How to Apply for a Merchant Account

A merchant account can be the best way to help you accept payments and grow your business. Fewer and fewer customers want to pay with cash or checks; they want to use credit or debit cards. With a merchant account, you will be able to accept these payments, which may help you to earn more money than ever before. When you are ready to apply for a merchant account, these steps can help you to proceed.

Understand Your Needs

When you are applying for a merchant account, it can be helpful to think about what your business needs are. Will most of your sales occur online, face-to-face, over the telephone, or by mail? Do you want to accept credit cards at a single location or on the go? Knowing what you are looking for now and thinking about what you expect to want in the future can help make sure you select the right options for your business.

Compare Merchant Account Providers

There are different things that you can consider when choosing a merchant account including

• Does the merchant account provider offer low cost assurance?
• Do they provide the equipment/software you need at no additional cost?
• Do they provide free shopping cart software?
• Do they offer military-grade encryption to keep your transactions secure?
• Do they have a high approval rate, or do you run the risk that you will have to start over elsewhere?
• Will they approve your application within one business day?

As you compare the different options available, you can make the decision on which one will help you reach your goals the best.

Begin the Application and Underwriting Process

Once you have chosen the right merchant account,  you can either work over the phone with a representative or fill out an online merchant account application to get started. With your application submitted, it will go through the underwriting process, which will verify the information you submitted.

While the application process can take quite some time with some providers, the right merchant account provider will be able to respond to your application quickly. In some cases, you may be asked to provide additional documents. When the process is completed successfully, you will have your own merchant account to use for your own business!

To find out more information about how to apply for a merchant account, or to sign up for a merchant account, you can visit Charge.com or call (888) 924-2743. No matter what you sell or how you sell it, Charge.com can help your business succeed and grow.