Merchant account
An account with an acquiring bank that lets a business accept card payments, with sales settled to the business's bank account.
What a merchant account is
A merchant account is the relationship between a business and an acquiring bank that lets the business accept card payments. It is not a regular bank account: card sales flow through it, often minus fees, before being paid into the business's operating account. A payment processor handles the transaction messages.
How it works
The acquirer underwrites the business, assigns a merchant ID and a category code, and sets settlement terms. Each sale is authorized by the cardholder's bank, then cleared and settled, with interchange and other fees taken out along the way.
- 01 · APPLY The business applies, and the acquirer reviews its owners, history and risk.
- 02 · ACCEPT Card sales are authorized and captured through the processor.
- 03 · SETTLE The acquirer pays the sales, minus fees, into the business's bank account.
When businesses use it
- Retailers and restaurants taking card payments in store
- Online stores and subscription businesses taking cards on the web
- Businesses moving from a PayFac to their own account as their volume grows
- Platforms boarding merchants through an independent sales organization (ISO) or acquirer
Cross River provides acquiring BIN sponsorship for platforms that board merchants, with dispute support and underwriting for payment facilitators. Settlement runs through COS, Cross River's bank core, with merchant payouts over RTP, FedNow and push-to-card. See merchant services at Cross River.