FAQ

Principal Membership is a direct licence granted by Visa or Mastercard to a financial institution, allowing it to connect to the card network without routing through a sponsoring institution. Principal Members hold full financial and regulatory liability for their merchant portfolios, own BINs, and bear direct compliance obligations to the card schemes. In the EU / EEA, obtaining Principal Membership requires an active regulatory licence such as an EMI or credit institution licence.

A Principal Member connects directly to Visa or Mastercard and holds full responsibility for settlement, compliance, and underwriting. An Associate / Affiliate Member operates under the sponsorship of a Principal Member and relies on the Principal for settlement, reporting, and fee payment. For merchants, using a card acquirer with direct Principal Membership means one fewer layer between the transaction and the card network, producing higher approval rates and more transparent pricing.

Yes. The membership tier of your card acquirer affects your approval rates, settlement speed, fee transparency, and account stability. A card acquirer routing through an Associate / Affiliate Member embeds that institution’s margin in your fees, depends on it for settlement, and exposes your account to risk decisions made at the portfolio level rather than for your individual business.

A direct Principal Member routes transactions directly to the card network without an intermediary layer. Each additional routing layer introduces failure points. For high-risk or cross-border transactions, the gap between direct and indirect routing is typically wider.

Yes. VIALET holds Principal Membership with both Visa and Mastercard and operates as a licensed EMI under Bank of Lithuania Licence No. 16. VIALET provides direct card acquiring for businesses across Europe on the basis of this membership, without routing through a sponsoring institution.

In the EU / EEA, an entity seeking Principal Membership must hold an active regulatory licence (EMI, credit institution, or Payment Institution), demonstrate capital adequacy, pass compliance and AML documentation requirements, and meet Visa or Mastercard technical certification standards. The application process involves legal, technical, and compliance assessment stages. Timelines vary depending on the applicant’s readiness and Visa or Mastercard’s review capacity.

Ask your card acquirer directly and request written confirmation. You can also verify through the Visa Partner Portal or Mastercard’s partner directory.

Contact your card acquirer and request a reclassification in writing. Provide a description of your primary business activity, evidence of your revenue split, relevant operating licences, and recent transaction data. The card acquirer submits the reclassification request to Visa and Mastercard on your behalf. Networks approve changes on a case-by-case basis, and a well-documented request submitted by a card acquirer with scheme experience significantly improves the outcome.

If your MCC is classified lower than your actual activity warrants, the card network requires the card acquirer to correct the classification going forward. An MCC classified higher than warranted costs money on every transaction through elevated interchange and reserve requirements. In both cases, requesting a reclassification through your card acquirer is the correct course of action.

Your MCC determines the interchange rate applied to each transaction. High-risk MCCs such as 7995 (Betting, including casino gaming, lottery tickets, and wagers) and 6051 (Non-financial institutions: foreign currency, crypto, money orders) attract higher interchange rates than low-risk codes such as 5999 (Online retail). Card acquirers also use MCC risk classification to set their own margin, rolling reserve percentage, and chargeback monitoring thresholds. An incorrect high-risk MCC on a low-risk business costs thousands in unnecessary fees per month at scale.

iGaming operators, online casinos, sportsbooks, and lottery platforms are classified under MCC 7995 (Betting, including casino gaming, lottery tickets, and wagers), per the Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual (April 2026). MCC 7995 is a high-risk classification and attracts elevated interchange rates, lower chargeback thresholds, and higher rolling reserve requirements from most card acquirers.

MCC assignment follows a chain. ISO 18245 defines the standard list. Visa and Mastercard maintain their own lists and set the rules and consequences for each code. The card acquirer makes the actual assignment during merchant onboarding, reviewing the business model and applying the correct code from the Visa and Mastercard lists. The card networks then validate and register it against the merchant’s MID, and retain the authority to audit and correct misclassifications going forward.

An MCC (Merchant Category Code) is a four-digit number classifying a business by the type of goods or services it primarily sells. MCCs are defined under ISO 18245 standard and maintained by Visa and Mastercard. Every business accepting card payments holds one. It is assigned by the card acquirer at onboarding and travels with every card transaction the merchant processes.

Industries with elevated chargeback rates, regulatory complexity, or reputational sensitivity face the most friction. These include iGaming, online forex and CFD trading, crypto exchanges, subscription-based digital services, nutraceuticals, and adult content platforms. A specialist acquirer with experience in these sectors assesses the merchant’s regulatory standing and processing history more accurately, producing better approval rates and fewer account disruptions. See our full guide on merchant risk classification.

