Insurance agencies and third-party brokers for insurance carriers require special attention with merchant accounts. Due to the majority of insurance companies being third party or agent based, these fall into a “grey area” category for merchant processing. The person receiving the funds is doing so on behalf of the company that they are a broker for. This causes a concern for possible chargebacks, from the perspective of processors and banks.
Credit card processing resources do not have to be so challenging. Business owners need to understand some of the basics first. They need to understand how merchant accounts work before they select their choice.
Things to Consider Before Making A Choice
1) What are your business needs? That sounds like a simple question and answer segment, but it is not. Not every business owner has the same desires and aspirations. Some want to keep things small and local. Others want to expand their horizons, going further and expanding nationwide. If you’re an agent of a national brand, you will need to register with them and keep those records as underwriting will request it. They need to verify that you are allowed to represent whichever brand you decide to represent.
Your business might have been open for some time now, but that does not mean you have the best merchant account for your insurance company. Your customers might be making simple transactions with their insurance, but you need to think beyond that. Do you want to offer more than just billing and payment options? Then, you need to choose an insurance focused merchant account that represent those ideas.
2) The next thing you need to ask yourself concerns your customer base. Some insurance agencies handle thousands and thousands of requests for billing and other outflow and inflow cash flow options. That takes a lot of time, and with customized payment gateway, you will be able to have a white labeled version of the gateway with an end to end control of the branding. This also helps with preventing friendly fraud or friendly chargebacks. Keeping it all branded under your company name can prevent your customers from filing a chargeback with their bank for an insurance company charge that they don’t recognize.
You need to choose a credit card processing account that can offer you the best rates and the best features that fits your business model.
While it sounds a bit odd to call an insurance focused business a high-risk business, the banks and processors that service this industry do categorize the insurance industry in this manner. At Flow Payments, we have decades of experience servicing insurance industry merchants and realize that being a hard to place merchant doesn’t mean you should sacrifice low rates and exceptional service. Contact Flow Payments today to let us present the optimal insurance merchant account for your agency or brokerage.