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How do you close a merchant account? Maybe you’re closing your shop. Or maybe you’re just switching credit card processors. But closing a merchant account is very similar to closing a bank account. I’m Gingergaye with Electronic Money Company.
You can’t just call up the processor and say, “Hey, I’m closing my account”. They want to see the signature and they want the same person who opened the merchant account to sign the close. It’s just like a bank account, you have to sign when you open the account and you have to sign when you close the account.
What you’ll need to do is also have a record of closing that merchant account. So you want to either email a letter with that signature on it or fax a letter. It is important to make make sure that fax or email went through and verification that it was received and opened.
Things you need on the letter is a simple reason why you’re closing your merchant account plus your merchant ID number. Send it off and have a record that you have sent it.
If you do not close your merchant account, what’s going to happen is you’re going to continue getting hit with fees, monthly fees and PCI fees. And they’re going to continue until you take the time to close your merchant account properly.
I want to also give you another little bit of advice to be aware of. So when you’re taking credit card transactions and you’re getting a receipt, always get a signature. Plus the signature should only be from the person whose credit card it is. In other words, don’t take a credit card from the son of the person who owns the merchant account. Don’t take a credit card from the wife with the husband’s name on the merchant account. So if that happens, the person whose card it is can charge it back. They will win that chargeback and you will lose your product and the money because they never actually bought the product. They didn’t sign the receipt. Period.
Just a little extra tip to beware. Take care!
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