Posts Tagged Merchant Services
How it is possible to take your entire Online Business Offshore.
Posted by peter in Cyprus Company Formation on March 12, 2009
Many Offshore Service Agents are only able to help you with the offshore company formation and opening of Offshore bank account, some even if they don’t know anything about this business, also open Merchant Accounts, or at least tell you they can.
Both the Offshore Company Formation and the Merchant Account Industry takes a great amount of knowledge to not mislead clients who think they are in good hands just to later on in the process to find out they didn’t have what they paid for.
In fact everyone can open a Merchant Account and establish an Offshore Company but only a handful are able to make the right setup.
How can it be setup wrong?
Very simple, if the Agent which established your Offshore Company just has a reseller agreement with some accidental provider then it is common to just submit your application to this one, that’s good you think?! Stay on here, now there are so many Merchant Account resellers out there and processors which just started up, that the chance to get your case in wrong hands is almost 95% this you won’t find out at the beginning but if your Merchant Account is wrong coded or they placed your new established Offshore Company in the wrong Visa or MasterCard region you will get big troubles and your entire setup will be shut down and be worthless.
With so many “new kids on the block” in the Payment Industry you can easily risk that the processor which your Agent advised to use is that hungry that they take on any business case also the Merchant case which are out for a scam and will blow up the processor. This will affect you in the way that you risk the volume processed will not be paid and this company will disappear.
Also often seen is that a processor (calculate their profit) first take on a new Merchant Case as new business (while just incorporated in an Offshore Jurisdiction) and after a few month cheese the account and freeze it because they will claim it isn’t legal business.
Since I have been in both businesses for many years I have seen a lot of incidences, the forums around the Internet are full of examples from both sites (the Merchant and the Payment Processor) and in almost any case it is because of a confusion about what it all is about.
Only an Agent which knows the Offshore Company formation business or has a really good network of Tax Advisors and Legal Advisors to back up is trustworthy to go with and can ensure you get the right solution, this applies also for the Payment Processing Industry, you will need to have been in this business for many years and have followed the marked close to be able to advice Online Businesses for the solution that they need.
Don’t be fooled into anything make a good check on the company you consider to go with, ask questions and look how good they are established on the Internet, do they only have a single webpage or have they a well established an sophisticated Internet presents!
I see cases on a daily basis, in our company we get every day a merchant, a processor or an offshore agent which want to work with us and which obviously is new into this. We get requests by people which just have a lousy website and tell us they have been in the business for ages. Sad it is so and it makes it more important than ever to take a close look at the company you consider to deal with.
For more information or the right Offshore Company Formation setup, please contact CCLOGIC
How to become a reliable and anonymous offshore bank account
Posted by peter in Cyprus Bank Account on January 28, 2009
The question has been asked by many people and companies who seek anonymity and a way to pay and receive money securely.
Browsing the Internet you will find many websites which pretend to give you guides on “how to get it” others tell you they have a good solution but no track record or proof that they really deliver what they promise. You will find a handful Offshore Agencies which will look reliable and have a wealth of products and services to offer but they require you to visit their place and will charge a fortune for a product which isn’t that expansive.
What you will need to consider is where your offshore bank account should be established, many places like Cyprus, Seychelles, Cayman Islands, The Netherlands Antilles, Bahamas and Uruguay are offshore havens which have a strict banking secrecy and who are able to open real offshore bank accounts.
Now you have some options and suggestions, however, to call up the banks will not help you since they will require you to visit them since they need to comply to KYc (Know your Customers), no you will need someone which already has established a relationship with the banks in the offshore havens, someone which can introduce your business case to them.
Many people believe that to become a offshore bank account and a offshore debit card is difficult and unreliable because they don’t know where to start. I have made it easier for them, visiting this blog and this article already brought you half the way.
The second most important thing to consider once you figured out where you want your offshore bank account to be, is who should go and help you, who is capable to introduce you to a Bank in an TAX Haven / jurisdiction and have earned the trust by the banks to really get your account approved. Surfing the Internet is a good start, however you will get that many hits that you won’t have a clue on who is able to help you and who just will take your money and run.
Important for you is to look at a certain website how it looks, what feeling you have with what they state they do and if they look reliable, if so, go and take their domain name and enter it into Google, find out what others have to say about the company or who they are linked with, if you find 1 to no comments on the company that could be fine but also a sign, then look at how good are they linked, how many websites are linking to them, many links from important websites can be a good sign, do they offer new clients to interact with them on a forum, ticket system, live chat or even a blog, if so, it’s good since fly by night companies would not put a lot of effort into such, often you will see 1 large page of advertising pitches and down the site a payment button, I can just say, stay far away from that. Others have built a good looking website but it has less to no functionality at all, stay away from such sites.
Once you have found your service agency you can ask him to help you to become the offshore bank account opened and to have a debit card for that account.
Look into what you get for the buck, some offshore banks only offer a bank account in one currency and no way to connect by any Internet Banking to the account, to withdraw money you will need to make a phone or fax order. That’s defiantly not a solution you want.
What you want is to look at a complete solution which offers you a multi currency offshore bank account with Online E-Banking facilities and a Visa or Maestro Debit card to withdraw money. You want to be able to have access to your offshore bank account 24/7/365 and make your banking business when it is convenience for you.
