Corepay Review

Pros

• No application or account setup fees
• No annual fees
• Offers proprietary NetValve payment gateway
• Accounts include extensive antifraud & chargeback protection features

Cons

• Very few pricing disclosures
• Limited support for in-person sales

What Is Corepay?

Corepay is a fairly new merchant account provider that accepts both low-risk and high-risk merchants. However, the company specializes in serving the high-risk community, accepting a very wide variety of industries that ordinarily struggle to get approved for credit card processing.

Unlike many providers,  Corepay provides extensive information about the unique factors that go into getting a high-risk merchant account and why certain industries are placed in the high-risk category. Corepay can usually place merchants in most high-risk industries, provided they only sell legal products and haven’t had a previous account terminated by another provider.

Corepay offers a full range of products and services, with a particular emphasis on online and mail order/telephone order (MOTO) sales. Credit card and ACH processing are both available. Note that Corepay fully discloses that most high-risk merchants will pay processing rates that are significantly higher than what a comparable low-risk business would pay.

The company is also mum about its contracts, so you can expect to have a long-term contract with an early termination fee, as well as a rolling reserve when the account is first established.

Products & Services

Corepay accepts merchants based in the United States, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. While the company is primarily focused on the eCommerce sector, it also offers support for retail merchants. Here’s a brief rundown of what’s available from Corepay:

Corepay Processing Rates & Fees

Like almost all high-risk providers, Corepay doesn’t disclose very much pricing information on its website. For the most part, pricing details require a customized pricing quote for each business and will depend on the processor or acquiring bank that underwrites your account. Here’s a rundown of what we do know about Corepay’s pricing structure:

• No application or account setup fees (high and low-risk businesses)
• No annual fees
• Variable monthly fees
• Variable processing rates (starting at 2.95%/transaction for high-risk merchants)
• Low-risk rates as low as interchange + $0.05/transaction and $99/month

We recommend not getting too excited about that 2.95% processing rate, as it most likely is only available to very high-volume businesses in certain specific industries. Your actual rates will most likely be higher. Nonetheless, Corepay appears to offer fair pricing for high-risk merchants and has received no complaints about its rates or fees.

Corepay now discloses that pricing for low-risk businesses can be “as low as $99 per month and $0.05 per transaction.” While this quote fails to mention that you’ll also pay interchange fees on all transactions, it appears to be a membership pricing rate and could be a good deal for qualifying high-volume merchants.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Corepay’s website is well laid out and offers a tremendous amount of detailed information about credit card processing and the specific factors that make it challenging for high-risk industries. At the same time, the site offers very little detailed pricing information and only a bare mention of the availability of physical credit card processing hardware for businesses that need this type of equipment.

The company appears to use a combination of an in-house sales team and independent sales agents to market its services and set up accounts. There’s even an invitation for independent agents to partner with the company on the Corepay website. Although the use of independent sales agents has led to some serious ethical problems in the credit card processing industry, Corepay has received no complaints to date about its sales agents. This is a good indication that the company does a good job of training and supervising both its in-house team members and its independent agents.

Corepay also has accounts on several major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Contract Length & Early Termination Fee

Corepay offers few specific disclosures regarding its contract terms on its website, but mentions that a long-term contract with a three-year initial term is more or less standard for most high-risk accounts. The company also includes an early termination fee in its contract, but claims to only enforce it in particularly egregious cases (e.g., the merchant is running an illegal business). This is a fairly standard practice in the high-risk credit card processing industry due to the additional risks of accepting merchants in these industries. Corepay also uses a wide variety of backend processors and acquiring banks to get you approved for an account, each of which can have its own separate contract requirements. In any event, we strongly encourage you to read your contract documents thoroughly before you sign up for an account, as your contract length and any early termination penalties will be clearly explained therein.

Your contract will also most likely include an automatic renewal clause that will extend your agreement for one-year periods after the end of the initial term. Your contract is also likely to include a rolling reserve when your account is first established, so you’ll want to be very familiar with its terms before you sign up. Rolling reserves are very common for high-risk merchants, but can have a significant impact on your cash flow while they’re in effect.

Note that for low-risk merchants, your contract will probably not include a rolling reserve, and may also be set on a month-to-month basis with no long-term commitment. If it isn’t, you’ll want to negotiate to at least have the early termination fee waived before you agree to sign up.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Corepay offers 24/7 telephone support to its merchants, as well as email-based support. Unfortunately, we have yet to find any feedback — positive or negative — from merchants regarding the quality of support offered. Nonetheless, the absence of complaints is generally a good indication that the company’s customers are satisfied with the quality of support they’ve received.

Corepay also publishes a company blog that’s updated regularly and maintains an extensive collection of educational articles on its website. With many of the company’s products and services being offered through third-party partnerships, you’ll most likely have to contact the company offering the feature you’re having problems with directly for technical issues. Note that customer support for Corepay’s proprietary NetValve payment gateway is provided directly by Corepay. Again, we’ve seen no complaints alleging any issues with any of Corepay’s products or services.

Corepay Reviews & Complaints

Final Verdict On Corepay

As with many high-risk specialists, Corepay stands out primarily for being willing to accept merchants in industries that most of the more popular credit card processing companies simply will not work with. While your overall costs will require a considerable amount of negotiation to finalize, the company’s policy of not charging application or setup fees makes it well worth the effort to obtain a quote and see what Corepay can offer you.

With its bespoke approach to credit card processing, Corepay can offer specialized services to many high-risk businesses that might otherwise struggle to get approved for an account at all. Corepay’s emphasis on eCommerce makes it a particularly good choice for online-only businesses.

Corepay scores very well overall, and we highly recommend checking the company out if you’re in a high-risk industry. Corepay rates as one of our best choices for high-risk merchant accounts, and should definitely be on your radar if you’re trying to find a reputable high-risk provider that will accept your business.

High-Risk Merchant Account Ratings Methodology

We research, evaluate, and test each high-risk payment processor that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate granular ratings for high-risk merchant account providers.

High-risk merchant accounts, by definition, require the provider to take on more risk and liability; they tend to be more expensive overall than traditional merchant accounts, with more fees and limitations. For this reason, our high-risk rating methodology differs from our standard credit card processor rating methodology, so we don’t mislead our readers by comparing apples and oranges. Many businesses in high-risk industries cannot qualify for a normal payment processing account. That said, there are good and bad options available in the high-risk space, and we judge these high-risk providers against each other to provide the most balanced assessment.

High-risk services can be complex, so we use a 24-point rubric to evaluate each provider. First, we look at pricing structure – interchange plus, subscription-based, tiered, or hybrid – giving the most points to providers that provide fair, transparent pricing and docking those that rely on tiered models. Then we examine rates, the presence and transparency of early termination fees, and any additional fees.

We also look at contract length and fairness and test out sales staff and customer service channels ourselves to ensure that the company uses reputable, above-the-board sales techniques. Finally, we take the company’s online reputation into account, reading customer reviews and comments.

Read more about how we rate high-risk merchant account providers.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Corepay	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Corepay for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Corepay	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Corepay for yourself.

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