01. The business is selling products online:

A high risk eCommerce merchant account is a type of service commonly referred to as Card-Not-Present merchants.

02. The business is in a highly regulated industry:

Such businesses involved with selling tobacco or e-cigs, firearms, and alcohol are among a few of the many that would fall in this category.

03. The business is in an industry that a bank may see as a reputational risk:

Companies that deal with information technology that might risk stolen customer information could be considered a reputational risk, as are those in any adult industry.

04. The business industry is known for having a high instance of chargebacks or fraud:

Merchant accounts that fall in this arena often experience increased chargebacks, identity theft, account takeover, and more; convincing banks to run in the other direction.

05. The business sells products or services on a continuity or recurring billing model:

This type of business model brings a lot of chargebacks when clients are billed without consent or remembering they even signed up; too many chargebacks will lead to your account shutting down entirely.

06. The person signing on the merchant account has bad credit:

This one is a no-brainer. Banks are less willing to lend funds to those with bad credit which is when a high-risk processing company comes in handy.