Resource Hub: Guides

Vertical payment solutions are designed for those cases, with industry-specific functionality integrated directly into the business. Generic processors optimize for volume across as many business types as possible – that flexibility starts to break down once your operations or compliance requirements get more specific. Finix supports businesses across multiple industries with transparent pricing, flexible payment acceptance, and support for the operational realities that come with managing payments.

Payment processing is what happens between a customer tapping their card and a merchant seeing funds in their account. Every business that accepts electronic payments – whether at a register, through an online checkout, or via recurring billing – relies on payment processing, whether they've thought much about it or not. Understanding what payment processing is and how it works is essential for selecting the right processor for your business. The platform you choose determines how much you’re paying in fees, how secure your payments are, and your capacity to scale profitably.

Payment security refers to the systems, standards, and practices that protect payment transactions and cardholder data from unauthorized access, fraud, and data breaches.  Deciding your approach to payment security is one of the more consequential operational decisions you'll make, and one of the easier ones to get wrong if you treat it as someone else's job. As a certified direct processor, Finix builds security into the payment platform layer, handling tokenization, PCI scope reduction, and integrated fraud monitoring so your team can focus on running the business rather than managing compliance. This guide covers the core principles of payment security, what PCI compliance actually requires of you, how tokenization and fraud prevention work, and how to judge a payment processor's security model.

Accepting credit and debit card payments starts with getting a merchant account, but the process can feel confusing if you're applying for the first time. From registering your business and gathering documents to passing underwriting and choosing the right provider, there are several steps involved before you can start accepting payments.  This guide explains how to get a merchant account, what documents you'll need, how long approval typically takes, and the fees you can expect to pay. It also compares dedicated merchant accounts with payment service providers (PSPs) such as Stripe and Square, helping you determine which option is the best fit for your business as it grows.

ACH payments are electronic bank-to-bank transfers processed through the Automated Clearing House network. Businesses use ACH payments for payroll, recurring billing, vendor payouts, direct deposit, and B2B payments because they’re typically lower cost than card transactions and wire transfers. But ACH processing involves more than just moving money between accounts. Settlement timing, return handling, fraud controls, and the way ACH payments are managed can all affect performance as transaction volume grows. This guide explains how ACH works and what businesses should know before accepting ACH payments.

Interchange-plus pricing separates card network fees from processor markups, making every cost visible, while flat-rate pricing bundles everything into a single percentage that hides the processor's margin.  For most SMBs processing mixed card types, interchange-plus is significantly cheaper. At $50,000 monthly volume, the savings can exceed $1,000 per month. Flat-rate suits very early-stage businesses that prioritise simplicity, but as volume grows, the hidden spread becomes costly.  Processors like Finix offer transparent interchange-plus pricing, giving businesses full visibility and the ability to audit and optimise their payment costs.