How placement actually works

1. 1

   You tell us what happened

   What you sell, how you bill, roughly what you process, and what your last processor did. If there is a termination letter, it is the single most useful document you have. Nothing about this stage costs anything or commits you to anything.

2. 2

   We read the file the way an underwriter will

   Statements, chargeback history, billing model, website and refund policy, and whether a MATCH listing exists. This is where problems get found: a descriptor nobody recognises, a claim on the site that no acquirer will board, a ratio that needs work first.

3. 3

   You hear the honest read

   Which acquirers realistically board a business like yours, what they will want to see, and where your file is weak. If the honest answer is that something has to change before anyone will approve you, you hear that instead of a sales pitch.

4. 4

   The application goes to the right acquirers

   Not into a generic queue. Applications go to acquiring banks that deliberately underwrite your category, with the supporting documents packaged the way that acquirer expects them.

5. 5

   Underwriting decides, and you see the terms in writing

   The acquiring bank makes the approval decision, not us and not you. If it approves, you get the full pricing schedule, including any reserve, in writing before you sign anything.

6. 6

   You go live, and you plan for next time

   Gateway connected, descriptor set properly, chargeback tooling in place. Most established high risk merchants then add a second account, so that one termination can never take the whole business offline again.

What we do not do

Being clear about the limits is the point of this page. We do not approve accounts: the acquiring bank does, every time. We do not promise approval, an approval rate or an approval time, and we would rather lose the enquiry than invent one.

We cannot remove a MATCH listing, because only the acquirer that placed a listing can, and only in narrow circumstances covered on our MATCH list removal page. We cannot release funds another processor is holding under its own agreement. And we do not publish a rate card, because no honest high risk rate exists before an underwriter has read your file. What you get instead is the full schedule in writing before you sign, which is covered on our fees page.