11 Best High-Risk Payment Processors in 2026

A high-risk label changes who will take a business on. Businesses that sell supplements, firearms, subscriptions, or CBD tend to see more chargebacks or stricter rules, and many mainstream processors turn them down [1]. The providers that do take them ask for more paperwork, set reserves and fees to match the risk, and watch the account more closely.

One name has changed. Soar Payments now runs as SoarPay from a new web address, and its old domain is up for sale. Older reviews and bookmarks point to a site the company no longer uses.

The eleven providers below are ranked in three tiers of three, four, and four. They run from firms that place accounts across many banks down to providers built for narrower groups of merchants.

Tier	Provider	How it works	Pricing published
One	PaymentCloud	Placement network across partner banks	Quote only
One	Durango Merchant Services	ISO for Fifth Third Bank	Yes, typical ranges
One	PayKings	Placement network of acquiring banks	Yes, by volume tier
Two	eMerchantBroker	ISO of BMO Harris Bank	Quote only
Two	SoarPay	ISO of Commercial Bank of California	Quote only, model stated
Two	Finix	Processor	Standard plan only, high-risk quoted
Two	Easy Pay Direct	Placement network with 30+ banking partners	Yes, entry pricing
Three	Paysafe	Processor working through sponsor banks	Quote only for high-risk
Three	Corepay	ISO of North American Banking Company	Quote only
Three	Payline	Placement with third-party providers	Quote only for high-risk
Three	SensaPay	ISO of Merrick Bank and Synovus Bank	Quote only, one example range

How the Three Tiers Were Sorted

The tiers follow how each provider takes on a high-risk file. Tier one is made up of three providers that place accounts across several banks and take on a wide range of industries. Tier two has four providers that each bring one clear feature to the account, such as load balancing, a stated pricing model or routing inside a gateway. For Finix payment processing [2], the feature is underwriting for licensed gambling, which Finix takes on as high-risk under MCC 7995, the merchant category code for betting. Tier three covers four providers built around narrower groups of merchants, from online stores whose customers pay by wallet to clinics and firms that sell to other businesses.

Tier One High-Risk Specialists

1. PaymentCloud

Best for: businesses in less common high-risk industries that need a provider with a wide bank network.

PaymentCloud [3] says it supports more than 1,500 kinds of businesses. Its industries run from adult products and alcohol to debt consolidation, dropshipping, firearms, online pharmacy, and travel and timeshare. It places accounts across a range of partner banks, which gives an unusual business more than one bank to try. By its own count, it has helped 18,000 merchants and handles $1.8 billion a year.

Every PaymentCloud account starts with a custom quote. There are no long-term contracts, and the company says it charges no hidden fees.

2. Durango Merchant Services

Best for: merchants comparing typical fees and reserves before they apply.

Durango doesn't offer a CBD or hemp program. For other high-risk industries, it posts something rare in this market, a set of typical ranges. Discount rates run from 1.95% to 4.95%, each sale carries an authorization fee of $0.15 to $0.25, and the monthly fee is $15 to $60. Rolling reserves go from 0% to 10%. Each merchant still gets its own quote, and the ranges give a benchmark to check that quote against.

3. PayKings

Best for: merchants who expect volume to grow and want faster settlement as it does.

The Starter tier, for merchants processing up to $100,000 a month, has no dedicated rep or risk analyst. Money reaches the merchant's bank in two business days on Starter, the next day on the Growth tier and the same day, where available, at the Enterprise level. PayKings has worked in high-risk since 2011 and covers more than 50 industries. It also claims an 86% approval rate, a company-wide figure that says nothing about how any one file will be decided.

Second-Tier Providers With One Clear Strength

4. eMerchantBroker

Best for: high-volume online merchants who want their transactions spread across several accounts.

eMerchantBroker is built for online and phone sales and doesn't offer a card terminal or point-of-sale system. For merchants processing at least $100,000 a month, it offers load balancing. That spreads sales across accounts at different processors, so the chargeback ratio on each one stays lower. The bank behind its accounts is BMO Harris Bank, and eMerchantBroker is registered with it as an ISO and merchant service provider. It also offers merchant cash advances and ACH business funding.

