How to Become an ISO Agent

Becoming a merchant account ISO Agent can be a lucrative path, but you must be willing to put in the time and effort to build up a customer base.  There are two types of ISO agents, registered and unregistered. Registered agents are usually companies who are able to have sub-agents working for them. Unregistered agents are typically individuals who serve as a sales agent. In order to become a registered ISO Agent you must go through a detailed application process. The process is not easy. It is time consuming and expensive, but if you are successful, you will be likely quite successful in this endeavor.

Your first step to become a registered ISO Agent is to narrow down the companies you want to sell for, or your sponsoring company. There are literally 100s of these companies out there, so this will be the first of many time consuming steps you will need to take in order to be successful. Doing your research online, asking other agents and asking a lot of questions will be essential if you want to find the best company to sell for. If a company has poor resell rates or high fees, you probably want to stay clear of them.

The next step in becoming a registered ISO Agent will be to begin and go through the registration process. This takes, on average, about six months to complete. You should consider hiring an attorney to help you through the process, especially if you are venturing into this on your own or plan on applying solely with VISA and MasterCard. When you apply with these companies, you will need to supply both business and personal history, financial and otherwise. Criminal, civil and personal financial records will also be checked.

At the same time you are going through the long and tedious application process with VISA and MasterCard, you will be applying with your chosen processor as well. Total, at a minimum, you will be going through three different application processes.  Fees will come into play around this point as well. You should expect about $10,000 to register a single ISO Agent the first year and will be $5,000 every year after. Companies will often register a few at a time, so each will be $10,000.

Once you have turned all the information into the participating companies, the wait will begin. It can take a few weeks to several months for your application to be a registered ISO Agent to go through. Don’t be surprised if you are contacted for additional information during this process.

Once you have spent, on average, another 6 months waiting for the applications to come through and you are officially a registered ISO Agent, the rest is up to you. During the long months of going through applications and scrutiny, you should be getting some training from your sponsoring company on the best way this will work for you. This is the time where you will be pushed out of the nest like a baby bird and you will need to make the choice to fall or fly.