I need a business bank account solution for an adult website

[Bluevelvet]

Hi, I keep getting declined when applying for business bank accounts when I select 'adult entertainment' as the industry. I am looking for a business bank account that is adult friendly. My website is almost finished, it's an 18+ only website, and it's a marketplace where buyers (men) and sellers (women) can message each other. Sellers pay a subscription fee to sell on the site. The sellers sell things such as used lingerie, videos, pics, etc.

I registered an LLC in Virginia. I am looking for bank recommendations, I've applied to Mercury first but when I selected adult entertainment, it auto denied me. So I resubmitted a new application with a different industry selected, but I'm waiting on the application, which I assume will be declined.

I need a business bank account in order to apply for a payment processor to accept visa and mastercard cards, I'll be using PaymentCloud most likely as the payment processor. Help please. Also, if it matters, I live abroad in Asia as an expat so I can only apply online (yes I'm a US citizen).

 

[Bluevelvet]

Bump

 

[Sols]

9 times out of 10, banks only allow the option "Adult Entertainment" in order to instantly decline the applicant. The other 1 in 10 are going to look at the application for a few minutes and then decline.

Banks don't like this business not only on moral grounds, because it's very hard to tell legitimate from illegitimate. It's not like other high risk industries like gambling or crypto where there at least is a chance to be licensed, and the bank can rely on government oversight to an extent. Adult is unregulated, unlicensed. How do you tell a legitimate seller from someone who is trafficked? What policies and procedures do you have in place to ensure sellers are informed, consenting, willing adults not acting under duress or threat?

Virginia has some rather restrictive laws around adult content. Are you sure it's the best state to set this up?

Adult businesses are very often set up as a network of loosely connected entities, each serving a different purpose, each with its own banking relationships.

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This is the probably the answer to your question.

 

[Bluevelvet]

Sols said:
9 times out of 10, banks only allow the option "Adult Entertainment" in order to instantly decline the applicant. The other 1 in 10 are going to look at the application for a few minutes and then decline.

Banks don't like this business not only on moral grounds, because it's very hard to tell legitimate from illegitimate. It's not like other high risk industries like gambling or crypto where there at least is a chance to be licensed, and the bank can rely on government oversight to an extent. Adult is unregulated, unlicensed. How do you tell a legitimate seller from someone who is trafficked? What policies and procedures do you have in place to ensure sellers are informed, consenting, willing adults not acting under duress or threat?

Virginia has some rather restrictive laws around adult content. Are you sure it's the best state to set this up?

Adult businesses are very often set up as a network of loosely connected entities, each serving a different purpose, each with its own banking relationships.
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I thought so, but if I lied and when they find out, wouldnt they shut down the bank account? Is it better to just choose a different industry and be extremely vague about my business? I've been putting like 'Online marketplace for used clothing'.

I used Virginia because it's my home state and that's where I've read its the best and easiest to set up LLC

Do you have any solutions for me though?

 

[Sols]

So what control mechanisms do you have in place to ensure participants are informed, consenting, willing adults? What methods are in place to ensure your website doesn't become a trading hub for illicit content? The LLC won't shield you from liability if you're found to (knowingly or not) be facilitating certain forms of content.

Bluevelvet said:
I thought so, but if I lied and when they find out, wouldnt they shut down the bank account?
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Absolutely, which is why you need to make sure you aren't lying to the bank. And/or work with banks that tolerate (some) adult, which are hard to find.

Bluevelvet said:
Is it better to just choose a different industry and be extremely vague about my business? I've been putting like 'Online marketplace for used clothing'.
Click to expand...

Look at what your website does. Think of ways to explode that into a several different hyper-focused entities. Then think of ways to extract profit from it.

Bluevelvet said:
Do you have any solutions for me though?
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I don't have any simple solutions or recommendations, no, because there are none.

It's very risky but possible that you can get away with it for a while using the methods you've already identified. And maybe that'll get you to a point where you can hire people to help implement better controls. But if something bad happens before then ”” sayonara.

Several high-profile adult content websites have been at risk of being kicked out by card processors and banking partners in recent times. They managed to stay on because they have resources to implement controls. Since then, the bars to entry have gone up even more.

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This is the probably the answer to your question.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

@Sols got you covered in a smart way that goes beyond the classic (although much simpler and cheaper) single front shop.
However, as a US citizen using a domestic company you might be able to have your real business accepted by a local bank, provided that you comply with all the rules related to adult entertainment.
Ref. Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 187 (1964), Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) and many others.

Last edited: Aug 19, 2023
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[wellington]

Also recognise if you don't reside in the US, and even if you move abroad, chances are to the country you move to these funds could be considered laundering as it violates their domestic laws - ergo Thailand this morning American national and Thai wife in Hua Hin arrested for operating escort website - Hua Hin Today English Newspaper Info, Reports, Events and News Social Life

 

[Bluevelvet]

Sols said:
So what control mechanisms do you have in place to ensure participants are informed, consenting, willing adults? What methods are in place to ensure your website doesn't become a trading hub for illicit content? The LLC won't shield you from liability if you're found to (knowingly or not) be facilitating certain forms of content.


Absolutely, which is why you need to make sure you aren't lying to the bank. And/or work with banks that tolerate (some) adult, which are hard to find.


Look at what your website does. Think of ways to explode that into a several different hyper-focused entities. Then think of ways to extract profit from it.


I don't have any simple solutions or recommendations, no, because there are none.

It's very risky but possible that you can get away with it for a while using the methods you've already identified. And maybe that'll get you to a point where you can hire people to help implement better controls. But if something bad happens before then ”” sayonara.

Several high-profile adult content websites have been at risk of being kicked out by card processors and banking partners in recent times. They managed to stay on because they have resources to implement controls. Since then, the bars to entry have gone up even more.
Click to expand...

