I recently submitted an application for a business credit card merchant account. It is an existing business with an existing merchant account with another company. This new provider wants me to give them my social security number even though the company has its own EIN/tax ID. Why would they want my social? Does this open me up to financial liabilities of the company? I know if they hard pull my credit information, this has a negative impact on my personal credit rating. The other option is to jump through hoops of sending several years tax returns and months of bank statements. What is the best course of action?
We have been in business for almost 7 years so it is not from lack of history.
This is not for a business credit card, it is for a merchant account to process credit cards.
When a merchant applies for a merchant account, there are a number of documents that he or she will have to submit. Whether your business is new or an existing one, the application process is the same.
As far as credit history is concerned, a review of the business’ financial performance will almost certainly be done during the application process. A typical request a card processing company will make is to see the business’ financial statements for the latest two years. The organization’s principals will also be scrutinized and they are usually required to provide their tax returns for the latest two years. If not satisfied by the information in the tax returns, the merchant services provider will pull their credit files. Either way, SSN must be provided. You need to understand that banks view a merchant account as a form of a line of credit and the application process is designed accordingly.