I decided to start upselling SEO and online ranking services for local businesses. I have a big list of customers with whom I have rapport. Last week, I closed my first customer. They paid through Square, and guess what? Three days later, Square sends me an email saying my account is terminated. So, I had to issue a refund to this lady, otherwise, they would hold onto the money indefinitely.

I began searching for other credit card processing companies like Stripe, Paymentcloud, and 2checkout. However, they all have ridiculously strict requirements. They ask for the last three months of card statements, which I don’t have because it’s a startup—obviously. They ask for an on-site inspection of my business and a whole lot of documents, then end up declining me due to a credit check?

What is this BS? It used to be so easy to start taking payments just two years ago, and now, to apply for a credit card processing company, they even do credit checks? Unbelievable.

  • rootdet@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Credit checks have always occurred for traditional merchant accounts. Payment processing is essentially an unsecured line of credit that the merchant provider/sponsor bank has extended to you. They can have financial losses with excess chargebacks and you not paying up.

    When you go with a company like Stripe, 2checkout, square, etc, you are a “sub-merchant”, and credit checks and underwriting tend to be very different.

    For the credit check, these days to get approved, you need a fico score usually above 580-600, and not be currently in bankruptcy.

    Sounds like you are in the US. shoot me a DM and lets chat. I deal with high-risk merchants and tend to get approvals.