Payment acquirers in the EU / EEA require proof of company registration, identification for beneficial owners, evidence of regulatory licences where applicable (iGaming, forex, financial services), a description of the business model and transaction volumes, and recent processing history where available. The exact list varies by payment acquirer and industry risk classification.

Standard settlement in EU / EEA card acquiring runs T+2 to T+3, meaning funds arrive two to three business days after the transaction date, in line with Visa and Mastercard network clearing requirements.

Approval rates depend on industry classification and card type. Low-risk merchants processing EU / EEA-issued cards typically see 95-98% approval rates. High-risk industries such as iGaming and forex range between 75-88%. Cross-border transactions with non-EU / EEA cards run lower than domestic equivalents, per Visa and Mastercard network data. The payment acquirer’s routing quality and issuer relationships directly affect where your approval rate sits within these ranges.

A direct card acquirer assigns each merchant their own Merchant Identification Number, connects directly to the card networks, and holds a direct contractual relationship with the merchant. A payment aggregator bundles low-volume merchants under a shared account, making onboarding faster but creating shared risk exposure across all sub-merchants simultaneously. Both Visa and Mastercard impose volume thresholds above which a payment facilitator must register the sub-merchant directly with the card network and assign them their own MID, meaning the shared account model does not apply indefinitely as a merchant grows. Direct acquiring produces more control over risk rules, better approval rates, and greater account stability from the outset, without dependence on volume thresholds to access a direct scheme relationship.

A Principal Member is a financial institution holding a direct membership with Visa or Mastercard, allowing it to connect to the card network without routing through a sponsoring institution. Principal Members bear direct financial and regulatory responsibility for their merchant portfolios. For merchants, this means higher approval rates, faster settlement, and more transparent pricing. Read more in our guide on what a card acquirer is and how it works.

Card acquiring in the EU / EEA is regulated at national level under the EU-wide framework set by PSD2 (and related sectoral EU/EEA legislation). Each EU / EEA member state has a national regulator. In Lithuania, the Bank of Lithuania supervises licensed payment service providers including EMIs and Payment Institutions. VIALET operates under Bank of Lithuania EMI Licence No. 16.

Card acquiring in Europe is the service provided by a licensed financial institution processing card payments for a merchant, routing transactions through the Visa and Mastercard networks, and settling funds into the merchant’s account. EU / EEA payment acquirers must hold a licence from a recognised national financial regulator, such as an EMI or Payment Institution licence, under the PSD2 framework.

Yes, though it requires planning. The main considerations are contract notice periods, rolling reserve release timelines, integration changes to your payment gateway, and ensuring continuity of transaction history for chargeback purposes. Most migrations can be completed without customer-facing disruption if managed in advance.

Beyond the headline processing rate, look closely at refund fees, chargeback fees, retrieval request fees, FX conversion margins, and rolling reserve requirements. A transparent card acquirer will document all of these upfront. Hidden or variable fees in these categories are a common source of unexpected cost at scale.

Card acquirers assess risk based on industry, chargeback history, business model, and regulatory standing. Industries with elevated dispute rates (iGaming, subscriptions, digital goods), cross-border complexity (forex, crypto), or regulatory sensitivity (pharmaceuticals, adult content) are typically classified as high risk. Being classified as high risk does not mean you cannot get acquired. It means you need an acquirer with specific experience in your sector.

Industry standard settlement runs T+2 to T+3, meaning funds arrive two to three business days after the transaction date. Some payment acquirers offer faster settlement but may apply higher fees or tighter reserve requirements in exchange. Consistency and transparency matter more than headline speed.

It depends on your industry. Low-risk merchants typically see 95–98% approval rates. Mid-risk businesses such as subscription services or travel merchants can expect 88–94%. High-risk industries including iGaming, forex, and crypto typically range between 75–88%. If your approval rate falls significantly below these benchmarks, the issue is usually with how your transactions are being routed, not with the transactions themselves.

Yes. Every business that accepts Visa or Mastercard payments, online or in person, requires an acquiring relationship. The card acquirer may be visible as a named partner or invisible behind a payment provider you already use, but there is always one present in the chain.

A payment gateway is the technology that captures and encrypts card data at checkout. A card acquirer is the licensed financial institution that actually moves the money, receiving the transaction, routing it through the card network, and settling funds into the merchant’s account. The two are different layers of the payment stack, often bundled together by a single provider but serving distinct functions.

