UniBul’s High-Risk E-Check Acceptance Solution

At UniBul our job is to design payment acceptance solutions for merchants — domestic as well as international — which are considered too high-risk by most other service providers. To make this possible, we have developed relationships with a host of banks and service providers from across the world, which, in turn, has helped us expand our services over time. But there is one particular type of service we’ve been providing for years and yet, we’ve never talked about it on this blog.

So today I will give you an overview of UniBul’s electronic check acceptance solution for high-risk businesses. We offer it both as a stand-alone type of service, as well as a part of a package that also includes credit card processing.

Who Do We Provide E-Check Acceptance For?

We do process e-check payments for most high-risk industries. Here is a sample list:

• Travel (including vouchers, high tickets, reservations, accommodations).
• Credit / debt (collections, credit repair, medical billing, loan Modification).
• MLM.
• Electronics.
• Timeshare and real-estate advertising merchants.
• Herbal supplements.
• Financial consulting.
• Calling / phone cards / VOIP services.
• High tickets and high volume (for example, jewelry).
• Telemarketing.
• E-Book or software / digital download merchants.
• Tickets — sporting or events.
• Prepaid cards.

Again, this is just a sample list and if you don’t see your industry in it, we probably support it all the same. A more extensive, though still incomplete, list of supported industries you can find here.

What Do We Offer?

We can process checks of any amount up to $25,000.00. Either you can take your customer’s check information and enter it into our gateway or your customer can enter it herself on your website. The check is then screened by multiple national check databases for positive or negative account information, as well as for check level status. We verify whether the account exists, is closed, currently in a NSF status, or has some other high-risk issues. We also check a national database of check writers to ensure that your customer is not bouncing checks all over the place and that she does not have unpaid NSF fees with companies and banks.

We do not just give you a blanket “yes” or “no” answer when processing a check payment. If the check is a “maybe”, we will give you the reasons why there is a risk and ask you whether or not you wish to proceed with the check process. This allows you to make an informed decision, based on an evaluation of the risk, or to charge clients you know may have past issues, but are currently in good standing with your company. This is a huge advantage, considering that the vast majority of the processors on the market simply say “no”, when you know the check is going to clear. We leave the choice up to you. And you can even override a negative answer if you feel lucky.

How Much Do You Pay?

Pricing is decided on a case-by-case basis and is dependent on the usual factors: volume, industry, prior processing history (if any), etc. Here is our standard, entry-level pricing:

• Set-up cost: $0.00
• Monthly fee: $0.00.
• Transaction fee: $0.00.
• Cost per transaction: 2.9 percent.

There is a minimum charge of $0.75 on all check transactions, which is not in addition to our regular fee. For example, if the check you are processing is for only $10 and your rate is 2.9 percent, we will not charge you $0.29, but we will charge you the minimum fee of $0.75.

A good standing history with your banks and / or other check processors may qualify you for lower rates, as well as access to many of our advanced features. On the other hand, a set-up and monthly fees may apply on certain high-risk accounts.

How Fast Do You Get Access to Your Money?

We offer same-day deposits to most major banks. If you do not have an account with one of our same-day deposit institutions, the period from the receipt of the check information to the actual deposit of the funds into your bank account will be 1 – 5 banking days. All checks received before 10 am (Eastern Standard Time) Monday through Friday are processed on the same day. All checks received after 10 am EST are processed on the next banking day. All checks received on Friday after 10 am EST will be processed with the Monday morning batch, which is considered Monday before 10 am EST.

Get Started

So here it is. Again, this is a solution, which, as all of our other offerings, is designed specifically for high-risk merchants. We invite you to give it a try and are confident that you will enjoy the experience. You are under no long-term obligation, so, in the unlikely event that you are dissatisfied with our service, you can walk out anytime you want. The point is that we do want your business and will do our best to win it, but will not impose any restrictions on you. So contact us now and get started!

Image credit: Flickr / DonkeyHotey.