Tag: Underwriting

How the Payment Facilitator Model Is Designed to Protect Merchants

For years, small merchants were underserved by the payments system. In recent years, more and more types of providers have arisen to bridge this gap.
But not all options are created equal when it comes to protecting merchants and the payments system overall. And this can have important implications for the businesses served.

Beneficial Ownership: How Does It Affect Payment Facilitators’ Underwriting Process?

If payment facilitators were a fast food chain, the merchant experience might be their secret sauce – that special component that sets them apart from their competitors. The model is known for simplifying merchant applications and reducing unnecessary paperwork.

There is a balance, however, between reducing friction and protecting the payments system from bad actors.

Expert Perspective: How Can Payment Facilitators Mitigate Risk During COVID-19?

As businesses adjust to the changing times due to COVID-19, criminals and other bad actors are actively seeking ways to capitalize on the crisis. So, what can payment facilitators do to help protect themselves and their submerchants from fraud and other types of risk in this environment?

What is Frictionless Underwriting?

Few tech-enabled developments in recent years are as revolutionary to the merchant experience as the birth of frictionless underwriting – a key characteristic of the payment facilitator model. But what does it involve?

“A Team Sport”: Highlights from PF WORLD 2019 as Opportunity and Strategies for Success Take the Stage

Delivering the keynote address, Poynt founder and CEO Osama Bedier described payments capabilities as “plumbing,” telling the audience that you “can’t create a great customer or merchant experience” without them.

Frictionless Underwriting: Worth the Risk?

While controlling access to the payments system is critical, the legacy system in place to do so was overkill for many players. To accept electronic payments, even the smallest merchant had to complete the same applications and undergo the same scrutiny as the big guys. Enter frictionless underwriting.

Supplement KYC Efforts Using Corporate Registration Research

As Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations become increasingly critical in the underwriting process, payment facilitators may seek to better understand high-risk merchants by collecting information separate from what is provided by the applicants themselves. Corporate registration records offer reliable, useful data that may help to paint a more complete picture than application information alone. Knowing where to look and what to look for may lead to more effective Customer Due Diligence (CDD) or Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) efforts.

Podcast: Getting the Most Out of Underwriting Tools

In this week’s podcast, we talk to Marcus Smith, senior vice president of Risk Management for iPayment, a provider of payment solutions and processing services, about the tools used in underwriting submerchants.

Smith points out that while underwriting tools themselves are relatively simple, interpreting the results effectively requires some training.

Podcast: Underwriting Submerchants – How Responsible Are Acquirers?

Last week, we spoke with Deana Rich about the special considerations behind underwriting payment facilitators. This week we take our focus on underwriting in the payment facilitator space a step farther. We talk with Eric Haru, executive vice president, Risk and Compliance, for Merchant e-Solutions about underwriting submerchants.

How To Get Cracking On Your PayFac-ing

There are at least two great reasons to jump into the payment facilitator game– increased revenues and market share—and many many tools to help. One of those tools is advice from the hard-won success achieved by those who have made the leap.

In a session on the ins and outs of starting a payfac at the second annual Payment Facilitator Day at Transact16 in April, Kevin Harris of RunSignUp said training people was more of a challenge than software concerns, and David Weiss of Yapstone shared the difficulties of international expansion. Nick Starai of gateway tech company NMI told the audience to concentrate on the business they know best rather than focus on technological bells and whistles. The highlights of the discussion fill this week’s paymentfacilitator.com podcast, the next best thing to having been there.