Principal Membership is a direct licence granted by Visa or Mastercard to a financial institution, allowing it to connect to the card network without routing through a sponsoring institution. Principal Members hold full financial and regulatory liability for their merchant portfolios, own BINs, and bear direct compliance obligations to the card schemes. In the EU / EEA, obtaining Principal Membership requires an active regulatory licence such as an EMI or credit institution licence.

A Principal Member connects directly to Visa or Mastercard and holds full responsibility for settlement, compliance, and underwriting. An Associate / Affiliate Member operates under the sponsorship of a Principal Member and relies on the Principal for settlement, reporting, and fee payment. For merchants, using a card acquirer with direct Principal Membership means one fewer layer between the transaction and the card network, producing higher approval rates and more transparent pricing.

Yes. The membership tier of your card acquirer affects your approval rates, settlement speed, fee transparency, and account stability. A card acquirer routing through an Associate / Affiliate Member embeds that institution’s margin in your fees, depends on it for settlement, and exposes your account to risk decisions made at the portfolio level rather than for your individual business.

A direct Principal Member routes transactions directly to the card network without an intermediary layer. Each additional routing layer introduces failure points. For high-risk or cross-border transactions, the gap between direct and indirect routing is typically wider.

Yes. VIALET holds Principal Membership with both Visa and Mastercard and operates as a licensed EMI under Bank of Lithuania Licence No. 16. VIALET provides direct card acquiring for businesses across Europe on the basis of this membership, without routing through a sponsoring institution.

In the EU / EEA, an entity seeking Principal Membership must hold an active regulatory licence (EMI, credit institution, or Payment Institution), demonstrate capital adequacy, pass compliance and AML documentation requirements, and meet Visa or Mastercard technical certification standards. The application process involves legal, technical, and compliance assessment stages. Timelines vary depending on the applicant’s readiness and Visa or Mastercard’s review capacity.

Ask your card acquirer directly and request written confirmation. You can also verify through the Visa Partner Portal or Mastercard’s partner directory.

Contact your card acquirer and request a reclassification in writing. Provide a description of your primary business activity, evidence of your revenue split, relevant operating licences, and recent transaction data. The card acquirer submits the reclassification request to Visa and Mastercard on your behalf. Networks approve changes on a case-by-case basis, and a well-documented request submitted by a card acquirer with scheme experience significantly improves the outcome.

If your MCC is classified lower than your actual activity warrants, the card network requires the card acquirer to correct the classification going forward. An MCC classified higher than warranted costs money on every transaction through elevated interchange and reserve requirements. In both cases, requesting a reclassification through your card acquirer is the correct course of action.

Your MCC determines the interchange rate applied to each transaction. High-risk MCCs such as 7995 (Betting, including casino gaming, lottery tickets, and wagers) and 6051 (Non-financial institutions: foreign currency, crypto, money orders) attract higher interchange rates than low-risk codes such as 5999 (Online retail). Card acquirers also use MCC risk classification to set their own margin, rolling reserve percentage, and chargeback monitoring thresholds. An incorrect high-risk MCC on a low-risk business costs thousands in unnecessary fees per month at scale.

iGaming operators, online casinos, sportsbooks, and lottery platforms are classified under MCC 7995 (Betting, including casino gaming, lottery tickets, and wagers), per the Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual (April 2026). MCC 7995 is a high-risk classification and attracts elevated interchange rates, lower chargeback thresholds, and higher rolling reserve requirements from most card acquirers.

MCC assignment follows a chain. ISO 18245 defines the standard list. Visa and Mastercard maintain their own lists and set the rules and consequences for each code. The card acquirer makes the actual assignment during merchant onboarding, reviewing the business model and applying the correct code from the Visa and Mastercard lists. The card networks then validate and register it against the merchant’s MID, and retain the authority to audit and correct misclassifications going forward.

An MCC (Merchant Category Code) is a four-digit number classifying a business by the type of goods or services it primarily sells. MCCs are defined under ISO 18245 standard and maintained by Visa and Mastercard. Every business accepting card payments holds one. It is assigned by the card acquirer at onboarding and travels with every card transaction the merchant processes.

Industries with elevated chargeback rates, regulatory complexity, or reputational sensitivity face the most friction. These include iGaming, online forex and CFD trading, crypto exchanges, subscription-based digital services, nutraceuticals, and adult content platforms. A specialist acquirer with experience in these sectors assesses the merchant’s regulatory standing and processing history more accurately, producing better approval rates and fewer account disruptions. See our full guide on merchant risk classification.

