You own the experience
How sub-merchants onboard, how the payment flow looks and feels inside your product, and how you price and monetize it.
Platforms
PayFac-as-a-Service
Own the merchant experience and payment economics of a payment facilitator, sub-merchant onboarding, payment monetization, the funds flow, on our infrastructure and network sponsorship, without registering as a PayFac yourself. You skip the registration cost and carry far less compliance burden, and because our underwriting is built for high-risk, you can board sub-merchants in verticals other providers decline.
- Facilitator economics, no registration
- We carry the compliance load
- High-risk sub-merchants boarded
Answer first
The facilitator model without the facilitator burden
Becoming a registered payment facilitator is the dream and the headache of platform payments at once. The dream: you own the merchant onboarding, control the experience end to end, and monetize the payment flow directly, payments become a real revenue line, not a referral kickback. The headache: registering with the card networks, standing up underwriting and compliance operations, and carrying sub-merchant liability is expensive, slow, and operationally heavy. A lot of platforms want the first part and can't justify the second.
PayFac-as-a-Service is the answer to that exact tension. You operate like a payment facilitator, owning the sub-merchant experience, the onboarding, and the economics, on top of our infrastructure and our network sponsorship. The registration sits with us. Much of the compliance burden sits with us. What sits with you is the part you actually wanted: control of the merchant experience and a share of the payment economics. It's the middle rung of the platform ladder, and it's where most serious platforms land.
What you own, what we carry
The split is the whole point
You own the relationship
The relationship with your merchants and the product decisions that shape it stay entirely yours.
We carry registration
The card-network registration and sponsor-bank sponsorship sit with us, you behave like a PayFac without becoming one on paper.
We carry compliance
The underwriting engine and the compliance framework that keeps the program within the rules are ours to run.
No registration cost
You don't pay the registration cost, build the compliance operation from scratch, or take on the full PayFac liability load.
High-risk sub-merchants
Our underwriting was built for high-risk, so we sponsor and board sub-merchants other providers won't touch.
Note
Registration and sponsor concurrence
PayFac-as-a-Service operates under our card-network registration and our sponsor bank's sponsorship. You don't register as a payment facilitator yourself, but the arrangement still runs inside a formal compliance framework, and our sponsor bank reviews and concurs on the program before it goes live. Expect a structured onboarding with documentation and a review timeline appropriate to a facilitator-model program, it's more involved than opening a single merchant account, and that diligence is what keeps the program stable. See how our underwriting works and what is a payment facilitator.
How it works
PayFac-as-a-Service vs. full PayFac vs. ISO
Three models get conflated constantly, so here's the clean version. An ISO resells processing and refers merchants who each get their own account, no fund aggregation, no ownership of the flow, limited economics. A full payment facilitator registers with the networks, aggregates sub-merchants under a master structure, owns the experience and the economics, and carries the registration, compliance, and liability directly. PayFac-as-a-Service gives you the facilitator's control and economics on our registration and sponsorship, without you registering.
The practical advice: start where your volume and appetite sit. PayFac-as-a-Service is the rung that gives most platforms the economics they want for a fraction of the burden, and you can graduate to full PayFac later if your numbers justify the added responsibility. There's no need to take on registration before the volume earns it, and because our underwriting was built for high-risk from the start, a platform serving difficult categories gets to run the same facilitator model everyone else does instead of being locked out of it.
The merchant experience
The onboarding and the flow stay yours
You own the merchant-facing experience: how sub-merchants onboard, how the payment flow looks inside your product, and how you price it, while we carry the registration, sponsorship, and compliance machinery underneath.
- Sub-merchant onboarding inside your product
- Your pricing, your margin on the flow
- Underwriting and compliance carried by us
How it works
From a conversation to a facilitator program
1
We scope the program
A conversation about your platform, your sub-merchant mix, and how much of the stack you want to own now versus later.
2
We walk the concurrence
We take you through the sponsor-bank concurrence and the structured, documented onboarding a facilitator program requires.
3
We confirm boarding
Our high-risk underwriting confirms we can sponsor and board the sub-merchants you serve, including hard verticals.
4
You run the model
You own onboarding, the experience, and the economics on our registration and sponsorship, and can graduate to full PayFac later.
FAQ
PayFac-as-a-Service FAQ
What is PayFac-as-a-Service?
PayFac-as-a-Service lets a platform operate like a payment facilitator, owning sub-merchant onboarding, the payment experience, and payment monetization, on top of a provider's infrastructure and network sponsorship, without registering as a payment facilitator itself. You get most of the control and economics of a PayFac while the provider carries the registration, sponsorship, and much of the compliance burden. It's the middle rung between a simple referral arrangement and becoming a full, registered payment facilitator.
What is the difference between PayFac-as-a-Service and becoming a full payment facilitator?
A full payment facilitator registers directly with the card networks and takes on underwriting, compliance, and sub-merchant liability itself, lucrative, but operationally heavy and expensive to stand up. PayFac-as-a-Service gives you the merchant-facing experience and economics on our registration and sponsorship, so you skip the registration cost and carry far less compliance load. Most platforms start with PayFac-as-a-Service and only move to full PayFac once volume justifies the added responsibility.
How is PayFac-as-a-Service different from being an ISO?
An ISO (independent sales organization) resells a processor's services and typically refers merchants who each get their own merchant account, the ISO doesn't aggregate or control the funds flow. A payment facilitator (and PayFac-as-a-Service) onboards sub-merchants under a master structure, owns the onboarding experience, and can monetize the payment flow directly. PayFac-as-a-Service gives you the facilitator model's control and economics without the registration that full PayFac status requires. Our PayFac vs. ISO guide breaks down the trade-offs.
Do I need to register with the card networks for PayFac-as-a-Service?
No, that's the central benefit. Under PayFac-as-a-Service you operate on our network registration and sponsor-bank sponsorship, so you don't register as a payment facilitator yourself and you don't carry the full registration cost and compliance obligation that comes with it. You still operate within the program's compliance framework, and our sponsor bank reviews and concurs on the arrangement, but the registration burden sits with us, not you.
Can a platform serving high-risk merchants use PayFac-as-a-Service?
Yes, and it's where our model stands apart. Most PayFac-as-a-Service providers assume low-risk sub-merchants and decline anything elevated-risk. Because our underwriting was built for high-risk verticals, we can sponsor and board sub-merchants on your platform that other providers won't touch, so a platform serving hard categories can run a facilitator model instead of being shut out of it.
Related
Keep exploring
Run the facilitator model, skip the burden.
The right structure depends on your volume, your sub-merchant mix, and how much of the stack you want to own now versus later. The starting point is a conversation about your platform so we can scope the program and confirm we can board the merchants you serve.