Underwriting

Overviewanchor

Merchant account providers like Braintree are financially liable for all merchant losses. For example, if one of our merchants sold an annual membership but then went out of business four months into providing the service, we would be financially liable for the incomplete outstanding orders. This liability makes us cautious when it comes to underwriting and risk management.

important

Data security is incredibly important to us. If you believe the security of your Braintree integration may have been compromised, contact us and we'll assist you from there.

Risk factorsanchor

Certain business models are considered to be higher risk than others based on decades of credit card processing data. For example, restaurants are low-risk while travel is very high-risk. Other high-risk industries include:

  • Auctions
  • Tours
  • Lodging
  • Gaming
  • Events or ticketing
  • Telemarketing
  • Virtual currency

There are also billing methods that increase risk, such as:

  • Annual billing
  • Retainers/account credit
  • Aggregation

Businesses with high risk must demonstrate that they have the financial strength to support their model. However, some industries are considered so high-risk that many merchant account providers will refuse to process payments for them altogether. These can include:

  • Adult entertainment
  • Firearms
  • Illegal drugs
  • Debt consolidation
  • Credit repair
  • Bankruptcy attorneys

How we mitigate riskanchor

We can sometimes minimize our financial exposure enough to allow merchants with high-risk business models to process with us. Two of the most common ways we do this are covered below.

Require a personal or corporate guaranteeanchor

After reviewing your company’s financials, we will sometimes require a personal or corporate guarantee. Because we bear all financial liability, we want to make sure that owners have similar incentives to deliver their products or services.

Establish a reserveanchor

Depending on the risk involved with your business model, we might hold funds in a reserve to ensure that we can cover refunds and chargebacks if you are unable to. If we determine that a reserve is necessary during the application process, we’ll either collect the reserve before you begin processing payments or withhold a percentage of your transaction revenue until you reach your reserve limit.

note

Braintree does not have cyberinsurance, nor does it indemnify. Security is Braintree's utmost priority, but the standard in the gateway provider industry is to not indemnify their customers.