Merchant Onboarding Risk - Best Practices

The Platform and its associate processors adhere to industry-standard best practices for reviewing and onboarding Merchants. Some of the checks included in our screening process are:

IRS EIN/TIN and Legal Name Validation (required for 1099k reporting purposes).
Know Your Customer (KYC) / Know Your Business (KYB) checks.
Sanctions Screening against OFAC and other watchlists.
Screening against Mastercard MATCH file.
Non-profit current entity status verification.

To comply with the onboarding review process and completion of the checks above, data integrity, and accuracy of the following data fields are vital to avoid unnecessary pends or account holds within the Platform or its associate processor.

Best Practices

Ensure an optimal onboarding experience and avoid accounts being pended for manual review with the best practices below.

Risk Area	Best Practices
Business	Legal Business Name - Ensure the legal business name entered matches the name registered with the secretary of state and the IRS. For accuracy, Merchants should refer to form SS-4 or tax filings obtained from the IRS (or their regional government tax authority).
	Tax ID Number - Ensure the 9 or 10-digit government-issued tax identification number is provided and accurate.
	Address - Ensure that the physical street address is entered. (PO Boxes are not acceptable.)
	Website - Ensure the merchant website URL is provided. This is required to approve eCommerce Merchants. If no website exists enter http://nowebsite.com
	Business phone - Ensure 10 digit phone number is entered with no leading country calling code as a leading country calling code may cause boarding failures. Example: “800-111-1111” ❌ “1-800-111-1111”
Account	Established Date - Ensure an Established Date is entered for when the account was created on the platform. This is required for all Merchants boarding to WorldPay, Vantiv Core, and Wells Fargo-based processors.
Account	T&C Version - Ensure the agreed version of Terms & Conditions is provided.
Individuals	Beneficial Ownership - Ensure that all required beneficial ownership information is entered for all owners with 25% or more ownership interest in the business.
	Significant Responsibility - Ensure the control prong information is obtained and submitted for the individual with significant responsibility for the entity, if not already covered by an individual owner above.
	First & Last Name - Ensure that the first and last name entered for all individuals is entered accurately, as it appears on government-issued documents.
	Date of Birth - Ensure accurate DOB.
	Social Security Number (SSN) - Ensure accurate SSN is entered.
	Business Title (Principal's Title) - Ensure the individual’s professional title is entered. Using the ampersand character (&) entered in this field may result in boarding failure.
	Ownership % - Ensure a value of 1% or more is entered.
	Individual’s Address - Ensure that a physical personal or residential street address is entered. (PO Boxes are not acceptable.)
	Primary Owner - Ensure a primary owner is designated (even if only entered info for one individual).
	Individual Phone - Ensure a 10-digit phone number is entered - with no leading country calling code.

About 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Merchants

In addition to the standard risk checks and reviews performed with standard Merchant boarding, the Platform’s underwriters perform a check for 501(c)(3) status verification using a third-party vendor.

The specific 501(c)(3) entity designation for any executive, manager, volunteer, or generally anyone with signing power, a 1% minimum ownership stake in the non-profit business listed, and control over the organization's payment processing is called a “Control Prong”. The following information for at least one Control Prong is required to board the non-profit Merchant successfully:

First and Last Name.
Physical Personal Address or Business Address (no PO Box), based on the nature of the entity’s business.
Social Security Number.
Date of Birth.
Professional Title (Using the ampersand character (&) entered in this field may result in boarding failure.)