There’s nothing better than getting paid and seeing that wonderful sight of a full bank account. We’re going to talk about high dollar transactions and why they get slowed down being deposited into your merchant account.
The traditional path of getting paid by your credit card processor usually takes 2-3 days for the funds to be deposited into your merchant account (unless you have next day funding, but that’s another story).
As exciting as it is to process a high dollar transaction (we’re talking several digits here), running that high dollar transaction is the number one reason why your funds could be delayed.
Credit card processors may take their time releasing funds when a large transaction comes through. If your transactions average $50-$250, and suddenly there’s a $5,000-$10,000 charge coming through, expect some delays with those funds being deposited into your merchant account.
No matter what kind of funding options you may have, there’s going to be a delay in gaining access to those funds; even if you pay extra for next day funding.
Credit card processors are extra cautious about processing larger than average transactions because of the great possibility fraud.
We’re not saying every large transaction is going to be fraud.
Every transaction has the risk of potential fraud, but credit card processors will take extra steps before releasing funds for a large transaction.
Think about it, if you have to take a fraud loss, would you rather be out $100 or $10,000. It might cause you to take additional cautious steps before accepting a large transaction as well.
Since credit card processors do not want to suffer 5 digit fraud loss, they’ll wait until the funding bank of the cardholder validates the transaction and determines the card was not a lost/stolen/counterfeit card.
The real reason it can take several extra days (sometimes up to 30 days) is because the processor is waiting to hear back from the cardholder’s (issuing) bank.
Be prepared to wait the extra time for that large transaction to be deposited into your merchant account. Try to be patient.
Did you check identification? Did their driver’s license match their credit card name? Did you check the billing address for the card? If you’re processing an online or over the phone transaction, have you followed these steps?
Be careful when accepting large transactions, be extra careful, and double check the order information before processing the order. Your business (like the credit card processor) does not want to be out $10,000.
Talk to our payment processing specialists by clicking here, if you want to learn how your business can become better in 2016.