The well established banks also in Tax Havens will be able to offer you a quality banking platform to access your bank account, they will offer you multi currency facilities for several different major currency like USD, EURO, GBP and SF, you will have the account separated when you login through your e-banking access, and you will be able to make local and foreign bank transfers.
Hope you enjoyed this post and please feel free to contact CCLOGIC LLC if you consider to open an offshore bank account or offshore company in Cyprus.
For webmasters we offer a great opportunity to participate in our CCLOGIC Affiliate Program, visit our website for more information.
Offshore Banks dont open Merchant Accounts
Posted by peter in Cyprus Bank Account, Cyprus Company Formation on January 19, 2009
“Many offshore banks have very strict rules on who they accept as their customers and contrary to popular belief they don’t accept just anyone as long as they have money! They have their reputation to maintain as a reliable and trustworthy financial institution and it would not be acceptable to them to allow criminals to use their services. Opening an offshore company can give you privacy or anonymity, the confidentiality laws of these jurisdictions are usually very strong and are a legal method of minimizing the tax amount you have to pay each year. “
This is what we wrote in one of our articles for not long time ago, and it is true, almost any bank in an offshore jurisdiction has that strict rules and regulations that they simply are unable to enter into the Merchant Acquiring business. Offshore banks will not be able to obtain a license to clear Visa or Mastercard credit cards often because they wouldn’t be able to withdraw the money from the card holders due to for instant European banks would decline such requests.
For instant if you get a Merchant Account in the Philippines or in Mauritius which both are great known offshore jurisdictions and which also have a license to do credit card clearing for each country, then you will often face the problem that your customers can’t pay with their credit or debit card. This due to the fact that many banks for instant in Europe or in the US simply decline such request because those countries are knows for scam and frauds.
However the problem can be solved very simple. You can become a Merchant Account with some banks in Europe and in countries which aren’t black listed in other banks around the world, once you have this merchant account you can ask the agent or the bank with which you have the merchant account to transfer your funds to an offshore bank account for instant in Cyprus.
Don’t make the mistake and open a Merchant Account in your local bank and ask them to transfer the money to your offshore bank account which might be in any of the different offshore jurisdictions, because they won’t do that.
By using the above model, you will need to face that your payment processing rates and fees might be much higher then what you can get them to in your local bank, but this should make it up with the TAX benefits you get through your Offshore Company. Don’t be fooled by low budget payment processors and payment service providers which promise you a offshore merchant account with a processing rate for instant of 4% or even lower, that’s simply not possible.
Also all the so called “free” service that tell you they will process your Visa and Mastercard credit cards for 3% flat rate, no monthly and no setup fees, they will process the cards but don’t transfer the money to your offshore bank account, and even if they would like to do that, then their financial institution will decline that request.
As solid Offshore solution for instant in Cyprus isn’t easy to get done. It needs the experience and knowledge from people which have been working in both the Merchant Acquiring and the offshore company formation business sectors, There are only a limited number of Offshore Service Providers which can help you and also assure you to become the real and right solution, many other will fool you into something you have better been without.
For the real solution which both it secure and reliable contact cclogic.com the experts in Offshore Merchant Services
Explain what trusts are and how to use them!
Posted by peter in Cyprus Company Formation on January 15, 2009
In the offshore company formation world and in all type of company formation regardless if it is a local company or a company formation in another country you will sooner or later ran into the possibility to have a trust to manage your company.
A trust can be a good instrument for forming offshore companies if you wont move to the country where you register your offshore company or if you don’t want to travel at least 2 or 3 times a year to manage the offshore company.
So what is a trust?
A trust is an important, useful and legitimate vehicle for the transfer and management of assets. Trusts provide an effective mechanism for managing assets given minors, individuals who are incapacitated, and others who are otherwise inexperienced in financial management.
Trusts can also be used to promote charitable purposes and for estate planning. In addition to personal and financial planning, trusts are increasingly used to structure corporate transactions, such as securitization programs, and employee benefits programs, such as pension schemes, international employee stock option plans, and compensation structures.
To create a valid trust, the settler is required to give up control of the assets he has transferred to the trustee. In turn, the trustee is obligated to observe the terms of the trust deed and has fiduciary duty to act honestly and in good faith in the best interest of the beneficiaries or, in the event there are no named beneficiaries, in the best interest of the trust. Traditionally, trusts are subject to limitations on duration, the terms of the trust are fixed, and trustees cannot be removed without a legal challenge. Lastly, the traditional trust could only benefit individuals or charities and could not be used to delay, hinder, or defraud creditors.
As with other types of corporate vehicles, however, trusts can also be misused for illicit purposes. Part of the attractiveness of misusing trusts lies in the fact that trusts enjoy a greater degree of privacy and autonomy than other corporate vehicles. Given the private nature of trusts and the fact that a trust is essentially a contractual agreement between two private persons, virtually all jurisdictions recognizing trusts have purposely chosen not to regulate trusts like other corporate vehicles, such as corporations.
Above are just a few example of usage and misusage of trusts and what they are and how you can use it. For offshore companies in general in is common to use trusts to manage the company.
If you are looking for Offshore Company formation with a trust, then please contact cclogic.com we have specialized in company formation, Cyprus bank accounts and offshore merchant services.