Frequently Asked Questions

In an increasingly mobile world, customers expect a fast, convenient and safe way to make online purchases. Judopay provides that seamless checkout experience both in-app and online, so our merchants can easily take online payments from their customers.

‍What we do
• Combine online payments, security and fraud prevention in one product
• Provide easily customisable, user friendly payment interfaces
• Enable merchants to take online, in-app and mobile payments, including via card, local payment methods (e.g. iDEAL) and alternative payment methods (e.g. Google Pay and Apple Pay)
• Reduce merchant PCI compliance scope by handling their customer’s sensitive card data
• Offer full compliance with PSD2 through 3D Secure 2

Payment gateways validate credit card details securely, ensuring funds are available to collect and pay to the merchant.

Acquirers are banks or financial institutions that process card payments on behalf of a merchant.

Judopay specialises in digital payments such as payments made via a website or mobile app. If you'd like to use a different payment solution for POS we can recommend a provider.

Accounts have different settlement times depending on the bank and your business type. It normally takes 3-5 days, but you can contact our Customer Service Team for more information.

A merchant account is what allows you to process card payments. Simply, if you haven’t ever applied to accept card payments it is unlikely you have a merchant account. When you are approved for a merchant account you are provided with a Merchant ID. This Merchant ID is known as a MID. It is a unique code given to a business by their payment processor (Acquirer) in order to begin accepting card payments (either Face to Face, online or over the phone).

Requirements to set up a merchant account vary depending on your business model. Any PSP would require you to provide business information (legal name, director information, website information, how you would like to accept payments) alongside some documentation collection for our Know Your Customer (KYC) activities. The bare minimum documentation we would collect is a proof of ID and proof of residential address. On occasion we may be required, by our Underwriters, to collect additional information to support the application for a merchant account. In this instance, we will contact you to arrange the additional documents/information to be sent to us.

Go live depends on the required documentation/information being provided to us. When all required documentation has been provided and the Underwriters are satisfied with the application and do not require any further information, your account could be approved within 5 working days.

Specific information to support the application process should be accurate and valid.
This information would be valid proof of ID and proof of residential address issued within 90 days.
All information regarding the business to be provided at first point of contact ie, pre auth, ATV, monthly turnover, CNP (card holder not present transaction).
All requested documents to be provided together.
Master service agreement and Tri Partitie to be signed and return within 24 hours of receiving the documents as this is required for the merchant and gateway account to be approved.

Whilst you may not have had to provide this information before, requirements often change due to industry standard scheme rules. We are required by law to complete these checks. It is a standard requirement that we collect specific documents (which is usually proof of ID and proof of address) at the minimum in order to verify the relevant individuals connected to a particular entity.

Docusign is an electronic signature platform that allows you to sign agreements digitally. It removes the need to download, print and scan back contracts, saving time and paper.

Please follow the tabs on the screen which will prompt you what you need to do next. Once you have finished signing/completing everything that needs to be done you will see a button appear at the bottom called ‘Complete’. If you need any assistance completing your DocuSign document please do let us know.

If you are a Gateway customer, you will need to speak to your Acquiring bank for support on how to become PCI compliant. As a ISO customer however, we can support you. We will assist with questions and terminology. Ultimately, we will help you attest your PCI compliance.

A high-risk warning is issued when a cardholder queries a specific transaction with their issuing bank. High-risk warnings send the transaction amount into your security balance to cover any refund or chargeback on the specific transaction. When you receive a high-risk warning you will have the opportunity to provide any backing information around the transaction to prevent it from turning into a chargeback.

You are unable to apply with CashFlows or First Data if you have been rejected within the last 12 months. Our team should have advised, sharing as much information as possible, why the account hasn’t been approved. Please feel free to contact our Onboarding team if you would like more information.

We are able to onboard and underwrite merchants within the EEA for our ISO model, and providing there is a connection into the required acquirer, we can facilitate any area for our gateway model. Our onboarding processes for both are the same regardless of region, however please note the KYC requirements may vary between regions.

KYC is an acronym for “Know your Customer”, a term commonly used for Customer Identification Process.

We have KYC checks in place to comply with EU regulations. This is required by card schemes and our commercial partners in order to provide you with any service.

No. You must supply a separate Proof of Address that has the same name listed on your Proof of Identity. The same document can not be used for both.

No, you only need to do the KYC checks once, unless changes in regulations require a repeat or when there has been a change to your business.

Please inform us if there are any changes related to your company’s registration such as registered name, address, any new directors or shareholders.

