Hi guys i have a quick question,

I recently applied for a merchant account with CSI, when filling out the merchant application i remember putting i would make about $1,000 a month in CC sales.

Well today my merchant packet comes from CSI and i notice it says my monthly cc processing limit is $500, my question is was this based on my credit ? I have bad credit (about 5-7 chargeoff's totaling about $10K)basically i lost my job do to the 9/11 slowdown so after that i was laidoff and living on unemployment and was not able to pay bills.

So will they eventually raise my limit after 6 months ? (The paper says im on a 6-Month Contract)

Also it says the bank that i was approved from was WELLS FARGO (They process the credit cards ? Correct ?)

So was the limit put in place by WELLS FARGO or CSI ?

Would there be any way to raise this if i reach my limit ? The last 3 months i was running about $800-900 a month through PayPal (not profit, just payments)


Thanks

Hi again


I just noticed the welcome kit only mentions Visa / MC does this mean there is a only a limit of $500 on these two methods ? or Discover and AMEX to ?

1.) The bank decides the processing limit so if Wells Fargo is the bank, they set the $500.00.

2.) Yes the limit can be raised. If it was originally set baised off your credit, a good track record with no chargebacks/fradulent charges, low refunds, etc... can help when requesting an increase. I would give it at least 6 months before requesting an increase.

3.) Amex/Discover are seperate companies and only sometimes do the processors forward the information to them for you. Normally if a processor will forward it there is a place on the application to check mark that you want to apply for these. You can also apply directly for them.

Thanks, so does the $500 limit only apply to Visa/MC charges or all cards (visa,mc,amex,dis) i am able to accept all 4.

That would be for Visa/MC that go through wells fargo I believe. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Discover/Amex set there own limits.

Yes, the monthly limit stated in your welcome letter would apply to Visa and MasterCard sales only.

Discover & American Express handle their own account activations, funding, exception processing & risk management so yes - you could have one monthly limit & other parameters with your VISA/MC and the scenario could be completely different with your other card types.

One note of clarification... in the case of CSI - they would be the ones setting the limit directly, not Wells Fargo. With very few exceptions, it is up to the merchant processor to determine the limits that the ISO/MSP is willing to approve for any given merchant account.

It is only when you have a direct merchant account from a bank that the bank itself would be solely responsible for setting that limit. (i.e. if you had signed up directly with a Wells Fargo merchant account as opposed to a CSI merchant account using Wells Fargo as the sponsoring bank)

You should contact your agent. They does not make too much sense for them to reduce it like that. I have not seen that before actually - but your agent will be able to help you correct it

Discover & American Express handle their own account activations, funding, exception processing & risk management so yes - you could have one monthly limit & other parameters with your VISA/MC and the scenario could be completely different with your other card types.

Ah ok, i did not understand that part. So with Discover / Amex there is no limit or do they set you up on a minimum limit? I remember when i was talking to the Amex rep he said something about once i reached $5,000 in sales i would be a "commercial" customer ?

I received my discover welcome kit and it doesnt say anything about my limits,etc.

It is only when you have a direct merchant account from a bank that the bank itself would be solely responsible for setting that limit. (i.e. if you had signed up directly with a Wells Fargo merchant account as opposed to a CSI merchant account using Wells Fargo as the sponsoring bank)


Since you know a little more about this why does Wells Fargo come into play ? This is the first time i have ever accepted credit cards and still learning a bit.

Thanks to all of you for answering my questions.

You should contact your agent. They does not make too much sense for them to reduce it like that. I have not seen that before actually - but your agent will be able to help you correct it

I wouldnt know who to start with, ive talked to about 5 different people at CSI. Everytime its a different person.

Your agent is actually the individual you signed up with. CSI does not set up merchant accounts with merchants, they rely on agents to do all the footwork. That agent should be your first contact.

Wells Fargo is the acquiring bank that is used. There are a lot of players in the industry (merchant account processor, acquiring bank, issuing bank, merchant, consumer - to name a few). Well Fargo is in the top 8 as far as ISOs and they partner with First Data actually to help process credit cards. And First Data owns CSI and a few other smaller ISO as well as partners with some of the larger ones (like Chase, Paymentech, etc) to process cards

$500/month is a joke :) Never seen any of your OWN merchant accounts with less then $5,000/month VISA/MC limits.

Originally posted by Corey Bryant
Your agent is actually the individual you signed up with. CSI does not set up merchant accounts with merchants, they rely on agents to do all the footwork. That agent should be your first contact.

I signed up through Charge.Com, everytime i contact them they give me the phone number ot CSI.

Originally posted by steven-v
$500/month is a joke :) Never seen any of your OWN merchant accounts with less then $5,000/month VISA/MC limits.

I agree, heck its going to cost about $40-50 a month and then only have a $500 limit. :(


Does anyone know how i find out my Discover, MasterCard, American Express limits ? Do i contact them directly or who ?

Visa/Mastercard are under the same set. For Discover/Amex you would contact each company directly.

Something just does not seem correct but hopefully your agent will be able to help you out KingOfBling. After all, the more your sell, the more he / she makes.

And just read that you signed up thru charge.com. Yes, unfortunately, if you read thru some of the other threads, they do not provide the customer support like most other agents do (as you have noticed already once before now that I remember from your other thread).

Contact charge.com again & demand they help you. After all, it is their money, or then again, they might just care about the sale

Contact charge.com again & demand they help you. After all, it is their money, or then again, they might just care about the sale

Yea, they were prompt about answering my questions before signing up, but now it takes them 4-5 days to answer a emailed question, and when i call them its either "please call our other number as we only provide information about our services" or you need to call card service,etc.

Oh well hopefully something gets done soon.

I assume i cannot cancel my account and signup through someone else huh ? I did a search for charge.com before signing up but found no negative information on them.

Originally posted by KingOfBling
[B]I assume i cannot cancel my account and signup through someone else huh ? I did a search for charge.com before signing up but found no negative information on them.
It all depends on what your contract says. Charge.com and CSI have a different relationship than most of their other agents because they bring in the most merchants every month.

I am not familiar on charge.com's specifics as I am on CSIs generalities.