As a payment processor for high risk industries, Instabill is exhibiting at the 2016 CNP Expo (Booth #721) next week at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando, and, to be frank, we’re expecting quite a bit of traffic to our booth.
We’re not being pretentious by any means. We feel this way because high risk payment processing is getting increasingly difficult.
Despite the state of high risk credit card processing, Instabill has all-encompassing payment solutions for industries such as online pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, e-cigarettes, debt collection and tech support.
We are looking forward to showcasing them next week at the CNP Expo.
We digress. Here is why we feel high risk payment processing is growing more and more difficult.
1. Banks Are Getting Unpredictable
This is especially true for high risk industries. Instabill merchant account managers will field several phone calls each week from frantic merchants who have been given 30 days notice by their acquiring banks – sometimes less – to find payment processing elsewhere. Acquiring banks are known to cease processing payments for certain high risk industries for no reason.
A bank may decide one day that it deems your industry too risky (we saw this last year when a Canadian bank ceased processing for online pharmaceutical merchants), leaving you little time to find alternative high risk payment processor.
As a solution, we recommend multiple merchant accounts as a safety net to keep your business seamlessly processing credit card transactions.
2. Industries Under Fire
One of the prime examples of an industry under scrutiny is the e-cigarette industry, which is facing a chicken-and-egg scenario: While one side claims e-cigarettes are a gateway for young people to try traditional tobacco, a claim can be made that e-cigs are also valuable in waning traditional smokers off tobacco. Movement supporting the former has been gaining steam in recent years, more so than the latter.
The e-cigarette industry is among a handful of high risk industries receiving a substantial amount of criticism, though not as dire as some high risk industries. Finding a reputable high risk payment processor used to be relatively simple.
By and large, most high risk payment processors will agree that business types such as online pharmacies, credit repair and payday lending have become more difficult for which to find high risk solutions.
3. Alphabet Soup: CFPB and FTC
It’s not difficult to find news items these days about high risk merchants under fire followed by these letters: CFPB, FTC. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have certain business types in their sights such as debt collection, debt consolidation and payday lenders.
True, there are a fair share of unscrupulous merchants out there tarnishing the images of legitimate merchants. Operation Choke Point, the FTC-led movement to “choke out” businesses it deems unsavory – and their payment processors – is the new reality. As a result, banks are growing more leery of offering payment processing solutions for certain high risk industries.
Schedule a Meeting at CNP Expo to Talk About Solutions
Instabill is exhibiting at the 2016 CNP Expo at Booth #721. As a high risk payment processor with a network of diverse banking partners – domestic, international and offshore – we likely have solutions for those high risk, hard-to-place merchants. Schedule a meeting with us directly by selecting the live chat option below or by calling us direct at 1-800-318-2713.
