Man, let me tell you about my so called “journey” with HighRiskPay.com, because damn, it turned into the wildest 7 months of my business life. When I first looked them up, it all sounded golden. Their website is slick, they are talking about 99% approval rates, no setup fees, you can be live “by tomorrow.” They brag about supporting Shopify, WordPress, Magento, even Wix, plus terminals, mobile payments, all the bells and whistles. Reading their marketing copy, you would think you just hit the jackpot if you are in the high risk space. I run what is basically considered high risk, so naturally I thought,︀ “alright, this is my ticket.” Spoiler: it was not.
So I shoot them an application.︁ It is simple at first, standard KYC stuff, company docs, ID, bank reference. Nothing unusual,︂ and I am thinking, sweet, maybe these guys are for real. Week one goes by,︃ no response. Week two, I get an email: “We need additional documents.” Fine, I send︄ them. Then silence. I follow up, I get a new rep. He asks me to︅ resend everything I already sent. Red flag? Yeah, but I am stubborn.
By month two,︆ we are playing ping pong with paperwork. Every time I think we are done, they︇ come back with some new random request. One week it is a utility bill with︈ my company’s address, next week it is a notarized copy of the director’s passport. Then︉ suddenly they want “supplier references” even though I am in digital services. I am like,︊ “dude, what suppliers? It is all online.” Doesn’t matter, they just need it.
Month three,︋ I get told we are “almost there.” They even set me up with what looked︌ like a test MID. I log into the panel, looks alright, basic functionality, nothing fancy,︍ but hey, I just need to process cards. Then boom, nothing works. Transactions declined, sandbox︎ environment only. I call support, they say it is “pending compliance.” And then compliance decides️ they need a whole new set of financials, which I literally just filed two months earlier. So now I am digging up accountant statements, profit and loss, the works.
By month four I am ready to pull my hair out. They keep throwing the 99% approval thing at me in calls, but for some reason I am the unlucky 1% stuck in limbo. Every time I ask why it is taking so long, they say, “regulations,” “bank partner requirements,” “just a little more patience.” Meanwhile I have got customers waiting, cash flow frozen, and I am burning time and money.
Then month five hits and they shift the goalposts again. Out of nowhere, they say my industry is “too high︀ risk” for their current banking partners. I remind them that their entire pitch is that︁ they specialize in high risk, that is literally their selling point, and the guy just︂ shrugs it off like it is nothing. He suggests maybe I should restructure my company,︃ move it offshore, or add a nominee director. I am like, hold up, I came︄ to you for processing, not for a business relocation service.
Month six, they drag me︅ into what feels like pure stalling. I get emails with boilerplate nonsense: “We are still︆ reviewing,” “Please bear with us.” Then the fees start creeping in. Remember, no setup fees?︇ Suddenly they are hinting that “expedited underwriting” could be arranged… for a fee. I swear︈ it felt like a shakedown at that point. They are dangling this carrot of approval,︉ but only if I cough up more cash.
By month seven I had had enough.︊ They finally admit they cannot board me. Seven months of back and forth, sending docs,︋ endless compliance hoops, false promises, and I have got nothing to show for it but︌ a pile of wasted time. That whole “apply today, be live tomorrow” thing? Total joke.︍ I do not know if they ever board anyone outside of a few pet industries︎ they like, but for me it was smoke and mirrors.
At that point, I had️ to move on or sink. I dug around for alternatives, talked to a bunch of providers, got some referrals from people in this very forum. That is when I ended up with Instabill. Now, do not get me wrong, Instabill is not perfect, and the fees are not exactly cheap, but compared to the circus I had been through, they actually got me live. Within a few weeks I had a functioning account, could take payments, money flowing again. After seven months of banging my head against a wall, Instabill felt like a miracle.
So yeah, HighRiskPay.com might look shiny on paper. They will tell︀ you about their “high approval rate,” their integrations, their fraud tools, their chargeback support, all︁ that jazz. But my real life experience? Endless delays, moving goalposts, and the feeling they︂ just wanted to keep me strung along. Maybe they are legit for some industries, I︃ cannot say for sure. All I know is my process took seven months, failed completely,︄ and I ended up somewhere else.
Lesson learned: do not believe the hype. Just because︅ a provider says they are “the best for high risk” does not mean they actually︆ know how to get you boarded. Sometimes the loudest claims are covering up the weakest︇ delivery. If you are thinking of trying them, good luck, but be ready for a︈ marathon of frustration. Me? I will take Instabill’s expensive but working solution over HighRiskPay’s shiny︉ marketing and zero results any day.
End rant eek¤%&
