Merchant Boarding - Best Practices

Owned by Miles Graves
Last updated: Nov 16, 2022
2 min read

Please refer to the below best practices to ensure a frictionless onboarding experience and avoid accounts being pended for manual review.

It is important to note that both Payrix as well as our Sponsor processors adhere to industry best practices related to merchant reviews and the onboarding process, which include among other checks the following:

  • CRA Business Number/TIN and Legal name validation (required for 1099k reporting purposes)

  • KYC/KYB (Know Your Customer/Know Your Business)

  • Sanctions Screening against OFAC and other watchlists

  • Screening against Mastercard MATCH file

To comply with the onboarding review process and completion of the aforementioned checks, data integrity and accuracy of the following data fields is important to avoid unnecessary pends or account holds within Payrix or the Sponsor processor.

Business

  • Legal Business Name - Ensure the legal business name entered matches the name registered with your secretary of state.

  • EIN/TIN - Ensure the 9 digit Federal Employer or Tax Identification Number is entered  

  • Address - Ensure that the physical street address is entered (PO Boxes are not acceptable)

  • Website - Ensure the merchant URL is provided (required for ecommerce merchants). If not website exists enter http://nowebsite.com

  • Business Phone - ensure 10 digit phone number is entered - with no leading “1”

Account

  • Established Date - ensure an established date is entered (required for all merchants boarding to Worldpay Core and Wells Fargo)

  • T&C Version - Ensure the T&C Agreed Version is passed

Individual

  • Ensure that ownership information is obtained for any and all owners with 25% or more ownership interest in the business, unless the entity is exempt from FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Regulatory Requirements

  • Ensure the control prong information is obtained and submitted for the individual with significant responsibility over the entity, if not already covered by an individual owner above (additional details available at request)

  • First and Last Name - Ensure that the first and last name entered for all individuals is entered accurately, as it appears on government issued documents

  • Date of Birth - Date of birth of business owner.

  • Social Security Number (SSN) - Social Security Number of business owner.

  • Business Title (Principal's Title) - Company title of business owner.

    • The ampersand character (&) may not be entered in this field

  • Ownership % - ensure a value of 1% or more is entered

  • Individual’s Address - Physical personal or residential street address is entered (PO Boxes are not acceptable) of business owner

  • Primary Owner - Designation of individual as primary owner (even if only entered info for one individual).

  • Individual Phone - 10 digit phone number of business owner is entered - (with no leading “+1” country code.)