Merchant Account Virtual Application

Start accepting credit cards NOW! This online virtual application has been created to enable you to prepare all the necessary documents you need to apply for your new merchant account.

Simply follow these 3 easy steps to apply for a new merchant account:

STEP 1: Click here to fill out and submit a merchant account application. A representative will contact you within 24 hours.

STEP 2: Download and review the merchant agreement (PDF 311 kb).

STEP 3: Have these documents on hand before speaking with a representative:

• Federal tax ID number
• Voided check, issued from the bank where we will deposit your funds
• Drivers license (if applicable)
• Two business trade references (if applicable)

Note: Our virtual application process is completely secure. All transmitted data passes through SSL encryption for your protection.

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Pass-through Association Fees Disclosure

The following pass-through Association fees are assessed by Visa^® and MasterCard^®:

Network Access and Brand Usage Fee
MasterCard^® will assess the Network Access and Brand Usage fee (NABU) of $0.0185 USD per domestic acquired financial detail record. This fee will be assessed for every settled transaction.

The fee will be applied to:

• Transactions which are U.S. Acquired
• Original Purchase Transactions
• Original Credit/Refund Transactions
• Transactions from U.S. merchants for U.S. cardholders

MasterCard^® Cross Border Fee
This fee, originally implemented in 2008, applies to transactions when a non-U.S. region issued MasterCard is used for the purchase of goods or services.

This fee assesses .40% for transaction amount in USA and .80% in transaction amount in non-USD.

MasterCard^® Acquirer Program Support Fee
This fee is assessed .55% on all U.S. region - acquired transactions for cards issued outside the U.S. Region. 

Visa^® International Fee (IAF)
Currently, in the U.S., Visa applies a fee adjustment on international transactions (i.e., payments made by non-U.S. cardholders at U.S. merchants) by applying U.S. domestic interchange rates to U.S.-acquired transactions and delivering interregional interchange to non-U.S. issued transactions. As a result, for every international transaction acquired in the U.S., there can be a positive or negative interchange differential between the applicable U.S. domestic interchange rate and the applicable interregional interchange rate.
 
Effective with the October 2009 Business Enhancements release, the interchange fee structure applicable to international purchase transactions in the U.S. will shift to Visa’s interregional interchange fee structure, and a fixed International Acquiring Fee (IAF) (previously applied via the interchange differential) will be collected separately. As a result, Visa will apply a fixed IAF on all international purchase transactions acquired in the U.S. This IAF fee will be applied monthly via the Visa Billing Statement.  
 
Note: IAF already exists in other regions; all other regions apply interregional or intraregional interchange rates on non-domestic transactions.
 
The IAF will be applied on all international purchase transactions.

• 0.45% of the transaction amount for sales transactions
• 0.90% of the transaction amount for sales transactions for high-risk merchants for Merchant Category Codes 5962, 5966 and 5967

International is defined as transactions from a U.S.-acquiring BIN where the issuer country is different from the merchant country.

Visa^® Cash Advance International Service Assessment (ISA)
The Visa ISA (International Service Assessment) fee, introduced in 2008, is assessed to allow Visa to appropriately allocate the costs associated with operating an international transaction processing system. They also provide an ongoing source of revenue for funding improvements in the global Visa system, which benefits financial institutions, merchants, and cardholders. The ISA fee is paid by both the issuer and the acquirer when International transactions are completed. The potential exists where both the Visa ISA fee and IAF could apply to the same international transaction.

Changes to Acquirer ISA Rate for Cash Disbursement
Visa will implement a rate change for the existing Acquirer International Service Assessment (ISA) that is assessed on U.S. acquirers when the merchant country is different from the issuer country.  All other existing processing rules for Acquirer ISA do not change.

The Acquirer ISA does not apply to international transactions where:

• Card type is Visa Commerce
• Transaction type is original credit (cardholder funds transfer), exception item or credit voucher
• Merchant location is in a U.S. territory

The Acquirer ISA fee on international ATM and manual cash transactions will increase from 0.15% to 0.40%.

There is no change to the existing Acquirer ISA rate of 0.40% that is assessed on international purchase transactions.

Visa^® Misuse of Authorization Fee
This fee is applied to all authorization transactions not followed by a matching Visa clearing transaction. Clearing must occur within 10 days of authorization for all merchant categories, with the exception of T&E segments which must clear within 20 days of authorization, in order to avoid assessment of this fee. A fee is assessed at $0.045.

Visa^® Zero Floor Limit Fee
This fee is assessed on any VISA clearing transaction submitted without proper authorization. The amount of the fee is $.10 per transaction.

Visa Acquirer Process Fee (APF)
A fee of $0.0195 will be applied to all Visa authorizations, domestic and international.