Pre-Approval
Pre-approval is an informal read on whether an institution is likely to accept an applicant before a formal application is filed, based on the business profile, jurisdiction, and file quality. It surfaces a realistic yes or no early, without the applicant burning a formal decline on their record.
A formal decline can leave a trace that later applications have to explain, so testing appetite through pre-approval first protects your record while you find the right fit. It also compresses the search: instead of applying blind and waiting 4-8 weeks per attempt, you shortlist institutions that have already signalled interest.
Underwriting is the risk-assessment process a bank, EMI, or acquirer runs on an applicant before approval: verifying ownership, source of funds, transaction history, and sector-specific risk factors against the institution’s published or internal risk appetite.
Know Your Business is the due-diligence process banks, EMIs, and acquirers run to verify a corporate applicant: beneficial ownership, incorporation documents, source of funds, and the nature of the business itself.
A high-risk merchant is a business that card networks and acquirers classify as carrying elevated risk of chargebacks, fraud, or regulatory exposure, based on its industry, model, or history.
Offboarding is a bank or acquirer’s process for closing an existing account, typically triggered by a compliance review, a policy change on the client’s sector, or a ratio breach, rather than a specific fraud finding.