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Wednesday, February 19, 2025

High-Risk Merchants Can Flourish By Working With a Payment Processor That Understands Their Business

High Risk Merchants Have Payment Processing Options
Andrew Allen

Writer: Andrew Allen

Andrew Allen

Andrew Allen, Staff Writer

For nearly 20 years, Andrew has worked for financial institutions ranging from regional investment organizations to some of the largest banks in the world. At Wells Fargo, Andrew was a Consultant within the Insight and Innovation division. A graduate of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, Andrew’s goal has been promoting personal financial wellness and solid money decisions. As a Staff Writer for CardRates, Andrew seeks to inform readers of solutions to help them on their path to financial freedom.

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Lillian Guevara-Castro

Editor: Lillian Guevara-Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro, Senior Editor

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to the CardRates team. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Gwinnett Daily News, Gainesville Sun, and The New York Times, where she covered demographics, consumer issues, and the business and financial sectors. Lillian has a degree in journalism and communications from Georgia State University and brings her fact-checking expertise to ensure Digital Brands content is accurate and engaging.

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Adam West

Reviewer: Adam West

Adam West

Adam West, Managing Editor

Adam has interviewed over 1,000 finance experts since joining the CardRates team in 2016. He spearheads industry news coverage related to helping consumers achieve greater financial literacy and improved credit. He has more than 12 years of storytelling, editing, and design experience in print and online journalism and is most knowledgeable in the areas of credit scores, financial products and services, and the banking industry.

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In a Nutshell: Many financial institutions are risk-adverse, which can make life difficult for high-risk businesses seeking a payment processor. High Risk Pay provides payment processing solutions to merchants of all risk levels. The company’s exceptional customer service, in-depth knowledge of high-risk industries, and competitive fee structure help businesses save time and money.

The road to a successful business is full of obstacles. You may have the world’s greatest idea for a new product or service, but an idea in and of itself is not enough to power a profitable business.

Partnerships are vital to a business’s success. An essential partnership businesses need is a payment processor that allows their customers to pay in a variety of ways and keeps their cash flow at healthy levels. Forming partnerships with payment processors can be challenging for businesses that operate in industries that financial institutions view as significantly risky.

High Risk Pay provides payment processing solutions to high-risk businesses so they can operate efficiently and profitably. We caught up with Eyal Marmareli, Chief Operating Officer of High Risk Pay, to learn more about how High Risk Pay helps high-risk businesses operate with confidence. 

High Risk Pay logo

Don’t let the name fool you — High Risk Pay works with all types of merchants and not just those banks deem to be high risk. In fact, the company also works with businesses that have high-volume or high-ticket sales, which some banks may view as higher risk.

“We service all types of merchants and have solutions for any type of vertical, as long as the business is legal and compliant,” Marmareli told us. “But we are experts in all things high risk.”

High Risk Pay helps businesses establish a merchant processing account, and it also shares its expertise with companies to help them succeed. Marmareli told us High Risk pay works with new businesses to help them experience healthy, responsible growth.

“We really pride ourselves in holding a business’s hand and going out of our way to offer exceptional customer service,” Marmareli told us. “The merchant industry has become tight these days, and profitability is shrinking a little bit for some companies. That’s causing some in the industry to slim down their customer service, but we continue to go the extra mile to understand a merchant’s needs and advise them on ways to keep their business strong.”

Equipping Businesses With Tools for Success

Businesses benefit from working with a payment processor that values customer service, but the price needs to be right for a business to maintain a long-term relationship with a processor.

High Risk Pay provides competitive pricing to businesses, regardless of the perceived riskiness of their operation. Marmareli told us the company is aggressive with pricing and doesn’t often lose a deal due to a potential customer’s concerns with the rates High Risk Pay charges.

High Risk Pay also offers merchants tools to mitigate fraud and prevent chargebacks.

High Risk Pay's eCommerce graphic
High Risk Pay helps eCommerce businesses accept credit card payments.

“We offer all kinds of services to make sure we assist merchants in keeping their accounts secure, healthy, and growing,” Marmareli told us. “We really make sure we evaluate each business’s situation and give them the best advice we can for their vertical.”

Traditional banks may not think twice about offering a high-risk business a checking account, but many financial institutions have more rigorous requirements when it comes to underwriting payment processing services.

High Risk Pay works with various businesses that financial institutions may consider to be high risk, including credit repair agencies, eCommerce startups, online pharmacies, and ticket brokers. High Risk Pay also works with European merchants, though Marmareli told us the requirements for a European merchant account can be more strict than those for merchants based in the U.S.

“Part of our expertise and the service we offer is making sure we have solutions ready for all the verticals that could come to us,” Marmareli told us. “We evaluate the changing needs of certain industries and watch for regulatory changes that can bring new business opportunities to our door. We’re very in tune with what the market needs.”

Collaborating With Clients to Overcome Challenges

Many businesses turn to advertising agencies to create new opportunities for their business and help raise awareness of their services. But advertising can be expensive, and other avenues of securing new customers can help businesses grow while saving money.

Marmareli told us High Risk Pay receives a substantial amount of new business from the referrals of satisfied customers. 

Eyal Marmareli
Eyal Marmareli is the Chief Operating Officer at High Risk Pay.

“We also have an inside team working in our office that we manage very closely,” Marmareli told us. “And we work with other partners in our space who specialize in areas we don’t, and sometimes we have a specialization that they don’t. So we pass leads back and forth to each other, and those partnerships allow us to offer merchants solutions that best suit their business.”

Businesses seeking High Risk Pay’s services complete an application on the company’s website. Marmareli told us some businesses that seek to engage with High Risk Pay for their payment processing needs have already been declined by multiple banks.

High Risk Pay’s agents evaluate a prospective client’s application to understand their processing needs and the unique challenges they face. Marmareli told us agents often call applicants to validate information submitted on an application and gauge how much payment volume they anticipate flowing through their business in the coming months and years.

“If you’re a startup that just opened its doors yesterday and has less than a dollar in its bank account, then it wouldn’t make sense that you’re submitting an application to process half a million dollars,” Marmareli told us. “We talk with clients to make sure the information they submitted on their application is based on their actual processing needs and not their hopes and dreams.”

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener On the Other Side

Businesses often go to great lengths to secure new customers, offering them better pricing than they charge their current clients. Shoppers should keep in mind that, if a deal seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

Marmareli told us some payment processors offer prospective customers lower pricing packages than their standard fees. High Risk Pay advises clients to be wary of payment processors that promise pricing significantly lower than market rates.

“We’ll let people know if they’re about to enter into a situation that’s not going to be advantageous to them,” Marmareli told us. “Some processors will shut down a merchant’s account and throw them on Match quicker than the merchant would have expected.”

High Risk Pay services
High Risk Pay offers solutions to help businesses reach new customers and reduce losses.

The Match list is a guide payment processors use to determine whether a merchant is high risk. Businesses that find themselves on the list may have difficulty finding a payment processor willing to work with them, or they may incur higher fees from processors that do accept their business.

Although businesses can have trouble recovering from being placed on the Match list, High Risk Pay has helped businesses on the list recover.

“It is possible to come back from being placed on Match, but some businesses on the list will try to work with 10 different banks and each one will reject them,” Marmareli told us. “We’ve worked with companies who’ve had this happen to them, and they just have to accept that their rates will be higher because of the risk that comes with their account. But we have been able to place them in accounts that allow them to keep their businesses going in a healthy way.”