I spoke with a few business people who were overseas this week, two in the UK and another in India. They all were doing big monthly volume but their rates were in the 3-4.1 percent range which is really insane compared to what we get here in the U.S. They explained that it was common to see these rates in other countries.

So I asked a friend of mine who is in the business what could be done for them. He said that most banks here require three things. First a U.S. based address that isn’t a PMB (postal mail box) and a U.S. bank account to make deposits to. Also they had to be able to sell their product or service to U.S.  residents. One guy was doing almost a million USD a month at 4.2 percent and we figured he’d save $16,000 a month in fees, so the hunt was on how to solve their problem.

First, the address was solved with either Mail Service Center or Mailbox International which specialize in International mail forwarding. It gives an overseas company a real address in the U.S. and they’ll forward anything that arrives to them.  The next was pretty straightforward, several U.S. banks have branches overseas, so them opening an account at a local branch office near them is a simple matter.

When you have those two things, you can qualify for a U.S. based merchant account. At that point you have to be a little careful because many places quote teaser rates which adjust skywards after six months or a year. Any place that quotes a rate before you apply is offering teaser rates. It’s the same as when you see a mortgage rate of 4 percent advertised on TV (yeah you get that rate for a while, until it skyrockets).

The only way to get  a permanent low rate is with a merchant account underwriter who works directly with the banks. Also, it has to be someone who’s ethical because in that industry, greedy people abound. I recommend my MST because they take the approach to get someone a permanently  lower rate (and reduce transaction fees) so they’ll never want to shop around. Give him a call at 800-715-8053 or you can use their secure form to be contacted.  I just can’t tell you the difference it makes to have someone ethical on your side when it comes to this.