A high-risk merchant account is a credit card processing account built for businesses that mainstream processors don’t want to touch: higher chargeback exposure, bigger ticket sizes, or an industry their automated systems don’t like. At Electronic Merchant Services (EMS), high risk isn’t the exception. It’s our specialty, and it has been since 2001.
We approve 98% of qualifying businesses, there’s no application fee, and a real person reviews your application, usually within 2 to 3 business days.
Start Your Free Pre-Application
A high-risk merchant account works exactly like a standard merchant account: it lets your business accept credit and debit cards. The difference is who’s willing to stand behind it. High-risk accounts are underwritten by banks and processors that understand your industry, so your account is built to survive chargebacks, large transactions, and growth instead of being shut down by them. (If you want the longer explanation, read what a high-risk merchant account is and who needs one.)
If you’ve ever had Stripe, Square, or PayPal freeze your funds or close your account with no warning and no one to call, you’ve already experienced what happens when a low-risk processor is holding a high-risk business. The account wasn’t built for you.
The short version: Most businesses don’t have a payment problem. They have a setup problem.
Here’s the truth most processors won’t say out loud: high risk doesn’t mean shady. It means something about your business makes big processors nervous, usually one of these:
None of that makes you a bad business. It makes you a business that needs a processor who underwrites with human judgment instead of an algorithm.
These are the industries we work with every day. If yours isn’t listed, ask. The list of industries big processors avoid is much longer than this page.
Those platforms are excellent at what they were built for: getting a low-risk seller taking cards in minutes. To make signup that fast, they skip real underwriting up front and let software watch your account instead. When the software sees something it doesn’t like (a spike in sales, a large ticket, a few disputes in a row) it acts first and asks questions later. That’s when funds get held, sometimes for months, and support turns into a chatbot loop.
That isn’t a flaw you can fix from your side, and it isn’t personal. It’s the business model. The fix is an account that was underwritten for your business from day one, so nothing about your normal sales pattern surprises anyone.
That’s not a you problem. That’s a wrong-processor problem.
No mystery, no black box. Here’s the process:
You fill out a short pre-application online. No application fee, no obligation, and it doesn’t lock you into anything.
A real person who understands high-risk industries reviews your business, not a scoring script. If we see something that could hurt your approval, we’ll tell you straight and help you fix it before it becomes a decline.
Banks remember. If another office already submitted your business to a bank and got a decline, that same bank can decline you automatically months later, and in some industries there are only a handful of banks that will look at you at all. So we don’t submit your file anywhere just to see what sticks. We match your business to banks that already accept your industry, and we tell you where you stand first.
Underwriting typically takes 2 to 3 business days for high-risk accounts. Standard accounts are often approved within 24 hours.
The person who set up your account stays on your account. When you call, someone who knows your business answers. That’s not a perk; it’s the whole point.
You’ll see approval promises all over this industry, so let’s be precise about ours. 98% of qualifying businesses that apply with us get approved. Qualifying means your industry isn’t universally prohibited, your financials are reasonable, and the business is legitimate.
When a business does get declined, it’s almost always one of three things:
No honest processor can promise approval, and you should be suspicious of any that does. What we promise is an honest read on your chances before you apply, and no fee to find out.
There’s no flat answer, and you should be wary of any site that quotes one without seeing your business. High-risk pricing is set individually in underwriting based on your industry, your ticket size, and your history. Two businesses in the same industry can be priced very differently.
What we can promise: there’s no application fee, every term is explained in plain English before you sign anything, and if you’re processing somewhere else right now, we’ll review your current statement for free and tell you straight whether we can do better. Sometimes the honest answer is that you should stay put. You’ll get that answer too.
Standard accounts are often approved within 24 hours. High-risk accounts typically take 2 to 3 business days because a human underwriter reviews them.
No. There is no application fee, and the pre-application does not obligate you to anything.
Usually, yes. Being dropped by a big platform is one of the most common reasons businesses come to us. Be upfront about what happened, including whether the account was terminated, and we will give you an honest read before anything is submitted.
No. Your funds are deposited into the business bank account you already have.
Ask anyway. We work with dozens of industries beyond the ones named on this page, and pre-vetting with our banks costs you nothing.
No processor can honestly promise that, including us. We approve 98% of qualifying businesses, and we will tell you where you stand before you apply.
Start Your Free Pre-Application
Reviewed by Julie Franke, CPP. Julie is an ETA Certified Payments Professional who has worked in payments since 2009 and has run Electronic Merchant Services since 2015. She specializes in getting high-risk and high-ticket businesses approved, and she’ll tell you straight if she can’t help.
