to get a high risk merchant account for credit card processing. The good news is, even if you have a business considered to be high risk there are a lot companies competing for your business! Here are a few:

Payline Data: They’ve been in business for a while and they have solid pricing plans. Note their price guarantee: “we guarantee you will get the best price and if we can’t beat your current rates we will pay you $500.” They have no application fee and offer no obligation quotes, so they’re worth a look.

Instabill: They offer, in their words, “fees as low as 2.2% for high-risk merchants”, though note that the 2.2% is probably an extreme case–expect to pay higher. You can apply online without an application fee.

BillPro: They’ve been around 25 years, which is a good track record in this business. As per their website, if your business is gaming or online auction, their specialists have seen it before. Applications will usually be approved in 24 hours. If you check their rates page, you’ll see that the high risk merchants–like the online gaming and dating sites–will have rates around 3.5%.

National Merchant Association: They, too, offer 24-hour approval of merchant processing accounts and boast a history of working with risker businesses. They’re probably worth a look if you’re shopping around for accounts.

Guardian Data Systems: They offer many services to high risk merchants. As per their website:

  • Credit card processing for all major card brands.
  • 3D Secure processing for added fraud prevention.
  • Domestic, Offshore, and international processing options
  • Chargeback Prevention programs which can eliminate up to 65% of chargebacks!
  • Flexible PCI-compliant payment gateway
    • Payment processing in more than 160 currencies and settlement in 15 major currencies.
    • Lowest Rates Guaranteed
    • Global bank direct accounts use your own account and descriptor.
    • Guardian Data Systems employs a security team to monitor all high risk merchant account transactions, significantly reducing chargebacks.

high risk merchant account

BBVA Compass NBA Amex Marketing Fail

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The bad news–from a professional basketball standpoint anyway–is that I live in Charlotte. The good news is that the credit card industry has given me a reason to care about the NBA finals!

I recently signed up for the BBVA Compass NBA Amex card. They’re offering a nice little deal: get the card before June 30 and the $50 annual fee is waived for the life of the account. Oh, and also they’re offering 5% cashback on all spending during the NBA finals.

I don’t know anything about BBVA’s credit card operation, but they gave me a pretty good credit card line. I was not too impressed with this email, however:

bbva marketing failThe key phrase there at the bottom: “Bobcats fans like yourself”. For those of you who don’t keep up with the NBA, the team was called the Bobcats, but the name was changed before the 2014-15 season after rights to it were relinquished by the New Orleans Pelicans after they dropped the name. (The original Charlotte Hornets franchise had moved to New Orleans a while back.)

So, it was amusing to see the Hornets graphic combined with the Bobcats name, as I’d thought I’d heard the last of the awful Bobcats team name. But I have no complaints after they sent me this:

bbva nba promotion

They are really promoting the heck out of this thing! Not that I’m complaining. The NBA finals ought to be interesting this year.

 

 

Citibank acquires Brooks Brothers credit card

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Citibank’s credit card unit, which has been tearing it up as of late, has added another card to its lineup. I received the following email yesterday:

Your Brooks Brothers Credit Card account currently issued by Synchrony Bank is being acquired by Citibank, N. A. on June 19, 2015. Effective June 19, 2015, Citibank, N. A. will become the owner and issuer of your Brooks Brothers Credit Card account, including all balances due on your account.

I recently wrote up Citi’s retail and store-branded credit cards here, so add another one to that list. Interestingly, Citi seems to be copying some of Synchrony’s retail card marketing techniques. In February, I received a Best Buy credit card offer of a $20 reward certificate in exchange for using my credit card three times. This is the sort of offer I’ve seen on things like the Banana Republic card, but never before on a Citi card.

Incidentally, the Dillard’s credit card recently changed hands from Synchrony to Wells Fargo. Is Synchrony in an Amex-like state of decline right now, or are the big banks just paying too much for credit card portfolios?

 

The Best Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite MasterCard® offer ever!

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Folks, I’m pleased to report that for one day only, Barclaycard has given me permission to link to their best Hawaiian Airlines®  World Elite MasterCard® offer ever! Why would they do that after our falling out, you ask? I posed the same question to them and the response was something about hitting their numbers for the next month. Anyway, here’s what you get:

  • Earn 3,500,000 BONUS MILES after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days! Wow! 3.5 million miles!
  • Earn 10X miles on eligible purchases made directly from Hawaiian Airlines
  • Earn 100X miles on all other purchases!
  • No limit on total miles you can earn! Unless they decide after the fact you’ve earned too many!
  • Free subscription to the popular “Ask the Hawaiian Airlines®  World Elite MasterCard®” podcast
  • Revenge on all who have wronged you
  • The cure for cancer
  • One Chase Sapphire Preferred® card… because First Friday!
  • A free two-liter bottle of soda

And if that’s not enough: any cardholder on a Spirit Airlines flight will be magically whisked away to a flight on a better airline!

Act now everybody: this offer expires at the end of the day!

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Saverocity is Journalistic in Nature, please obtain Professional Representation prior to attempting anything discussed herein. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.