A Merchant account is an account at a financial institution that allows you to accept credit cards. You may acquire a Merchant account directly from your local bank, or more likely from their sales agents, called Merchant Account Providers or Merchant Services Providers.

Not all Merchant Accounts allow you all services you need, like connect to the Internet, so be sure to read between the lines and avoid all the hype and jargon: don't pay high set up fees to get the account. Be sure to get all the rates explained to you, especially for the "mid" or "non qualified" transactions.

A Merchant Account is NOT a business checking account; however, you must have a business checking account for the merchant account to deposit money from your credit card sales. This means you can keep your existing bank account when you switch to MuniCommerce.