Quoted per business, not from a rate card
High-risk pricing is set from your statement and risk profile, and it runs above standard retail processing. What you are quoted is what you are charged.
Fees and terms
High-risk merchant account fees depend on the actual risk.
High-risk merchant account fees are set per business by underwriting, not by a published rate card. Midnight Payments prices from your vertical, volume, chargebacks, and current statement, which is the only honest way to compare what you would actually pay.
Confirmed terms
What Midnight Payments commits to in plain language.
No long-term contracts
No multi-year term sold as month-to-month, and the exit terms are disclosed up front rather than discovered when you leave.
Terms in writing before you sign
The rate, any reserve structure, and the settlement timing are set out in writing before you commit to anything.
24-hr approval
1,600+ U.S. businesses served by our network
$4.7B+ processed across our network
90%+ of legitimate merchants approved across our acquiring network
What determines your rate.
High-risk pricing is underwriting-based. These factors matter more than any public teaser number.
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Business vertical and compliance profile
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Processing history and current processor status
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Chargeback ratio and refund behavior
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Average ticket and monthly volume
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Online payment risk and fulfillment timing
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Gateway, recurring billing, ACH, or reserve requirements
How high-risk processing is priced.
Most processing is sold under one of three pricing models, and the model matters as much as the headline rate.
Interchange-plus
Passes through the card networks' wholesale cost and adds a clearly stated markup, so you can see what the processor actually charges.
Tiered pricing
Sorts transactions into qualified, mid-qualified, and non-qualified buckets, which hides the real cost inside the tier definitions.
Flat-rate pricing, the Stripe and Square model
Bundles everything into one simple percentage that is easy to read and usually the most expensive once volume grows.
High-risk accounts are typically priced interchange-plus, because a risk premium is easier to justify and audit when the markup is stated openly rather than buried in tiers.
Why high-risk pricing runs above standard rates.
A high-risk rate is a standard processing cost plus a premium for the things that make the category harder to underwrite: elevated chargeback exposure, refund and cancellation timing, regulatory overlays, and the chance a prior processor already terminated the account.
That premium is not a penalty for being a bad business. It is the cost of an acquiring bank holding category risk that mainstream processors offload by declining the vertical outright. The size of the premium tracks your real numbers, which is why an honest quote starts with your statement instead of a public rate.
When a reserve applies, and what it is.
Some high-risk accounts carry a reserve, a portion of settled funds the processor holds back to cover potential chargebacks or refunds.
- Rolling reserve
- Withholds a percentage of each batch and releases it on a schedule.
- Capped reserve
- Builds to a fixed amount and then stops.
- Upfront reserve
- Funded when the account opens.
Whether a reserve applies, and which kind, depends on the vertical, chargeback history, ticket size, and fulfillment timing. What matters is that reserve terms are disclosed in plain language before you sign, not discovered after funds are already held.
Compare against what you pay today.
A current statement shows the real effective cost, not just the headline processing line. It also reveals gateway fees, monthly account fees, card mix, chargebacks, reserves, and other line items that affect the account review.
Want the broader answer set?
The FAQ covers approval, fees, reserves, gateways, settlement, and switching from a current processor. To weigh these fees against other processors, see how to compare high-risk merchant accounts. For how fast approval actually moves, see instant approval.
Get reviewed
Send the business profile and request pricing.
The rate conversation starts with the processor fit, not a public number that ignores your vertical and risk profile.