Ask HN: Do payment processors discriminate on credit history?

1 pointbreathesalt4 comments

Has anyone here ever been discriminated against by a payment processor regarding their absence of a credit history--possibly resulting in the denial of your use of their service?

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It is "discrimination" as in "price discrimination" or "discriminating taste".

Without a credit history, you are a riskier bet because your actual behavior with credit is unknown and unproven.

I'm referring mostly to the use of services like paypal, not credit issuers or services further down the pipeline. Do you know why a merchant's credit history is even an issue? A merchant would be accepting payments, not making them. There are no actions here involving credit on the merchant's behalf or lending.

For future viewers, I asked around and it appears payment services in general do claim the power to run credit checks as a legal buffer/protection but aren't done in a compulsory manner.

Some do. Some don't. All processors have different underwriting policies.

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