There are other websites with the same exact business model. There's an optionable fakecheck that shows which sellers are verified by showing the admins holding up their ID. Also, they would of course have to pay with a credit card in order to even sell on the website.

What banks do you recommend? I found out about Paxum.

Payment processors shouldnt be an issue at all, the other websites that use my business model mostly use CCbill, and have done so for years, so clearly they arent having any problems.

JohnnyDoe said:
@Sols got you covered in a smart way that goes beyond the classic (although much simpler and cheaper) single front shop.
However, as a US citizen using a domestic company you might be able to have your real business accepted by a local bank, provided that you comply with all the rules related to adult entertainment.
Ref. Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 187 (1964), Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) and many others.
Click to expand...

What did he help with though? He basically said to not lie, and that he has no solutions or recommendations for me.

By a local bank do you mean something like Bank of America, Well's Fargo etc? Would I have to be vague about the business, saying something like my business is for selling used clothing?

wellington said:
Also recognise if you don't reside in the US, and even if you move abroad, chances are to the country you move to these funds could be considered laundering as it violates their domestic laws - ergo Thailand this morning American national and Thai wife in Hua Hin arrested for operating escort website - Hua Hin Today English Newspaper Info, Reports, Events and News Social Life
Click to expand...

That actually appears illegal though: "Police say their website was used to allegedly facilitate in luring foreign victims into compromising situations with alcohol and drugs and the subsequent theft of their possessions."

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Bluevelvet said:
What did he help with though?
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“Think of ways to explode that into a several different hyper-focused entities. Then think of ways to extract profit from it.”

Bluevelvet said:
By a local bank do you mean something like Bank of America, Well's Fargo etc?
Click to expand...

Yes, or smaller ones.

Bluevelvet said:
Would I have to be vague about the business, saying something like my business is for selling used clothing?
Click to expand...

Read again what I and @Sols wrote

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[Sols]

Bluevelvet said:
Do you have any solutions for me though?
Click to expand...

Sols said:
I don't have any simple solutions or recommendations, no, because there are none.
Click to expand...

Bluevelvet said:
What did he help with though? He basically said to not lie, and that he has no solutions or recommendations for me.
Click to expand...

I can show you where the water is, but I can't make you drink it.

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This is the probably the answer to your question.

 

[Bluevelvet]

Sols said:
I can show you where the water is, but I can't make you drink it.
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I don't understand what you mean tbh. I'm not talking s**t, I just answered what he said honestly, I don't see how you helped me as there were no solutions given

 

[myhand]

Setup a front business with some sort of webshop that you do professional, show the bank that is your business, provide company docs. for this business and forget about the rest. You receive the money from the Adult payment processors on some sort of EMI and from there transfer them to this account. Simple and easy.

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[Bluevelvet]

myhand said:
Setup a front business with some sort of webshop that you do professional, show the bank that is your business, provide company docs. for this business and forget about the rest. You receive the money from the Adult payment processors on some sort of EMI and from there transfer them to this account. Simple and easy.
Click to expand...

Sorry, im very new to this, I've never made a website before or had any business, and in order to make my current website I had to pay web developers to do this.

Are there any guides here on setting up a front business? How in depth does it need to be? Can it just be like a landing page or something or does a lot of effort need to go into it?

And basically when applying for bank accounts and they ask for your website and what your business does, you just link them the front website?

 

[Alexmorgan]

myhand said:
Setup a front business with some sort of webshop that you do professional, show the bank that is your business, provide company docs. for this business and forget about the rest. You receive the money from the Adult payment processors on some sort of EMI and from there transfer them to this account. Simple and easy.
Click to expand...

It wont work with EMIs anymore

This can work with offshore banks


EMIs and most banks use AI to detect this

Soon or later they will do due deligence on his tranactions besides

 

[scooterguy]

What about setting it up as a mainstream marketplace that just happens to have an adult section? 😉

Also, why can't you use CCBill for this?

 

[Bluevelvet]

scooterguy said:
What about setting it up as a mainstream marketplace that just happens to have an adult section? 😉

Also, why can't you use CCBill for this?
Click to expand...

Well I wouldnt know what other kind of marketplace it could be, the whole point of the site is mainly for used lingerie

And ccbill is fine, i didnt say anything bad about them, what do you mean? My choice for the processor is between Paymentcloud and CCbill. I believe ccbill charges higher fees per transaction. My problem is finding a bank, not a payment processor

 

[latindev]

Since you're a US citizen... be careful about lying to banks, at some point it can even be considered bank fraud in the US. I know this might not be the best solution but: Go to the US and open it there in person, it's going to be way easier if you do it that way

 

[scooterguy]

Bluevelvet said:
Well I wouldnt know what other kind of marketplace it could be, the whole point of the site is mainly for used lingerie
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The whole point of OnlyFans is also adult stuff, but if you visit its frontpage there's no mention of adult creators, only stuff about supporting local musicians and chefs. Do you see what I mean?

Just make your main page look like a normal marketplace, and show that to banks.

 

[myhand]

Alexmorgan said:
It wont work with EMIs anymore

This can work with offshore banks


EMIs and most banks use AI to detect this

Soon or later they will do due deligence on his tranactions besides
Click to expand...

It will work if you get organized and know what you are doing. Amateurs will file and come back here and cry!

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[ilke]

Late here - but YourSafe is a pretty good option for adult content, and they are specifically interested in high risk industries. It's just an EMI and based in Holland, so think whatever you want to think. For receiving and sending funds, I don't think it's a bad choice. I wouldn't trust it with holding my money there for too long though. They don't charge any monthly fees and don't restrict specific countries, which is a decent benefit.

It's owned by Freenom, the free domains company. Freenom basically lived off the profits of this EMI before it (Freenom) shut down.