CAN I HELP A FRIEND AND LET THEM USE MY MERCHANT ACCOUNT?

I would like to make you aware of the following scenario – it may or may not have happened to you. A friend has asked you to run a credit card transaction through your account as a favor as they do not have a merchant account of their own. They will reimburse you for the cost, so what is the harm? You are a nice person and they are a friend so why not?

It is in your best interest not to do so. According to the terms and conditions that you agreed to upon opening your account – you agreed to process only transactions for the products and service as described in the application for your business. Also a financial profile about your transactions; such as average sale, average monthly and single highest charge was provided at that time. Should you oblige your friend, it violates this agreement. Should it be discovered, you could lose the privilege of credit card acceptance. It can also be constituted as money laundering, which is a violation of state and federal law. The bottom line is that you should decline to help your friend. You can however, refer them to me so that their business could obtain its own merchant account for processing transactions.

Remember also, if you would like to include a new product or service on your existing account, we might be able to add it. But we need to go through the proper procedure to have it approved. And depending on the situation a new account maybe required.

​As always if you have any question about this, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or call 727-916-7294 
http://www.tampabaymerchantservice.com/