A beneficial owner is an individual who ultimately owns or controls more than 25% of a company’s shares or voting rights, or who otherwise exercises control over the company or its management.

Enhanced Due Diligence (“EDD”) is additional information collected for higher-risk customers to provide a deeper understanding of customer activity to mitigate associated risks.

Unfortunately, it is imperative we collect documentation and information on the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO). This is either the sole owner, partner, director or anyone owning 25% or more of the business. Without understanding who this person is, and collecting relevant documentation, we are unable to apply for a merchant account for you. We are legally required to perform these Know Your Customer activities.

If you do not have a bank account set up in your trading legal entity/the entity you are applying for a merchant account for, then unfortunately, we are unable to process your application. Due to Anti Money Laundering, your bank details must match the entity we are Underwriting. We would advise getting a bank account opened under the relevant legal entity in order for us to proceed with setting your account up.

Whilst we appreciate there may only be one individual running the day-to-day operations of a business, we are required to understand who the Ultimate Beneficial Owner of the business is. An Ultimate Beneficial Owner refers to the person(s) who ultimately own or control a customer relationship/business. Also on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. Ultimate Beneficial Owners could be the Sole Trader, Partner, Director or anyone owning 25% or more of the business. Essentially, UBOs are those persons who exercise ultimate effective control over a business.

ATV is your average transaction value, this can be calculated by taking the overall value of all transactions e.g. taxi journeys, customer purchases and dividing it by the total number or transactions.

Pre-payment is when a customer pays for the goods or services in advance of receiving the item/service e.g. a service; taxi journey.

Valid Driving or Provisional Licence or Passport

Utility Bill or Bank Statement dated within the last 30 days.

You would need to contact the court using one of the following contact methods to first obtain details (reference number, date and amount) of the CCJ in question – County Court Money Claims Centre – Tel: 0300 123 1372 – Email: ccmccustomerenquiries@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk OR County Court Business Centre – Tel: 0300 123 1056 – Email: ccbc@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk.

If your CCJ is unsettled you would then need to pay the amount in full. When this has been processed the Registry Trust would then update their records to show this as satisfied and remove the CCJ from your record.

If you believe the CCJ has already been settled, you will need to provide the court with your proof of payment/receipt of payment for this to be verified and the trust will update their records to show this as satisfied.

Please ensure if you are sending us a bank statement, the long card number on the page is blacked out entirely so the full number cannot be seen.

If you require your bank details to be updated please submit this request to us in writing via help@judopay.com with an attached bank statement from the last 90 days displaying the exact business name, sort code and account number.

For Gateway only customers we would need to receive a new/updated bank statement verifying the new legal name and the respective bank account which we would then update on our systems. Your Acquirer will provide you with a new Merchant ID (MID), we will need to re-register the new MID onto our systems.

For customers using us for Gateway and Acquiring, we would need to create a new account which will generate a new MID. In order to do this we would need to receive new and up-to-date KYC documents to verify the new legal entity. Essentially the new legal entity will go through the Underwriting process. (The old account would remain open for a certain time period so any refunds, chargebacks etc can be resolved as this would not be possible to do on the new account for the new legal entity).

If you are using our Full Stack solution please contact our Customer Service Team to get the descriptor changed. If you are connecting to your own Acquiring bank, please reach out to them as they will be able to assist you with this request.

You can send a receipt by locating the transaction within the Judopay portal & clicking the “Send Receipt” button. You will be prompted to enter the email address that you would like to send the receipt to.

For all queries, please contact help@judopay.com or our support line on 0203 503 0600 & our support team will assist in either resolving your issue or transferring you to the correct team.

You can accept Amex payments via Judopay if you already have an existing American Express Merchant ID / or you can apply for an Amex merchant account here: https://amex.co/2TYD494
– Once you have an Amex Merchant ID, you just need to let us know that you’d like to accept Amex and send your merchant ID to help@judopay.com. We’ll do the rest and confirm was tested and active.
- You will be charged a monthly fee by American Express (£50).
– Any funds processed via Amex will be held and paid out by Amex directly.
– Registration of your Amex MID can take up to 7 business days.
– Amex 3DS enrollment can take up to 8 business days but if your MID is activated already you can process payments without 3DS.

Yes, our platform can support payments from these cards.

Yes, our platform can support payments from these cards. Please speak to a member of the Support team if you'd like to set this up.

This can depend on many factors and will be outlined in the agreement that you signed with Judopay. It is likely to be any time between 2 & 7 days depending on your acquiring partner.

