Medical marijuana is legal in 17 states and in the District of Columbia. However, federal law does not recognize marijuana dispensaries as legal operations. As a result, medical marijuana dispensaries are being blocked out of banking services. The Huffington Post reported that Wells Fargo recently denied banking services to a Colorado medical marijuana company. “The complex, inconsistent legal environment relating to medical marijuana dispensaries, Wells Fargo has opted not to bank these businesses,” said a representative of the bank.
As major credit card processors like Discover and American Express have decided to not engage in marijuana dispensary payment processing services, other payment processing organizations have also used the ambiguous legal environment to refuse processing services to legal marijuana dispensers. Recently VISA and Mastercard announced that they would let individual acquiring processors decide if they would process marijuana merchant accounts. As a result, large payment processing company, Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) told its customers last summer:
“In light of recent developments, we wanted to reach out and make you all aware of the latest news regarding Medical Marijuana merchants. Effective July 1st, 2012, MMJ merchants will no longer be able to accept Visa or MasterCard credit or debit cards.”
Traditional Banks
The freeze out by traditional banks and major credit card processors has forced the medical marijuana industry into a “cash only” industry, where customers are forced to carry large sums of cash like criminals to dispensaries. Despite these setbacks, some payment organizations have found creative ways to manage marijuana merchant accounts through payment cards where consumers perform in-person transactions via a PIN-based terminal. The transaction is then processed as a cash withdrawal using a debit card or cash advance.
marijuana-merchant-account.com has easy payment processing solutions for retail and delivery dispensaries. Don’t leave your patients vulnerable to robbery or make them feel like criminals, by having to carry large amounts of cash to purchase their medication. Our services let your patients donate at the point of sale using a credit or debit card and a PIN number.
The transaction will only cost patients a small convenience fee ranging from $0.99 – $2.00. We offer debit card, credit card, and savings account services. Our retailers choose us for their marijuana merchant accounts because there are no discount rates, interchange fees, or processing fees.
Our MMJ delivery services also offer electronic payments on the go. Patients simply swipe their card, enter the PIN using a PCI compliant device and access their funds for donation to Medical Marijuana merchants.
It’s just that easy! Contact us at: 1-800-466-1809 to set up your marijuana merchant account today.
