Merchant Account Closed - Now What?
It goes without saying that abruptly losing your ability to accept credit cards can be majorly disruptive. With many consumers choosing to pay by card and still many others not even carrying cash, cards are a key factor for today’s business owners. Let’s take a look at what causes processors to freeze or close your account so you can do everything ...
Applying for a Merchant Account
There are many merchant account providers (commonly known as “credit card processors” or just “processors”) so it’s important to understand what a merchant account entails and what to keep in mind both when you apply and while processing. While merchant accounts aren't free, we're not going to tackle rates and fees extensively in this article. I...
Merchant Account ACH Delays and Their Effect
An ACH delay is not the most restrictive condition a processor can impose, but it's still important to consider how it will affect your merchant account. Find out what this means for your business in this article. What is an ACH delay? An ACH delay is a temporary hold on an electronic deposit from an acquiring bank to your direct deposit account....
Merchant Account Holds and Freezes
Merchant account holds or full account freezes disrupt your cash flow and can make it difficult to conduct business. In this article, we'll take a look at both holds and freezes, why they happen, and what you can do about them. This article refers to account holds and freezes on funds from sales at a business. It does not refer to "account holds...
Personal Credit and Merchant Accounts
Let's take a look at what matters - and doesn't - when it comes to applying for a merchant account. Why does my personal credit matter? When a business runs a credit card transaction, funds are removed from a customer's credit account and are deposited to the business' bank account under the assumption that the merchant has delivered the products...
Rolling Reserve
For example: If your merchant account has a 5% rolling reserve for 18 months, the processor will withhold 5% of your gross sales. The 5% of sales that are withheld will not be accessible to you for a year and a half. Why are rolling reserves imposed? Rolling reserves may be applied to high risk merchant accounts by a processor to lessen the...
