Dedicated Merchant Vs Aggregated Merchant Account

Wednesday, June 8th, 2022

Giving your client the ability to pay with their credit cards is a marvelous way of increasing revenue for your growing enterprise. However, to set that up, you will need a Merchant account.

Choosing between an aggregate merchant account and a dedicated merchant account confuses new merchants.

 With each having its pros and cons consider the key points before selecting which option best fits your small enterprise.

Control of Funds

Transaction earnings and fewer processing costs are transferred to your company bank account using a dedicated merchant account. The merchant account processor can debit your account for consumer “chargeback” claims, repair errors, and respond to suspected fraud. You should ensure these transactions are done per industry-standard credit and debit card processing guidelines. 

On the other hand, an aggregated merchant account and transaction revenues are routed to the service provider and then transferred to your personal bank account at the service provider’s discretion. Industry norms or guidelines regulate how aggregated merchant account providers remit or handle your funds. The provider sets the regulations and can modify them, so when you pick an aggregated merchant account, read the contract terms along with any additional conditions carefully.

Creditworthiness

Your firm will need extensive screening to get a specialized merchant account for processing credit card payments. Yet, an aggregated merchant account may be ideal if your company is brand new, has a poor credit record, or operates in a hard-to-underwrite business industry. While you’ll still have to give info regarding your business, an aggregated account often has less stringent underwriting than a dedicated merchant account.

Speed

It might take some time to have a specialized merchant account. Though some providers automate the procedure and make choices on the same day, usually, an application takes 48 hours to get approved and another 48 hours to integrate into an electronic payment processing system or a POS system. 

On the other hand, registering for credit card processing through the aggregated account provider takes only a few minutes. It generally includes an online system that allows you to start processing payments within an hour.

Neighborhood

Using a dedicated merchant account makes you the only one processing credit card payments. Therefore, you have complete control over maintaining the account’s good status. However, you won’t know about other organizations processing transactions when using an aggregated account. Suppose a substantial percentage of them participate in fraudulent conduct. 

Relevant authorities may cancel the service provider’s processing account. As a result, even reputable companies like yours may lose the ability to accept credit cards. If you choose an aggregated account, ensure your supplier is big enough to involve fraud from a few rotten apples. If you’re utilizing a tiny provider, see if you can acquire a list of other companies who use it.

Parting shot

The rates charged by credit card processors are very important too. Like everything, you get exactly what you pay for, so do not opt for cheaper rates without evaluating how your providers’ choices will affect the overall performance of your business.