Payment acquirers in the EU / EEA require proof of company registration, identification for beneficial owners, evidence of regulatory licences where applicable (iGaming, forex, financial services), a description of the business model and transaction volumes, and recent processing history where available. The exact list varies by payment acquirer and industry risk classification.

Standard settlement in EU / EEA card acquiring runs T+2 to T+3, meaning funds arrive two to three business days after the transaction date, in line with Visa and Mastercard network clearing requirements.

Approval rates depend on industry classification and card type. Low-risk merchants processing EU / EEA-issued cards typically see 95-98% approval rates. High-risk industries such as iGaming and forex range between 75-88%. Cross-border transactions with non-EU / EEA cards run lower than domestic equivalents, per Visa and Mastercard network data. The payment acquirer’s routing quality and issuer relationships directly affect where your approval rate sits within these ranges.

A direct card acquirer assigns each merchant their own Merchant Identification Number, connects directly to the card networks, and holds a direct contractual relationship with the merchant. A payment aggregator bundles low-volume merchants under a shared account, making onboarding faster but creating shared risk exposure across all sub-merchants simultaneously. Both Visa and Mastercard impose volume thresholds above which a payment facilitator must register the sub-merchant directly with the card network and assign them their own MID, meaning the shared account model does not apply indefinitely as a merchant grows. Direct acquiring produces more control over risk rules, better approval rates, and greater account stability from the outset, without dependence on volume thresholds to access a direct scheme relationship.

A Principal Member is a financial institution holding a direct membership with Visa or Mastercard, allowing it to connect to the card network without routing through a sponsoring institution. Principal Members bear direct financial and regulatory responsibility for their merchant portfolios. For merchants, this means higher approval rates, faster settlement, and more transparent pricing. Read more in our guide on what a card acquirer is and how it works.

Card acquiring in the EU / EEA is regulated at national level under the EU-wide framework set by PSD2 (and related sectoral EU/EEA legislation). Each EU / EEA member state has a national regulator. In Lithuania, the Bank of Lithuania supervises licensed payment service providers including EMIs and Payment Institutions. VIALET operates under Bank of Lithuania EMI Licence No. 16.

Card acquiring in Europe is the service provided by a licensed financial institution processing card payments for a merchant, routing transactions through the Visa and Mastercard networks, and settling funds into the merchant’s account. EU / EEA payment acquirers must hold a licence from a recognised national financial regulator, such as an EMI or Payment Institution licence, under the PSD2 framework.

Yes, though it requires planning. The main considerations are contract notice periods, rolling reserve release timelines, integration changes to your payment gateway, and ensuring continuity of transaction history for chargeback purposes. Most migrations can be completed without customer-facing disruption if managed in advance.

Beyond the headline processing rate, look closely at refund fees, chargeback fees, retrieval request fees, FX conversion margins, and rolling reserve requirements. A transparent card acquirer will document all of these upfront. Hidden or variable fees in these categories are a common source of unexpected cost at scale.

Card acquirers assess risk based on industry, chargeback history, business model, and regulatory standing. Industries with elevated dispute rates (iGaming, subscriptions, digital goods), cross-border complexity (forex, crypto), or regulatory sensitivity (pharmaceuticals, adult content) are typically classified as high risk. Being classified as high risk does not mean you cannot get acquired. It means you need an acquirer with specific experience in your sector.

Industry standard settlement runs T+2 to T+3, meaning funds arrive two to three business days after the transaction date. Some payment acquirers offer faster settlement but may apply higher fees or tighter reserve requirements in exchange. Consistency and transparency matter more than headline speed.

It depends on your industry. Low-risk merchants typically see 95–98% approval rates. Mid-risk businesses such as subscription services or travel merchants can expect 88–94%. High-risk industries including iGaming, forex, and crypto typically range between 75–88%. If your approval rate falls significantly below these benchmarks, the issue is usually with how your transactions are being routed, not with the transactions themselves.

Yes. Every business that accepts Visa or Mastercard payments, online or in person, requires an acquiring relationship. The card acquirer may be visible as a named partner or invisible behind a payment provider you already use, but there is always one present in the chain.

A payment gateway is the technology that captures and encrypts card data at checkout. A card acquirer is the licensed financial institution that actually moves the money, receiving the transaction, routing it through the card network, and settling funds into the merchant’s account. The two are different layers of the payment stack, often bundled together by a single provider but serving distinct functions.