merchantfocus account setup in 2.5 hours
I have experience with merchant accounts as I've had 3 or 4 of them in the past for various business ventures. I even used to have one for ebay back in the day (pre-authorize.net, ebay checkout, PCI compliance, etc).
I wanted to use HSBC bank as the main processing bank as my past experience has proved they don't care about my bad credit and they had pretty easy underwriting criteria. I came across Merchantfocus.com today and decided they were a good fit for me.
I wanted one with no setup charges...I cared less about monthly fees than the setup cost at this point.
$10 statement fee + $15 monthly minimum ($685 in sales per month breaks even)
$15 authorize.net fee
Their discount rate was good as it was based on an interchange plus forumula. I paid only .2% + $0.10 on top of interchange rates.
I really, really like vantagecard.com since I have first hand experience for a few years with them (also HSBC) but they wanted $199 setup plus $10/mo statement, $10 gateway fee. Their rates are only plus .1% which in the long run would have been better but I did not want the $199 setup cost.
Anyway--I filled out the application online. It is easiest to get a $60k/yr approval so that's what I filled in. There is no reason to apply for less than that IMHO.
--I have a business entity with separate EIN number although the application made it very clear that it can be done as a sole proprietor and deposit into a personal checking account.
--For the products I simply said "retail general products" and no further questioning was asked.
--I said I was not currently accepting credit cards
The automated email asked me to sign the application and fax it in. It also asked that I send in my utility bill and voided check. I opted out of the "express" identity check as I did not want to specifically authorize a full credit pull. I also voluntarily sent in a copy of my ebay feedback profile (2 pages) showing my 10+ year history on ebay, 500+ feedbacks, and good DSR ratings. The only other thing the underwriter asked for was for a copy of my ID. I don't know if they did a full credit report or not but my past experience with HSBC is that they only pull a soft-credit report which didn't even show up on my credit reports as a soft pull. Basically just an identification check.
The whole process from start to finish was about 2.5 hours. I liked to ebay no problem and did the test verification. Seems to work great although I haven't sold anything using the account yet.
Other notes---it specifies a term contract length in the terms but under the termination it doesn't say a cost to break the contract...only 60 days notice and that you can't pursue another merchant account for 30 days into the notice to terminate. If you do then you're liable for $250 liquidated damages. Vantagecard is very easy, no contract, a better company that I've had a couple years of experience with...but again I didn't want the $199 setup fee.
Just thought I'd post a review. I'm new here and wanted to share a little of what I know to the group. Let me know if you have any questions or if I left anything important out of my review.
Last edited by fdafdafda; 12-29-2010 at 09:41 PM.
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