Honoring Lives With Compassionate Payments
Specialized Funeral Home Credit Card Processing
A funeral home merchant account is a specialized bank account that allows funeral service providers to accept credit card payments. By using this account, funeral homes can accept payments via different modes, such as online (e-commerce) or face-to-face with credit card terminals. Families can pay funeral and burial fees conveniently from anywhere and avoid unnecessary travel in difficult times. These specialized funeral home merchant accounts come with features like installment payments, QR code payments, and contactless mobile payments. By using these specialized credit card processing solutions, funeral homes can accept payments for a variety of services. Some are listed below.
Type of Funeral Services Supported
Funeral and Memorial Services. Includes traditional ceremonies with a viewing service, and burial. By offering a card processing option, you will make it easy for families to pay for high upfront costs during emotionally difficult times.
Cremation Services. These services offer direct cremation or cremation with a memorial service. With funeral home credit card processing, families can make quick payments without wasting any time.
Burial Services. These services cover burial plots, casket handling, and graveside services. With funeral home merchant accounts, families can split large burial costs across multiple cards or family members.
Pre-Need and Pre-Planning Arrangements. This service allows clients to plan and pay for funeral services in advance. With recurring payment solutions, clients can make small installment payments for long-term planning.
Merchandise Sales. Funeral homes also sell tangible items used in the service, such as caskets, urns, keepsakes, and headstones. With card machines for funeral homes, families can make immediate purchases without cash on hand, especially for high-value items.
Transportation and Logistics. These services include hearse services and body transfers (local or international). Families can pay by credit cards and handle these necessary and urgent logistics requirements.
Documentation and Legal Services. These specialized document preparation services help families with death certificates, obituaries, and insurance paperwork. With card payments, families can easily pay for these urgent administrative services.
Online and Digital Services. These include digital obituaries, live-streaming, and online guestbooks. Ecommerce payment processing for funeral homes comes with a payment gateway. These specialized gateways can be easily connected to the funeral home website, and online payments can be easily made.
Aftercare Services. Certain families may need services like grief support, memorial planning, and estate assistance. For all these services, families can use a funeral home payment processing account.
Types of Funeral Home Credit Card Processing Solutions
The type of payment solution a funeral home should use depends a lot on the services it offers and the mode it operates in. In general, there are two types of payment processing solutions used by funeral homes in the US, Canada, and the UK. Let us explore these in detail.
Online Payment Processing for Funeral Homes
With online payment processing, funeral homes can accept credit and debit card payments directly through their website or a digital invoice. With this solution, families can make payments in advance as well as as and when the services are needed. Most funeral homes offer the ability to pay for funeral services in advance. Such funeral homes can efficiently use online payment processing. Clients can make payments from anywhere at any time. This solution is ideal for pre-need arrangements, flower orders, or live-stream services.
The best payment gateways for funeral homes include Authorize.net and NMI. These two are the finest payment gateways for funeral home websites. Features include fraud protection, recurring billing, and wide integration support. NMI offers customizable payment flows and invoicing and is a perfect fit for multi-location funeral homes.
Credit Card Terminals for Funeral Homes
These are physical card-swiping terminals used at funeral homes to accept on-site payments. These are must-haves to handle high processing demands on service days for merchandise purchases. The Dejavoo Z11 is a good card terminal that can be used by funeral homes. It’s a countertop terminal with EMV (chip), NFC (tap), and magnetic swipe support. It also offers on-screen signature capture and Wi-Fi connectivity. Another payment terminal that you can try is the Valor VL100 Pro. It is a wireless smart terminal with a touchscreen display, QR code scanning, a tip feature, and Wi-Fi/4G LTE support. It comes with remote management and dual merchant/customer receipt view.
How To Choose the Best Funeral Home Payment Processor
Selecting the right funeral home payment processor is a critical business decision. The payment processor you choose can have a positive or negative impact on the business. It is important for you to know how your clients will be able to pay and how quickly you will get the funds before you make the selection. Let us explore some factors that will help you to find the best funeral home payment processor.
