7 Best remittance Processing Companies for tiny Business

With the decline of funds and spread of popular remittance methods (consumers can now use loan cards, Apple Pay, and PayPal, for example), accepting payments in 2025 isn’t as straightforward as stacking bills in a funds drawer. So, how can you ensure your customers’ payments complete up in your business’s financial institution account? You require a remittance processor. 

discover how remittance processing works, read about seven remittance processing options for tiny businesses, and discover tips to get the most from your remittance processor.

What is remittance processing for tiny businesses?

remittance processing is the critical business function of moving payments for goods and services between financial institution accounts—from the financial institution account linked to your customer’s debit card to your business’s merchant account, for instance. 

tiny businesses require remittance processors to manage money that isn’t funds and checks, from debit cards and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay to loan card payments. 

remittance processing is an essential merchant service. Other critical merchant services include remittance gateways, point-of-sale (POS) systems, and merchant accounts. 

Ultimately, you can consider a remittance processor as an intermediary between your customer, your customer’s financial institution and loan card business, and your business. 

How remittance processing works

remittance processors leave through a few steps to shift your customers’ funds into your business’s financial institution account, which generally takes one to three days. The steps are:

1. The customer pays via POS structure (in-person) or remittance gateway (online).

2. The remittance processor receives the remittance details. 

3. The remittance processor forwards the remittance info to the card issuer.

4. The card-issuing financial institution verifies the funds and authorizes remittance.

5. The remittance processor settles the swap.

In the final step, the card-issuing financial institution transfers your customer’s funds into your merchant account. If you schedule to receive loan and debit card payments, a merchant account serves as a essential bridge between the card issuer and your business account. Funds are usually held in your merchant account for a few days before being transferable to your business account.

Types of remittance processors

There are two types of remittance processors: remittance service providers (PSPs) and merchant account providers. Their main differentiator is how they manage merchant accounts. 

Here’s how they work:

remittance service providers (PSPs)

PSPs send your customer’s funds to an aggregate merchant account—a merchant account you distribute with other businesses. PSPs propose streamlined onboarding and relatively straightforward remittance structures.

If you’re a Shopify merchant, you can quickly turn on Shopify Payments (a PSP) to receive payments immediately.

Merchant account providers

Merchant account providers provide you an independent merchant account, but before you get it, your business must undergo the insurance evaluation procedure to assess potential risks. To complete the paperwork, you’ll provide details like your average swap size and delivery times. 

Although onboarding with a merchant account provider can be complicated, they’re likely less expensive than a PSP if your business has high sales volumes.

What to consider when choosing remittance processing for tiny businesses

• swap fees
• Pricing structure
• Supplementary services and integrations

Consider features, pricing models, and retail tech stack integrations to choose the correct remittance processor. 

swap fees

swap fees differ by remittance processor and remittance way. For example, you’ll pay more when customers use loan cards than you will for debit or ACH payments. Consider which remittance type you expect to view most, and select a remittance processor that offers a competitive rate.

You should also consider where most payments will happen, since remittance processors fee different swap fees for in-person and online payments. Some remittance processors propose competitive swap fees for in-person payments but relatively high swap fees for online payments, and vice versa. 

Pricing structure

The most expense-effective model for your tiny business will depend on your average swap worth and volume. receive a look at the two ordinary pricing structures:

• Fixed-rate pricing: You pay a fixed swap fee for each remittance. This model works well for tiny businesses with low swap volume.

• Interchange-plus pricing: You pay the interchange rate plus a per-swap expense. Interchange rates vary by loan card business, but they’re usually around 2%. Although this model can propose lower per-swap fees than fixed-rate pricing, it usually requires an additional monthly fee and tends to suit businesses with high sales volumes. 

Supplementary services and integrations 

If you run an ecommerce business, you require an online remittance gateway. Your simplest alternative is to choose a remittance processor like Shopify Payments, since they include a remittance gateway in their services. If your remittance processor doesn’t propose an integrated remittance gateway, be prepared to pay extra. 

If you run an in-person business, you require POS hardware. remittance processing companies rent and sell this equipment. If you already have a POS structure, choose a remittance processor that can connect to your existing hardware. Depending on your business type, you might consider hardware with industry-specific functionality, like inventory management or restaurant shift scheduling. 

7 popular remittance processing companies for tiny businesses

• Shopify
• Square
• Stax
• Stripe
• remittance Depot
• Helcim
• Clover

receive a look at some of the most popular remittance processing options for tiny businesses:

1. Shopify

Shopify’s remittance gateway and remittance processor is called Shopify Payments and is free to all Shopify merchants. The gateway accepts payments from all major loan cards and features 3D secure checkout, data encryption, 24/7 customer back, and PCI regulatory adherence to ensure the safety of your customers’ data. It also integrates with Shop Pay, which boasts a conversion rate up to 50% higher than guest checkout.

