There really is no magic wand to wave and get approved. It takes work and some things have to be done in order to get the merchant account that you are after. If you have a business that falls into the high-risk area, you have a few hoops to jump through.
How to start
You really don’t need to have any special education, just the inane desire to own and operate your own business. If you are after an offshore account, there are a few steps to take to ensure that your application gets the attention it needs to get approved.
• Fill out your application as truthfully as possible.
• Write out your business plan.
• Write out a cover letter explaining your business. Be technical.
• Show your company’s policies on how to deal with chargebacks.
• Show how stable your company is.
• Explain the growth factor of a merchant account and how it will help your company grow as well as the merchant account servicer.
• Go through your business step by step and explain how everything works.
If you did it right
You should have a great cover letter and an explanation of what and who your company is. With the reasonable customer service enclosed it should seal the deal. With all that done, and you know you hit the nail on the head, you send it all to the merchant account servicer.
It still may not get it all, but with all that on that letter, the underwriters will have a lot of questions answered and will have fewer to ask.
They want success
There isn’t a merchant account servicer in business that does not want you to succeed. Their biggest issue is the risk of chargebacks. Since you put the answer to that issue in your cover letter and you have it built into your customer policy that the people will be taken care of before it ever becomes an issue, then you should have nothing to worry about.
Financial statements
As much as you don’t want anyone to see your financial statements, if they are stable and near enough to perfection for you, then you have nothing to fear from the merchant account servicer. They will be asking for your financials and when they do, please provide them. Much like your cover letter, those statements will provide a story to the underwriters which will help them make a decision. It shows whether you are strong and growing, or strong and failing. That will give them what they need as well.
If you are after an offshore merchant account and your financials are stable and your cover letter just confirms what can be seen in the statements, you have a winner. The merchant account servicer will shake your electronic hand and help you grow your business with the debit and credit card processing that you need. So show some interest and respect, and between the both of you, you can become a king among men in your industry.