What Is a Rolling Reserve and How Does it Affect You?

A rolling reserve is a strategy used by banks to shield themselves and the merchant from possible financial loss due to chargebacks from the customer. A portion of the funds are collected via credit card and secured by the bank from the merchant's account to minimize the risk of potential chargebacks.

The rolling reserve amount is calculated by the acquiring bank. This calculation is made based upon the amount of each transaction the merchant completes. The bank then decides the amount of time in which the rolling reserves are held. Then the acquiring bank will release the rolling reserve funds once the account is closed.

What Are Rolling Reserves?

Essentially, your business will be set up to have a rolling reserve for the life of your business unless you change payment processors. In this case, the bank will return your reserves within 6 months to a year. The purpose of a rolling reserve is to act as an important financial guard for the banks. The riskier the type of business you are in, the higher the rolling reserve will be.

The reserve protects the bank by making sure there is enough money in the merchant account at all times to handle any chargebacks that may occur. This money remains in reserve for the life of the merchant account. Rolling reserves are typically imposed upon high risk merchants because these businesses themselves are high risk, so the bank has to find some way to lower the risk of losing money.

High Risk Category Factors

A business can find itself in the high risk category if they have one or all of the following:

• Past processing history with excessive chargebacks
• Risky business models such as subscription services, adult, tobacco, vape, and travel
• Large ticket prices
• High processing volume
• If the owner has bad credit

Here's a common scenario. Let's say you have a subscription box business selling vape e-juice and smoking accessories. Every month your customers get great vape and e-cigarette related products delivered to their door. Your customers love the convenience of this service and you are making a profit. You are on top of the world because credit card payments from customers are continually being processed.

Your bank, however, is nervous because they know that having a subscription service is a great way to incur an excessive amount of chargebacks. This is especially true when the customer billing is recurring, which means payments for goods or services are charged from the consumer's bank account or credit card each month.

To avoid the risk of losing money, the bank imposes a 7% rolling reserve on your account for 18 months. The payment processor will hold 7% of your sales and transactions. So you will not have access to this money until your account is closed unless you are given a different specified date by the bank.

How Is Your Business Affected By A Rolling Reserve?

Well, for one thing, a rolling reserve can almost always hurt your access to cash flow, making it difficult for you to compete in your industry. It can also mean that your net profit and available funds cannot be used for marketing and added value purchases. This kind of scenario can seriously stunt your company's growth. So keep in mind that if you make the decision to go into a high risk industry, be prepared for high risk costs. A rolling reserve will definitely be one of them.