Shopify Payments also offers POS hardware for your in-person store. Shopify’s POS structure features inventory and customer management, and data and analytics reporting.

Features: 

• Fixed-rate pricing 

• Free with Shopify subscription

• packed integration with Shopify platform

• Integrated remittance gateway

• PCI DSS compliant to protect sensitive monetary data

• Processes international payments in your customer’s local currencies

• 24/7 customer back 

2. Square

Square operates on a flat-rate pricing structure and offers a free schedule without setup costs for ecommerce companies. The business’s $29/month version is designed for restaurants and appointment-based businesses. Square is a popular selection for in-person companies, and it offers a variety of POS hardware options for rent or purchase. Hardware costs range from $0 for a mobile card reader to $799 (or $39/month over two years) for a register. 

Features:

• Fixed-rate pricing

• No subscription fees

• POS systems

• Free invoicing 

• Free mobile device card reader

• Sales and inventory analytics

• Retail and restaurant-specific software solutions

3. Stax

If your tiny business has a high sales volume, you might consider Stax, which charges interchange-plus remittance processing fees and a monthly fee from $99 to $199, depending on sales volume. Stax’s interchange-plus swap fees are lower than many fixed-rate swap fees, but you’ll require to make enough sales to justify the monthly expense. The excellent information is that the remittance processor doesn’t lock you into long-term contracts. 

Features:

• Interchange-plus pricing 

• Subscription fees

• 24/7 customer back

• POS systems

• PCI regulatory adherence

4. Stripe

With its flat-rate pricing structure, Stripe is great for tiny businesses looking for a straightforward remittance processing structure. Stripe is an especially excellent selection for ecommerce business owners who worth customization, since it allows you to add branding to your checkout or adjust the checkout flow to pursue a higher ecommerce conversion rate. Stripe also offers POS hardware for bricks-and-mortar businesses.

Features:

• Flat-rate pricing

• No subscription fees

• 24/7 customer back

• Sales analytics and inventory management extensions

• Accepts international payments in more than 135 currencies

• Integrated billing and invoicing

5. remittance Depot

remittance Depot operates with the interchange-plus model, but its pricing structure is adaptable to your business. It’s not a plug-and-play alternative: you’ll require to gossip with the remittance Depot sales throng to determine your rates. Onboarding also requires going through the insurance evaluation procedure, since remittance Depot is a merchant account provider. That said, remittance Depot can be a excellent selection for tiny businesses with high sales volume, as its interchange-plus rates tend to be more affordable than fixed-rate pricing.

Features:

• Interchange-plus pricing

• No monthly fees

• 24/7 customer back

• PCI regulatory adherence 

6. Helcim

Helcim runs on the interchange-plus fee model but, unlike similar loan card processing companies, doesn’t fee a monthly fee. Helcim’s swap rates reduce as business volume increases, making it a excellent selection for businesses intending to scale. Helcim promises guidance throughout the merchant account set-up procedure and offers a $500 purchase if you’re locked in with another remittance processor.

Features:

• Interchange-plus pricing 

• No subscription fees

• Volume discounts

• PCI regulatory adherence 

• POS structure

7. Clover

Clover is a cloud-based POS structure and remittance processor offering tiny business remittance processing through its parent business, Fiserv. 

Geared toward restaurants, retail, and service-based businesses, Clover offers industry-specific plans with features like inventory management and shift scheduling. Clover’s in-person swap fees beat many competitors, but its online swap processing fees tend to be higher. Clover charges flat-rate remittance processing fees, plus monthly fees, and offers discount pricing on locked-in contracts.

Features:

• Fixed-rate pricing 

• Subscription fees

• Industry-specific solutions

• Shift scheduling, CRM, and analytics

• POS systems

remittance processing tips for tiny businesses

• Protect yourself from fraud
• propose multiple remittance options
• borrowing data

Protect yourself from fraud

Popular remittance processors are PCI compliant to meet high safety standards. Additional steps to mitigate your fraud uncertainty include keeping your POS structure up to date and opting for a remittance gateway with address verification services (AVS) to match remittance information to billing addresses. You can also enable two-step authentication to ensure your business is the only entity with account access and regularly monitor your business accounts for suspicious activity. 

propose multiple remittance options

Every customer has a preferred remittance way. Consider installing a remittance gateway that allows buyers to pay online using methods beyond loan and debit cards. PayPal Express Checkout, for example, lets customers pay with PayPal, Venmo, and Apple or Google Wallets. If you run an in-store business, consider accepting loan card alternatives like funds and Venmo.

borrowing data 

Your recent remittance processor will provide a riches of data on customers’ preferred remittance methods, which you can use to invest in POS hardware with competitive fees for that way. You’ll also determine when your clients shop and how much they spend. 

All this remittance data will assist you hone your marketing strategies. For example, you could conduct A/B testing with pop-up ads during checkout and use customers’ ensuing order totals to decide between ads.