Page 28 - GS180302

Spotlight Innovators

“We’ve made it our primary business to understand and
“It’s important that sales representatives understand manage transactional and reputation account mitigation
all of the risk types so they can evaluate up front what better than anyone in the business, and we will work with
the process for boarding the account will be,” continued a merchant to establish the tools they need to help mitigate,
Garcia. “A good rule of thumb is to consider any factors monitor and recognize their own vulnerabilities,” Garcia
that have the potential for falling into a greater reputational assures.
or transactional risk profile in the eyes of the processor.”
Humboldt also helps sales partners recognize businesses
Reputational risk, which is often a result of controversial considered by the card brands as a restricted MCC, but
news, the current political climate or some social stance which also process “clean transactions,” meaning they
around a product or business type, has impact on the do not carry unusually high chargeback or dispute ratios.
application review process. How a business presents itself Some of these accounts are required to register with the
and openly manages reputational conflict, as well as its card brands, but Humboldt has the training expertise to
longevity and independent reputation in the marketplace, help its sales partners know when this is necessary, how to
are all key factors when analyzing whether the account submit the registration addendums and when to assist with
has any additional boarding factors. Firearms, adult tools that scrub unwanted transactions out of their systems
entertainment and even tobacco fall into this type of MCC before they reach the settlement stage.
category.
“It’s tremendously important that merchants and sales
The other type of risk is directly associated with the professionals understand the commonalities and where
merchant’s payment account activity. Industries, products the miscoding pitfalls are,” Garcia adds. “Business owners
and selling methods that have historically produced get solicited on a daily basis for merchant processing, and
higher percentages of chargebacks and/or disputes require uneducated sales representatives can make the boarding
additional scrutiny and reinforcement during underwriting. process even more difficult for them by miscoding or
In this case, the account will generally require an additional misclassifying specialty merchant accounts.” Garcia urges
layer of chargeback mitigation and fraud prevention tools sales partners to contact the Humboldt support team and
to manage these vulnerabilities and qualify the account. consider them business partners. The team can share
Some examples include: subscription services, businesses which documents are required and where to submit them,
that offer recurring billing models, and card-not-present and they can help set expectations up front for merchants
accounts with monthly transaction volumes over $50,000. regarding the process and turnaround time.

In some risk cases, the card brands also require a specialty “Sales support on a restricted MCC portfolio is not as
merchant to register with them. For example, an adult online intimidating as it may seem,” concluded Garcia. “It simply
content streaming company must register with all the card takes a little knowledge, a strong team that understands
brands as a restricted MCC merchant, but merchants selling the landscape, and people willing to take the time to guide
cigars online are only required to register with one of the merchants through the process step-by-step.” For more
card brands. Knowing when this registration requirement information on becoming a Humboldt Merchant Services
applies enables sales professionals to inform the merchant sales partner and to learn more about the Humboldt
early on where they stand. thought-leading business model, please visit the Humboldt
Merchant Services website or contact the team directly at
Straight to “GO” 877-387-5642..
One of the toughest calls when supporting restricted MCC/
specialty merchant accounts on the sales side is selecting
a processor that can be trusted to assess the application
fairly. It is important to know how to guide the merchant,
application and account through the mitigation process as
efficiently and professionally as possible.

Humboldt Merchant Services has decades of experience
and has demonstrated thought leadership when it comes to
supporting restricted MCC/specialty merchant business. As
a result, Humboldt has become known as a safe harbor for
merchants selling legal products that also have reputational
risk. Certain banks and acquirers have made the business
decision to prohibit these businesses, but Humboldt has
built a sound reputation on expertly evaluating these
accounts and taking worthy applications all the way to the
finish line.

28