High-risk merchant underwriting checklist

Part 1: eight website checks

1. The offer is clear before checkout

   Each page says what the customer buys, the full price and how often they will be charged. For trials and subscriptions, show the renewal price, the renewal date and how to cancel before the customer pays.

2. Refund, cancellation and shipping terms are easy to find

   Keep them short and specific, and link them from the footer and the checkout. Say how a customer asks for a refund, how long it takes and what qualifies. Underwriters use these pages to judge how many disputes to expect.

3. Legal pages name the business

   Terms and a privacy policy that name your legal entity and its address, with a date on each.

4. Customers can reach a person

   A phone number and an email address on your own domain, answered within a business day. Some underwriters test them.

5. One name everywhere

   The business name on the site, the bank account and the card statement descriptor match, or the link is stated plainly, such as "Brand, a DBA of Legal Entity LLC".

6. Marketing matches the product

   No income promises, health claims, fake testimonials or before-and-after promises. Check ads, emails and affiliate pages as well as the site, because banks review them too.

7. Gates for regulated products

   Age checks where the law sets a minimum age, such as tobacco, vape and adult products. Licence or prescription steps for telehealth. Shipping limits for states where a product is restricted.

8. A secure checkout that shows the descriptor

   SSL on every page, and the descriptor printed on the order page and in the confirmation email. Customers who recognise the charge are less likely to dispute it.

Part 2: the numbers a bank will check

If you have processed cards before, the underwriter works out your dispute and fraud levels from your statements. Know them before the bank does.

• Monthly dispute ratio. Disputes divided by transactions, for each of the last six months, with the reason codes.
• Visa's VAMP ratio. Visa adds card-not-present fraud reports and disputes, then divides by settled transactions. Disputes resolved through pre-dispute solutions are left out. For US merchants, Visa lowered its excessive merchant threshold to 150 basis points (1.5%) on 1 April 2026, alongside a minimum of 1,500 fraud reports and disputes in the month.
• Past terminations. Mastercard's rules require a bank to check its MATCH database before signing a merchant. MATCH records stay on the system for five years. If a processor has ever terminated you, say so in the application.
• Refunds and average ticket. Your refund ratio and average transaction size should match what you put on the application.

More detail: how underwriters read processing statements.

Part 3: documents to gather

The bank asks for documents after you are matched with it. Having them ready shortens a review that typically takes two to five business days.

• Photo ID for every owner of 25% or more
• Formation documents for the legal entity
• The last three months of business bank statements
• Six months of processing statements from every processor you have used, with any closure notices
• A voided check or bank letter for the account that will receive deposits
• Licences your category needs, such as state hemp or tobacco registrations, or pharmacy and prescriber licences for telehealth

Recently closed by an aggregator? Start with the recovery plan after a Stripe closure. For the full process, read the high-risk application, step by step.

Sources

Checked on 17 October 2026.

• Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program fact sheet (VAMP ratio and thresholds)
• Mastercard Security Rules and Procedures, Merchant Edition (4 August 2026; sections 11.6 and 11.10)

General information, not legal or financial advice. High Risk Payments is a referral service. Approval, pricing and reserve terms are set by the acquiring bank for each merchant.