Posted by NationalACH on May 15, 2018
Debt Consolidation Merchant Accounts

With the growing mountain of private and commercial debt in America, debt consolidation merchants are on the precipice of a sudden spike in demand from consumers looking to wrangle their debt burden.

Private debt to gross domestic product in the United States is currently at 200%. That means for every dollar in GDP, there are two dollars in private debt floating in the economy. A growing proportion of this is student debt, which in 2018 was estimated to be $1.48 trillion. In fact, student loan debt is double the amount of credit card debt in America. With record low interest rates and a growing mountain of private debt, this burden is a ticking time bomb for the economy.

Fortunately, your debt consolidation business can help millions of people restructure their debt burden and tame their financial obligations to avoid bankruptcy. However, your payment infrastructure could be exposing your business to unforeseen risks and suppressing your profitability. Here’s what you can do to streamline your payments system and secure your business for the long-term:

Avoid Card Payments

Debit and credit cards in the US are fundamentally flawed. Millions of people have their card details stolen every year. Meanwhile, merchants lose billions of dollars to credit card fraud and friendly chargebacks. By the year 2020, businesses across the country are expected to lose roughly $12 billion a year due to payment card fraud.

Chargebacks and card fraud can stress the finances of your debt consolidation merchant business. The losses from these chargebacks distorts your cash flows, suppresses profit margins, and can have an impact on the merchant fees you pay for ongoing card transactions. Banks, card issuers, and traditional financial institutions could deem your business high-risk, which cuts off your potential for affordable financing and leverage.

Get a Debt Consolidation Merchant Account

A debt consolidation merchant account is, perhaps, the best option for businesses in this industry. Debt consolidation merchant accounts are integrated with the federal banking networks which processes trillions of dollars in transactions and billions of accounts every year.

The sophisticated and secure banking network allows customers to pay with echecks  rather than cards.  Echecks automatically debit payments from your customer’s bank account and settle the funds to your o your debt consolidation merchant account.

Echecks are give you greater flexibility for higher chargebacks and return rates than do cards.  If you are having issues staying within ACH or card processing ratios for returns & chargebacks, echecks are the way to go.   

Americans are familiar with echecks are trust the payment method.  Payments are completed and digitally verified in seconds. 

Debt consolidation merchant accounts give you an effective way to handle higher chargebacks & return rates that are an unavoidable part of working with financially-challenged customers. 

Getting Started

Signing up for a debt consolidation merchant account is as simple.  You submit an application along with information about your business.  Accounts are tailored to debit consolidation, student loan forgiveness & credit repair companies.

Your debt consolidation merchant account includes sophisticated encryption and industry-standard developer tools. You can integrate the payment gateway directly on your website or mobile app, complete transactions through a PCI-DSS compliant payment gateway, set up recurring billing, and complete transactions through a virtual terminal (phone/mail).

Conclusion

With the growing demand for debt consolidation, businesses in the industry can expect a surge in activity over the next decade. However, card transactions are inherently risky and expensive for a business where every basis point counts. By switching your payments structure to a designated debt consolidation merchant account, you can cut costs, reduce the risks of chargebacks, and improve customer service.

Have you considered a specialized merchant account for your business? Can eCheck payments can save your company money and paperwork?

Speak to our experts or visit us at www.nationalach.com to find out.