Industry-Specific Experience
Funeral services involve high-value, time-sensitive, and emotionally sensitive transactions. Not all processors can understand the criticality. Look for payment processors that specialize in working with high-ticket and high-trust industries. You should prefer to work with processors that have served some funeral homes, cemeteries, or related businesses.
Support for Multiple Payment Methods
In difficult times, families need flexibility, and for this, a good processor must accept a variety of payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, ACH, bank transfers, mobile wallets, Apple Pay, Google Pay, online invoicing, and recurring billing. By offering multiple payment methods to families, you offer convenience to them and also increase the overall sales conversion.
Transparent Pricing and Low Fees
Stay away from any payment processor that does not offer clear pricing, as they may eat your profit margin and may also impose hidden charges. Work with ISOs and payment facilitators that are well known in the industry. We suggest funeral home directors and managers to prefer interchange-plus pricing model, as it is more transparent than flat-rate pricing. Most of the time, merchants can qualify for zero setup fees. If the profile is good, then providers also waive the statement fees.
Do you know before signing up with any provider you can request a sample monthly statement to understand all potential charges?
Fast and Reliable Payouts
Funeral homes often have significant overhead and need funds quickly. Prefer a processor that offers next-day or same-day funding. Some may also offer weekend and holiday payout options; however, to qualify, merchants must guarantee a high volume of transactions. With fast payout, real-time transaction tracking is also important. Remember, a delay in payout from the payment processor can create serious cash flow issues for your funeral home.
Integration with Funeral Software & Tools
The next thing you must look at is the integration option, as it helps save time and reduces human errors. Work with a processor that integrates with the funeral management software you use. The payment solution should support online forms for pre-need contracts or at-need arrangements. It should come with comprehensive API support for custom website payment pages.
Application Process of Merchant Account for Funeral Homes
To set up a funeral home merchant account, you will first need a registered business entity. To apply, you must have the tax identification number, which can be an EIN in the US or a VAT in the UK and Canada. Along with that, you must have a business bank account under the same company name. The payment processor will be sending the processed funds to your business bank account.
Next you will have to search for processors that are comfortable working with funeral homes. Keep in mind that many payment processors consider funeral homes difficult. This is because of the high credit risk associated with processing funeral home transactions. Find a provider that is absolutely ok with merchants from the death care industry or ones that specialize in professional services.
When you apply, you’ll need to submit an application form and KYC documents. These include your business license, service contracts, proof of identity, and a voided check from your business account. Some processors may ask for bank statements.
The underwriters will review your documents and profile and reach a conclusion. If approved, then you will start the setup and integration process.
F.A.Q. Funeral Home Payment Processing
What Is the MCC for a Funeral Home Merchant Account?
The MCC (Merchant Category Code) for funeral homes is 7261. The same MCC applies to crematories, mortuaries, morticians, and undertakers as well. These merchants provide burial preparation services, conduct funerals, and provide cremation services. At the time of application, it is important to choose the right MCC to avoid rejection.
Do Most Funeral Homes Accept Credit Cards?
Yes, most modern funeral homes accept all major credit and debit cards. However, many pay high fees and may be stuck with lengthy contracts. Such funeral homes can switch providers and get similar or better services at lower rates.
What Types of Credit Cards Do Funeral Homes Accept?
Most funeral homes accept all the following cards.
Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express
Debit cards (processed as credit)
Prepaid cards (varies by processor)
Gift Cards & Vouchers
Note: Amex often has higher fees and requires separate approvals.
Are There Special Considerations for Funeral Home Credit Card Transactions?
Yes, directors and managers must be aware that many payment processors consider funeral homes as high risk because of potential disputes. Thus it will help if you use best practices like manual authorization, CVV, 3DS, PIN validation, and receipt signature.
What Kind of Card Machines Work Best for Funeral Homes?
If budget is not a concern, then you can use modern terminals that come with large customer-facing displays. These terminals are fully PCI compliant and come with an offline payment option.
Why Was My Funeral Home’s Credit Card Payment Declined?
There can be many reasons why a transaction may get declined. Many banks flag high-value transactions with MCC 7261, and that is why you should work with a specialized high-risk processor. Some transactions fail because of card limits, like exceeding the daily limit. Another reason is processor restriction. If any such challenges happen at your location, then reach out to your processor and seek assistance.