How it works
First call to first settled batch.
Step One
Scope
What you sell, how you sell it, what you process now.
A short conversation before anything sensitive changes hands. We tell you whether a route exists for your vertical and roughly what shape it takes. If there is no honest route, you hear that here rather than after two weeks of document collection.
- Vertical and product
- Monthly volume, current and forecast
- Current processor, if any
Step Two
File
The application, the financials, the compliance evidence.
The document list is fixed per vertical and we send it in one message rather than in a trickle. Most delays in this industry are caused by a processor asking for one more thing every second day; the list you get on day one is the whole list.
- Application and ownership detail
- Three to six months of statements
- Vertical-specific compliance documents
Step Three
Submit
To the banks whose current policy covers you.
Your file goes to acquirers writing your MCC now. We say which ones and why. Where a vertical supports it we submit to more than one so a single decline does not restart the process, and we tell you when a second submission would hurt rather than help.
- Approval to submit, per acquirer
Step Four
Terms
Rate, caps, reserve, and what can change.
You see the discount rate, per-transaction fee, monthly and per-transaction caps, reserve rate and term, funding schedule, and the conditions under which any of them can be revised — in writing, before signature. If a processor will not put those in front of you, that is your answer about them.
- A decision
Step Five
Board
Gateway live, descriptors set, first batch settled.
Gateway credentials, descriptor configuration, fraud rules, chargeback alerts and any cart or API integration. We stay on it through the first settled batch, because that is when reconciliation problems actually surface.
- Technical contact
- Bank account for settlement
Go deeper
The three mechanics that decide what processing actually costs you.
Straight answers
Before you ask.
Why is there no timeline on this page?
Because it varies by vertical and by acquirer, and a single number across all of them would be a marketing figure. On the first call you get the realistic range for your specific category and what in your file is likely to be the long pole.
What slows an application down?
Almost always documents. A file that arrives complete moves at the acquirer's pace; a file that arrives in pieces moves at the pace of whoever is chasing the missing item. That is why the whole list goes out at step two rather than one item at a time.
What if you cannot place us?
You hear it at step one, before you have spent time on documents. If the honest answer is that no acquirer is writing your category right now, that is worth more to you than a submission that will be declined in three weeks.
Tell us what you sell.
Before anything sensitive changes hands, we will tell you whether a route exists for your vertical, roughly what shape it takes, and what underwriting will ask you for.