Pros
- No application or account setup fees
- Offers proprietary NetValve payment gateway
- Accounts include extensive antifraud & chargeback protection features
- Good for MOTO, adult, & other high-risk businesses
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. Moreover, most features that Corepay doesn’t offer in-house can be accessed via a third-party software integration.
Here’s a brief overview of what’s available from Corepay, followed by a detailed rundown of features:
Corepay Features |
Availability |
Dedicated Merchant Account |
|
PCI Compliance |
|
High-Risk Accounts |
|
International Accounts |
|
Contactless Payments |
|
ACH Processing |
|
Digital Wallet Acceptance |
|
EBT Acceptance |
|
Virtual Terminal |
|
Mobile POS Reader & App |
Via third-party integrations |
Hosted Online Store |
No, but integrates with Shopify & other hosted solutions |
Payment Links |
Via Alipay, WeChat integrations |
Payment Gateway Integrations |
|
Shopping Cart Integrations |
|
POS Integrations |
|
BNPL Integrations |
Via Alipay, WeChat integrations |
API Documentation |
|
Currency Conversion |
|
Recurring Billing |
|
Invoicing |
|
Cash Discount Program |
|
Cryptocurrency Processing |
|
Corepay Features In Detail
Payment Processing Features
- High-Risk & Low-Risk Merchant Accounts: While Corepay can also place low-risk merchants, its specialty is in providing merchant services to businesses that are deemed to be in a high-risk category. As long as you only sell legal products and services, Corepay can probably accommodate your business. The company specifically markets itself to merchants in the following high-risk categories:
Corepay can also accommodate international merchants and those businesses that need an offshore merchant account.
Regardless of your industry, Corepay can usually approve your account within 24-48 hours.
- ACH Processing: In addition to standard credit card processing, Corepay also offers ACH processing services for businesses that need this feature. ACH processing provides a valuable additional payment method for online merchants or can serve as a viable alternative for merchants who cannot be approved for a credit card processing account for any reason.
- Mail Order/Telephone Order-Only Accounts: One fairly unique feature of Corepay is that it can set you up with a Mail Order/Telephone Order-only account that uses a virtual terminal to manually key in credit card transactions. With a MOTO-only account, you won’t need a physical storefront or a website to run your business. Be aware, however, that transaction processing rates for keyed-in transactions are higher than for other payment methods.
eCommerce Support
- Payment Gateway: Corepay offers its proprietary NetValve payment gateway for eCommerce merchants. NetValve offers advanced features such as smart BIN routing functionality, tokenization payment security, and an extensive suite of antifraud features. You can also choose third-party gateways such as Authorize.Net, NMI, Inovio, and others. Adult entertainment merchants will use the third-party Solidgate payment gateway.
- Virtual Terminal: The NetValve gateway includes a virtual terminal feature, which can be vital for mail-order and telephone-order businesses. Although Corepay doesn’t provide much specific information on this option, you can also use a virtual terminal in conjunction with a mobile card reader to accept in-person transactions. This can eliminate the need for a traditional countertop terminal for businesses that rarely accept in-person payments.
Processing Hardware
- Credit Card Terminals & Point-Of-Sale (POS) Systems: Although Corepay does not provide specific model information or pricing details on its website, the company can set you up with a credit card terminal or POS system if you’re running a restaurant, retail shop, or otherwise need to process in-person credit/debit card payments. The company most likely offers third-party devices that can be reprogrammed if you later decide to switch providers.
- Mobile Processing: Again, Corepay offers no specific details on its mobile processing solutions. Nonetheless, you should be able to integrate a third-party mPOS system with your Corepay merchant account.
Ancillary Services
- Chargeback Protection Services: Most high-risk businesses have an abnormally high percentage of chargebacks, making services to detect and possibly prevent them very important. The company partners with Ethoca and Verifi to include these features with your account.
- Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR) Service: This service, offered through a partnership with Visa, allows you to resolve chargebacks directly with your customer. By possibly avoiding the traditional chargeback investigation process, you can save both time and money when dealing with chargebacks.
- Anti-Fraud Software: With online fraud on the rise, anti-fraud services are more important than ever. Corepay offers the CB-ALERT anti-fraud service to help secure your account.
Integrations
Corepay offers a seamless Shopify integration, allowing you to use Corepay as a backend processor to power your high-risk Shopify store. (Shopify’s in-house processor, Shopify Payments, does not accept high-risk industries.)
Corepay also integrates with various website builders, CRM solutions, payment gateways, and other solutions.
Some notable integrations are as follows:
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Alipay
- WeChat
- WooCommerce
- Wix
- Magento
- Squarespace
- Shopify
- Salesforce
- Microsoft365
- BigCommerce
- Authorize.Net
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:
Pricing Overview
Item | Value | Account Setup Fee | $0 |
Pricing Starts At | $99/month |
Contract Length | Not disclosed |
Processing Model | Varies |
Card-present Transaction Fee | Starts at 2.95% for high-risk or interchange + $0.05 for low-risk |
We recommend not getting too excited about the low published processing rates for high-risk businesses, as they are most likely 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.
For low-risk businesses, Corepay appears to offer membership pricing, which can be a good deal for qualifying high-volume merchants. Just note that in addition to that “$0.05” markup quoted on the website, you’ll also pay interchange fees on all transactions.
Extra Costs
Corepay doesn’t mention much specifics about extra fees, other than stating that high-risk businesses will pay Corepay an annual fee to cover the annual fees charged by the credit card networks to register high-risk businesses.
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 Customer Service |
Availability |
Phone Support |
|
Email Support |
|
Support Tickets |
|
Live Chat |
|
Dedicated Support Representative |
|
Knowledge Base or Help Center |
|
Videos & Tutorials |
|
Company Blog |
|
Social Media |
|
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
Let’s take a closer look at what people are saying about Corepay.
Negative Corepay Reviews & Complaints
Corepay has been accredited by the BBB since 2021 and currently has an A+ rating. The company currently has a clean BBB profile, with zero complaints filed within the last three years, and zero reviews submitted by users. The company has a rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars on TrustPilot, where there is a single 1-star review from a customer apparently was declined for an account. Overall, the general absence of negative feedback on Corepay is a good indication that most merchants have been satisfied with the company’s services and pricing.
Positive Corepay Reviews & Testimonials
Corepay doesn’t include any testimonials from its users on its website, and we haven’t found any positive reviews of the company on other sites. This is not unusual for a small company that’s only been in business for a few years. If you’ve had any experience with Corepay — positive or negative — please be sure to tell us about it by submitting a Feedback Form below. Thanks!
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 ranks as one of our best processors 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.
Weighted Rating Breakdown
Fees & Rates 25%
Products & Services 25%
Contract 20%
Sales & Advertising Transparency 15%
Customer Service 10%
User Reviews 5%
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.
To learn more about how we score our reviews, see our