Let us do the
complicated bit for you

Basically, every business that takes cards has to have a merchant account between the customer’s bank account and their own. And depending on how you’re going to take card payments, you may need more than one, but don’t worry we’ll sort all that out for you - in a jiffy. And best of all, it’s free.

Card transactions seem simple, but are actually pretty complex. That’s where a merchant account comes in. It’s different to a business bank account or personal bank account (if you're a sole trader) and if you want to accept card payments, you have to have both. The merchant account acts a bit like a middleman between you and your customers. When they make a payment, it checks there’s enough funds in their account, takes the money, holds it while the process completes, then drops it into your bank account 3-5 business days later. Get in.

Depends what you’re doing really. If you’re taking card payments with a card machine, you’ll need one  for each location you’re taking payments – but you can have multiple card machines at each site.

For online payments it’s a bit different. You’ll need an merchant account for online payments (even if you already have one for a physical shop) and you’ll need a different one if you want to accept payments by email or phone, or both.