5. SoarPay

Best for: merchants who want interchange-plus pricing stated in writing from the start.

SoarPay [4] offers only eCheck processing to CBD and hemp businesses, since its sponsor banks will not take on CBD card sales. For everything else, it uses interchange-plus pricing. The card networks' interchange cost passes through, and SoarPay adds a fixed markup on top. It sends a written proposal before a merchant signs, and it turns away merchants on the MATCH list. SoarPay started in Texas in 2015 and signs merchants up as a registered ISO of Commercial Bank of California.

6. Finix

Best for: licensed gaming operators and hemp-derived CBD sellers.

Along with gambling, Finix underwrites hemp-derived CBD sellers. Its standard plan runs month to month, and high-risk accounts are priced one at a time.

It does not support several high-risk categories at all, including adult content, kratom and kava, cannabis, airlines, payday loans and credit repair. Founded in 2015, Finix raised a $75 million Series C in 2024 [5].

7. Easy Pay Direct

Best for: merchants running several stores or merchant accounts through one gateway.

Easy Pay Direct builds multi-account routing into its own gateway, which lets one checkout send sales to more than one merchant account. It places those accounts through more than 30 banking partners, and its REST API suits software and subscription sellers. The company says it has handled more than $12 billion in payments for over 100,000 businesses.

Third-Tier Picks for Narrower Needs

8. Paysafe

Best for: online businesses whose buyers already pay with digital wallets.

Paysafe is a public company that runs card acquiring and a gateway next to its own consumer wallets, Skrill and Neteller, and the PaysafeCard prepaid voucher. Card processing includes 3D Secure 2.0, a cardholder check at checkout that moves fraud liability away from the merchant. Reserves, and whether Paysafe will take a startup or a merchant shut down elsewhere, are settled in underwriting.

9. Corepay

Best for: health care, telehealth and pharmacy merchants, including those that sell abroad.

Corepay mostly works with health care businesses such as med spas, telehealth, and pharmacies. It says it processes in the US, the EU, the UK, and Australia and supports more than 135 currencies. Corepay is a registered ISO of North American Banking Company.

10. Payline

Best for: merchants looking for help with a high-risk application and the choice of provider.

Payline places high-risk accounts with outside providers, so the processor, pricing, and reserve all come from a partner. It prepares the application, guides the file through underwriting, and reviews accounts restricted or closed by a previous processor. For an established business, it can also set up more than one merchant account. Founded in Chicago in 2010, it says it has more than 20,000 customers.

11. SensaPay

Best for: business-to-business sellers that need high-risk processing and invoicing together.

SensaPay's one posted fee range, 2.95% to 5%, is for adult merchants, and everyone else gets a quote. It pairs high-risk accounts with zero-fee invoicing and payments between businesses. SensaPay says it handles underwriting in-house, and its sponsor banks are Merrick Bank and Synovus Bank. The same platform covers point-of-sale hardware for in-store sales.

Which Tier to Apply to First

Tier one suits a merchant in a well-served high-risk field, such as supplements, subscriptions or travel, that has several months of clean statements. Quotes from two of the three providers give a comparison, and Durango's posted ranges show whether either quote is high.

Tier two makes sense when one feature decides the account. A merchant processing $100,000 or more a month that wants volume spread across accounts can look at eMerchantBroker or Easy Pay Direct. A merchant that wants interchange-plus pricing in writing can start with SoarPay. A licensed gaming operator or hemp-derived CBD seller can apply to Finix after checking the categories it won't take.

Tier three fits narrower profiles. An online business whose customers already pay with digital wallets can look at Paysafe. A clinic or telehealth business can go to Corepay, a merchant who wants help through placement can use Payline, and a seller that invoices other businesses for most of its sales can use SensaPay.