Best Practices for Managing your High-Risk Merchant Account

Once a good high risk merchant account with reasonable rates has been obtained, it is vital to protect it with sound management techniques.  Carefully managing your high risk merchant account is not difficult but does take effort and constant vigilance. The very nature of high risk merchant accounts makes them susceptible to chargebacks.  When chargeback
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Recreational Pot: Credit & Debit Card Processors Relax Rules

“A bank account is required but doesn’t have to be a business account,” said Lance Ott, owner of Guardian Data Systems in California, which provides payment processing for marijuana merchants. Recreational-marijuana businesses might not be as unbanked as they claim, with dozens of stores offering patrons payment alternatives to cash — each requiring a bank account. Whether
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Marijuana Businesses Need Banking Access Now, Colorado Lawmakers Say

Six high-profile lawmakers from Colorado’s congressional delegation are urging swift action from the federal government to allow marijuana-related businesses access to basic banking services. Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, along with fellow Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis and Republican Rep. Mike Coffman, sent a letter Friday two federal officials, requesting
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Credit Cards Squeamish About Charging Pot

“They’re being forced to basically lie about the business,” says Lance Ott, CEO of Guardian Data Systems, which provides payments consulting and services for the medical and recreational marijuana industries. Guardian Data Systems offers “cashless ATMs” to dispensaries — the machines work with a debit card and a PIN to directly transfer a customer’s funds to the merchant’s
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High Risk vs Low Risk Merchant Accounts: Where Does Your Business Fall?

Businesses looking for a new merchant service provider have probably come across High-Risk and Low-Risk classifications, but what do these terms mean? The difference in fees and charges for a low-risk merchant vs. a high-risk one can be substantial, and it is important that merchants know the difference, so they do not risk overpaying or
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ATMs In or Near Pot Shops Called “Disaster Waiting to Happen”

“There’s a background credit check the processor requires,” said Lance Ott, co-owner of Guardian Data Systems, which markets ATMs to the medical marijuana industry. “It really just comes down to knowing your customer.” Restrictive federal banking regulations that have forced most legal marijuana dispensaries to run as cash-only businesses have opened the door to another enterprise
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Credit Card Companies Easing Up on Cannabis Industry?

Lance Ott of Guardian Data Systems, which processes ATM and credit-card transactions for small businesses, doesn’t believe the credit card systems have eased up at all. Rather, he thinks that businesses are taking advantage of loopholes that allow them to take credit cards, such as miscoding themselves as general health businesses. “The card networks,” he
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Banks Say No to Marijuana Money, Legal or Not

“It is operating over the A.T.M. network and not the credit card network,” said Lance Ott, whose company, Guardian Data Systems, provides this service. “The A.T.M. networks are not as regulated. This is the loophole.” SEATTLE — In his second-floor office above a hair salon in north Seattle, Ryan Kunkel is seated on a couch placing $1,000
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