When you apply for a merchant account, Your business information as well as your personal information is checked and verified. At minimum, a credit check is run in order to assess the risk to your merchant account. In addition to running your credit, whenever you sign the merchant account agreement, you personally guarantee that merchant account. For instance, lets say you close your business. However, 2 weeks before you close, you get a chargeback that you lose. You now owe that money back to your merchant account provider. Let’s say your business has no more money (That’s why you are going out of business), you will be personally responsible for the amount owed.
What if you don’t want your credit checked (Maybe you have bad credit, or about to buy a home and don’t want inquiries on your credit report), or what if you don’t want to personally guarantee your merchant account?
Your merchant account application will be scrutinized much more because you don’t sign a personal guarantee.
Here are a few things you will be asked for when applying for a merchant account without personal guarantee:
- DnB Number
- Tax ID Number
- P&L Statements
- 2-3 years taxes
- 3 Months Merchant Statements (If previously processed)
- Articles of Incorporation
Those are the documents you should be prepared to submit to a merchant account provider if you would like a merchant account without a credit check or a personal guarantee.
