Travel Merchant Account | Managing Credit Card Risk

By Tori 7 years ago

Travel agencies make up an integral part of the travel and tourism industry in the UK. Today, online travel agents play a dominant role in the industry. They’re anticipated to account for more than half the industry’s total revenue in 2017-2018.

However, travel agencies are notorious in the payment card industry in terms of credit card fraud. Travel agencies produce some of the highest levels of credit card fraud, especially in card-not-present transactions. So, it’s no surprise that the travel industry is classified as high risk.

Travel Industry and Travel Merchant Account UK

In 2016, travel agents and tour operators in the UK generated revenues of more than 33 billion British pounds. About 1/5 of the industry revenue comes from business travelers. Domestic travel by UK residents and international visitors is also of significant importance in this regard.

Travel operations are associated with high-ticket, high-volume sales, often exclusively conducted in a card-not-present environment. However, travel agencies aren’t merely involved with these classical high-risk features.

In the majority of the transactions by travel agencies, the service is provided weeks or months after the sales date. As a result, even perfectly legitimate sales can deteriorate into chargebacks during this period of time.

If you’re running a travel business and interested in opening a high-risk merchant account UK, you should apply to a payment expert that can help you find the best payment processing solutions for your high-risk business. A true professional in the field will offer you free consultation and review contracts, rates, and fees to ensure you’re getting the best deal.

Since integration requirements are equally as important as fees and customer service, you should turn to a payment specialist that checks each provider’s integration process to guarantee a smooth transition and onboarding process.

How to Manage Credit Card Risk   

Many organizations worldwide have developed risk management systems with the purpose to reduce their risk exposure and improve their card processing credentials.

Take into account the following procedures when developing your own best practices:

  • Large-value transactions may put you at a higher risk of fraud and customer disputes. Make sure to carefully review large-value transactions before they’re settled. This will help you reduce risk and potential fraud-related losses.
  • Keep track of known fraud transactions and identify the main characteristics in these bookings. Make sure to store the information in a database that can easily be used when making risk assessment.
  • Screen high-risk bookings. This way, you can detect and prevent fraud before it occurs.

Travel agencies are among the highest-risk merchants all over the world. Historically, consumers are much more likely to dispute travel agency transactions than the majority of others. Turn to the right payment professional in the UK so to get only the best for your travel business.

Author Bio: Electronic payments expert Taylor Cole is a passionate entrepreneur who enjoys to write, produce music, and travel. bestpaymentproviders.co.uk is the UK’s best high-risk merchant account UK company, serving both traditional and high-risk merchants.