Page 25 - GS170501

Spotlight Innovators

a great deal of time hunting for a payment services pro-
vider that promises to keep the account long term,” said
Leonard Garcia, vice president of sales at Humboldt Mer-
chant Services (HBMS). “Therefore, it is uncommon for
sales representatives to ever reach a point where they are
experienced enough to feel confident about placing these
companies.”
Industry expertise is the key

Fortunately, there are a handful of service providers in the
industry that are established and well positioned as a spe-
or over two decades Humboldt Merchant cialty service provider for merchants that fall into hard-to-
Services has been the premier provider of credit place industry brackets. However, outside of HBMS, none
card processing solutions for high-risk or hard- offer two decades of reputable service to merchants in the
F to-place merchants, offering competitive pricing higher-risk markets, or a well credentialed in-house un-
and first class service. Combining dedication with knowl- derwriting team that specializes in boarding them quickly
edge and a primary focus on customer satisfaction, HBMS and efficiently.
has grown to become a leader in the credit card processing
industry. Offering superior processing, and the latest in HBMS offers competitive, secure and reliable payment
payment acceptance solutions, we are at the forefront of processing solutions to a myriad of merchant industries
innovative payment thinking. that are legally operating businesses, but are still consid-

What’s New: ered hard-to-place accounts due to additional underwrit-
ing requirements. Examples of these industries include
Selling in the higher nutraceuticals, extended warranty, firearms and ammuni-
tion, electronic cigarettes, bail bond issuers, direct market-
risk marketplace ing, and buying clubs, as well as card-not-present (CNP)
merchants falling into the dating, adult content, free trial
and online tobacco categories.
Opportunity awaits you
’s no secret. Some merchant types require a little
more evaluation and handling to qualify for a mer- While these types of accounts may seem obscure and un-
chant services account than others do. Generally, worthy of the time it perceivably takes on the sales front
t this is because these merchants are from industries to ensure all the underwriting requirements are fulfilled,
that fall into one of the higher-risk brackets defined by the they also make up a large segment of the merchant mar-
card brands. Assuming the merchant is operating legally, ketplace. Additionally, they offer an unparalleled level of
has a stable business history and also has no record of sales income opportunity, due to high and consistent sales
legal or security issues, they can generally still obtain an volumes, as well as competitive mark-up opportunities.
electronic payment account. They simply have to undergo
a more intensive underwriting analysis.

While this may sound straight forward, the extra care is
not something all processors, or the ISOs that sell for them,
have the built-in capacity for. Consequently, some compa-
nies attempt to adopt the higher-risk merchant brackets
into their portfolio, only to realize they aren’t adequately
equipped to support them. This often results in legitimate
merchants being cancelled without warning or fault, leav-
ing them to cycle through service providers in search of an
affordable and reliable one.

This makes for a difficult sales environment, and despite
the income potential of selling in the higher-risk mar-
ketplace, a majority of payment sales representatives do
not have an experienced and trustworthy merchant ser-
vices option readily available to offer these merchants.
“Whenever hard-to-place accounts are encountered in the
marketplace, chances are a sales professional will spend

25