Corepay Review

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 In Detail

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

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 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.

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.