Let’s face it.  Credit repair companies need merchant accounts.  Yet often have a difficult time obtaining or maintaining the payment processing capacity needed to manage and grow their business.

Now, life is easier.  Quickly obtain credit repair merchant accounts and watch your business prosper. 

Multiple payment processing methods are available to the credit repair industry.  Including proven solutions to process payments even when returns or chargebacks are higher than allowed by the card brands or ACH networks. 

All credit repair merchant accounts include unlimited recurring billing plans.  Recurring payments make it convenient and affordable for consumers to pay you.  Increasing your profits and stabilizing your cash flow.  

In this article, you will learn about the pros and cons of different types of payment processing available to credit repair merchants. 

High Chargebacks or Returns?  Echecks are the Answer

How can credit repair merchants who cannot comply with card or ACH ratios for chargebacks and returns continue to accept payments while protecting existing card & ACH merchant accounts? 

Echecks are the answer. Yet echecks are only worthwhile when processed correctly to meet the needs of the credit repair industry. 

The term echecks is used generically to describe different ways of debiting payments from consumers’ bank accounts.  Many processors claiming to process echecks for credit repair merchants really cannot.  Which ends up causing great damage, including loss of revenue, to credit repair merchants.

Lots of companies advertising echecks as a payment method for credit repair merchants simply create “substitute” checks.  The substitute checks are then scanned, couriered, mailed, or send via express delivery to the merchant’s own bank account for clearing.  This never works out well for credit repair merchants.

Banks do not like to see revokes and returns running through a business account.  And many banks will not honor substitute” checks, increasing the potential for even higher return rates.

When check revokes and returns frequently appear in a business bank account, the accounts are flagged and closed.  Which creates a nightmare for credit repair merchants as they scramble to quickly find a new operating account with another bank. 

Best Way for Credit Repair Merchants to Process Echecks

What is the best way for credit repair merchants with high revokes and returns to accept electronic checks?  The solution is to process payments with an echeck processor that clears all echecks through the processor’s account.  The processor assumes liability for returns & revokes. 

Cleared funds are settled to the credit repair merchant’s bank account via an ACH credit, like the way card transactions settle.  Protecting your business bank operating account.

Because echecks are processed outside of the ACH or card brand networks, there is significantly greater tolerance for high revokes and returns.  Giving credit repair merchants the ability to accept more payments without worrying about jeopardizing card and ACH merchant accounts.  

Processing echecks through our specialized echeck platform for high risk merchants is safe and secure.   Once your account is approved, you can process as much volume as you need with no caps on accounts  Ensuring you always have the processing capacity to grow your business.

Accepting echecks is simple for merchants and easy for consumers.  Customers provide their bank routing and account number rather than card data.  You can accept payments online, by phone, or with written authorization. 

 Millions of Americans regularly pay for goods and services through bank accounts rather than cards.  Echecks are a familiar and trust payment method for US consumers.

How to Use Echecks to Protect Your Card & ACH Merchant Accounts

The highest risk for chargebacks, revokes and returns occurs the first time a consumer pays you.  For recurring billing, the risks are greatest for the first few recurring billing transactions. 

Credit repair merchants can vet new customers by accepting echecks for initial payments from a customer.  Once the customer is vetted and the credit repair merchant confirms there are no chargebacks, revokes or returns, the customer can be transitioned either to card or ACH payments.   

Additional Benefits of Accepting Echecks

Card and ACH merchant account providers establish monthly caps on volume, limiting the dollar amount that can be processed and stifling growth.  Echecks eliminate these roadblocks.

When your echeck credit repair merchant account is approved, unlimited processing capacity is available to you.  More than ten banks are connected to echeck platform. 

There are serious benefits to you of having many banks on the back end. 

Multiple banks ensure you always have processing backup.  If a single bank decides to exit the high-risk arena, there are lots of other banks integrated with the echeck payment processing platform.  Processing continues seamlessly, with no risk to your account.  

Benefits of Card Processing for Credit Repair Merchants

Card processing credit repair merchant accounts give you the ability to accept both credit and debit cards. 

Cards are the most popular form of payments for Americans.   Therefore, it is a good idea for credit repair merchants to accept cards. 

Still, accepting debit cards, whenever possible, instead of credit cards, is a wise strategy for credit repair merchants for 3 reasons.

First, consumers who need assistance for credit repair often have maxed out their existing credit cards and do not qualify for additional cards. 

Secondly, although both debit and credit cards can be subject to chargebacks, it is more difficult to initiate a chargeback a debit card than a credit card transaction.

Third, it is extremely challenging for credit repair merchants to qualify for a credit card processing account.  The credit repair industry statistically has high chargebacks.  And very few banks are willing to open credit repair merchant accounts.

Disadvantages of Card Processing for Credit Repair Merchants

As mentioned above, both debit and credit card transactions can be charged back.  Consumers using credit repair companies are in financial trouble.  And the temptation simply to call the card issuing bank to initiate a dispute to avoid having to pay can be great.

Too many chargebacks jeopardize your card processing merchant accounts.  If credit repair merchants cannot stay under the low chargeback ratios set by the card brands, your account can be cancelled.

Additionally, for recurring billing transactions, both debit and credit card payments require card data to be up-to-date for a recurring payment to be approved.  The problem is that more than 20% of all cards are reissued each year.  Meaning card data needs to be updated before the recurring payment is approved.

Card updating services can be helpful.  If a card is declined, the updating service automatically contacts the issuing bank to obtain the most current info.  Despite this handy tool, only 70-80% of cards can be updated.  Leaving a big gap in recurring billing revenues.

If a card cannot be automatically updated, your customer service staff needs to contact the consumer for updated payment data.  Which is time and labor intensive.  And despite your best efforts, you still will lose recurring billing income because you will not be able to get updated information on all cards.

ACH Credit Repair Merchant Accounts

ACH is great for recurring billing.  Bank accounts rarely change.  It is too much of a hassle for a consumer to change bank accounts since direct deposit of wages and payments of household bills are connected to the bank account.

ACH debits are the lowest cost method of accepting payments.  Rates are 50-80% lower than card processing since there are no “interchange” rates set by the ACH network as there is with card brands.

Low cost and recurring billing stability are good reasons to use ACH over cards.  Still, there are issues associated with ACH payments for credit repair merchants.

The ACH network allows revokes (the ACH equivalent of a card chargeback) to be under 0.5%.  This is half the number of chargebacks allowed by the card brands.  Making it very difficult to successfully maintain a credit repair ACH merchant account.

Additionally, the ACH network requires that returned transactions (for example, non-sufficient funds) be under 15%.  Given the nature of the credit repair business, it can be challenging to comply with this requirement.

Conclusion

The more payment methods you accept, the more money you make.  Cards, ACH, and echecks are all good ways for credit repair merchants to electronically accept payments. 

Offload riskier transactions to the echeck processor.  Once you know the customer will not revoke or chargeback transactions seldom has returns, the customer can be transitioned to card or ACH payments.

Want More Information?

NationalACH is one of the only merchant account providers in the country that offers credit repair merchants multiple payment options to increase profits, reduce risk and protect processing accounts.  Including a proven method to reduce risk of high chargebacks, revokes, and returned transactions. 

Interested in finding out more?  Contact us today at  info@NationalACH.com or call 866-ACH-7600.