Once you've decided on the type of merchant account that best suits your business and have elected to partner with a particular bank or any other financial organization, its time to get your paperwork together. Opening a merchant account requires a long list of documents and financial information. Following is a checklist of items that you must have in your kitty when you open your merchant account. Identity Proof
Proof of identity is essential when applying for a merchant account. A photocopy of your driver's license is a reliable form of identification. This is because identity fraud is an area of significant criminal activity. If you are a victim of identity theft, your merchant account could be used unlawfully. Thus a merchant account service provider needs to see documents that identify you and may ask for additional information to verify a document. Voided Check
It is very important that you submit a voided check from your business checking account along with other documents. This provides the correct routing number for the bank in which your money will be deposited. Merchant Account Application
The merchant Account Application must be clearly and completely filled out and submitted to avoid any unnecessary delays in the approval process of your merchant account. Product or service information
Your merchant account provider will need a list of all the products and services for which you will be accepting credit cards. There should be a short description of each such product and its price on a separate sheet of paper, which must be attached to the merchant account application. If the various products have customized prices, you must provide some basic price for every product. If you have a web-page on your website dedicated to a list of products along with their prices, you may simply provide the URL instead of making a list manually. Business Financial
If your business ticket or monthly volume is high; you may also be required to submit a profit & loss statement for your business. Different providers may have their own limit for a ticket and monthly volume. It may be, for instance, an average ticket of more than $800 or a monthly volume higher than $150,000. Current processing Statements
If you already hold a merchant account with any other bank of financial establishment or have credit cards through another service, you can ensure quick approval by providing the last three months of processing statements from your other account. |
