Online fraud is a major world industry. The U.S. is still the prime target and small and medium-sized merchants are on their own. At last week’s Fraud 360 World Tour Boston, hosted by Kount, there were some alarming statistics revealed. One of them was the fact that 40 percent of U.S. retailers were utilizing EMV-ready…
Category: Instabill News
Think You’re Safe from Cybercrime? You’re Not
Our company, Instabill, recently sealed a partnership with an IT provider, NeoScope, whose hub is a short drive away from our offices. When it was made official, I figured the extent of our working relationship would consist of me filling out a support ticket when my desktop computer was misbehaving. One of their representatives, Craig,…
Debt Collection is About to Get Way More Difficult
If we had to choose which of the 90-plus industries we’re boarding increasingly less of, it would have to be debt collection. Over the last 3-4 years, acquiring banks – especially those here in the U.S. – are shunning merchants seeking payment processing for debt collection businesses. Much of the responsibility for that can go…
Phishing Attacks via E-Mail: Do Not Open
Because we are a high risk payment processor, we’re seeing an increase in phishing attacks by e-mail. Fortunately for us, each attack has been obvious, bordering on pathetic even. They’ve even given us a good laugh. We’re lucky, however. Because of what we do, we can spot the red flags of fraudsters and unsavory millennials…
Why Our Offshore Banking Partners Approve What Domestic Banks Decline
We often receive quizzical looks and a series of questions when we advise a merchant to take their business to one of our offshore banking partners for credit card processing rather than one of our partners here in the U.S. There is a sense of hesitation at first, maybe a loss of familiarity, and we…
ACH Payments Continue Growth – Get Used to It
There were 24 billion ACH payments made in 2015 – about 1.3 billion more than there were in 2014 and the second straight year that ACH transactions grew by more a billion. To us, it’s not surprising. And a boatload of credit, pardon the pun, goes to NACHA, the governing body of ACH payments. In…
Why E-Commerce Startup Merchants are Considered High Risk
Every month, Instabill merchant account managers receive leads about startup businesses in need of credit card processing. We welcome startups and give them whatever tools we can so they can succeed and thrive. And you never know who will be the next e-commerce giant. The fact that e-commerce startup merchants are considered high risk is…
The Best Credit Card Processors Offer These 5 Things
You’ve got this wonderful idea of an online startup business and you need the ability to accept credit cards online. Finding the best merchant services provider for your e-commerce business is akin to wading through a jungle. You are faced with many make-or-break decisions: The best bank for your startup; banking fees to consider; card…
We Don’t Charge Merchant Account Application Fees, and Neither Should You
There are certain things we believe in here at Instabill: Answering the phone Live, one-on-one customer support with one merchant account manager All legal and legitimate businesses have the chance to process credit card transactions We also believe in a free merchant account application, that merchants should not have to pay for something for which…
Transaction Laundering Doesn’t Always Involve Drug Sales
A merchant recently approached Instabill about finding a merchant account for his business in which he rented large dumpsters to contractors and consumers used for scrap materials or large amounts of waste. It sounded simple enough. In fact, we wouldn’t even consider it high risk – medium at best. We liked how the dumpsters had…