You need to advise Judopay as soon as you start the process for any of the above as we may need to carry out regulatory checks or update our partners. Failure to do this could result in loss of service. You can reach out to our support team if you have any questions about this process.

Transaction clearing time depends on the bank and the terms set out for every account based on the business type. For this reason accounts have different clearing times and these may vary. Clearing times will usually be 3-5 days, however please contact our Customer Service Team to get the information for your account.

If you notice any payments missing on your bank account, please contact our Customer Service Team who will investigate this for you and liaise with our acquiring bank / gateway partners.

When one of your transactions receives a high risk warning (a cardholder raises a query about that transaction with their bank), the amount for that transaction is sent to your security balance and is kept in there for 60 days in case a refund is needed. If the transaction doesn’t receive a chargeback, the amount will mature and return to your account after 60 days.

Currently the best way to look up a transaction is by the last 4 digits of the card used, amount and date. You may filter transactions on your Judopay portal to identify these fields. We are working to enhance the reporting on our portal and include the acquiring bank transaction reference which will match that on your acquiring bank online account, making it easier to reconcile. As soon as this feature is available we will ensure this is communicated.

A transaction can get declined for many different reasons. We completely understand that this can be sometimes frustrating for your customers. If any of your customers has a declined transaction, please contact our Customer Service Team with the date/time of the payment, the amount and the last 4 digits. One of our Representatives will investigate the transaction and advise if the transaction has been blocked by our fraud prevention engine or by the issuing/acquiring bank.

We appreciate that sometimes a single login to the portal might not be enough. You may request additional users to be set up by emailing our Customer Service Team and providing us with the full name and email address of the new user, as well as the level of access required (admin or standard). Please note that we can only accept such requests from an email address that is already registered on the account.

The API credentials are made up of a token and secret (username and password), and they allow you to connect to Judopay and enable you to send transactions to us. These details can be found by logging in to your Judopay account -> Your Apps. When your account goes live, we also provide our partner with this information on your behalf.

You may have users accessing your online account with different levels of access. You may set up users to only process payments through the virtual terminal, restrict access to refunds and control their view over your transactions or apps. Please contact our Customer Service Team to amend your permissions.

Chargebacks are disputes that are raised against a merchant when a cardholder does not recognise a transaction on their bank statement or if they believe that they did not receive the service that they paid for.

When a chargeback is raised, the customer's issuing bank will reach out and ask for evidence that, either the registered cardholder made the purchase or the service paid for was provided.

Each chargeback that is raised incurs a non-refundable £15 fee, even if you supply sufficient evidence.

This fee is an admin fee that is charged by the issuing bank to the acquiring bank who will then pass on this fee to the merchant.

Even if your dispute is successful, the cardholder can raise a “”Second Chargeback”” and the same chargeback fee applies – 2nd Chargebacks will usually require that you provide extra supporting evidence.

Your chargeback notification will detail how to submit dispute information.
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– You should include all evidence that you hold for the transaction
– PRIVATE HIRE – Provide booking details including GPS tracking/call recordings if payment was made via VT.
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Contact help@judopay.com for more information.

If merchants have 3D Secure turned on then there is a liability shift to card issuers if the transaction is fraudulent. If there is a chargeback, for example, and the customer does not recognise the transaction then the merchant will be liable for this.

Generally, Judopay will not process refunds on your behalf and we encourage you to use the JudoPortal to do this yourself. If you are having issues when attempting to process a refund then please contact help@judopay.com.

You can process a refund (or partial refund) by logging into the Judopay portal and clicking “”History”” in the left side menu.

– From here, you can search for the transaction that you need to refund using the receipt ID, the last 4 digits of the card, or the consumer reference number.
– Once you have located the transaction, click on the > icon to view more details.
– Click the “”refund”” button.
– You will now be given the option to refund the full amount, or enter a partial amount.
– Please note: a partial refund can only be processed 24 hours after the original payment (if your acquirer is CashFlows only).
– Once the refund is submitted, it will usually reach the customers account within 3-5 days.

You do not have access to void payments within the Judopay Portal – this is to ensure voids are not requested in error

– You can get in touch with Judopay to request the void of a transaction or refund.
– Please email help@judopay.com and give as much information about the transaction as possible (receipt ID, date, time, amount, last 4 digits of card).
– Depending on your acquiring bank and the time between payment & void request, we may not be able to void.
– If this is the case, we will inform you of the next steps (likely to be a refund).
– If a payment is refunded in error and we are not able to process a void then you will need to contact the consumer to process the payment again, we are not able to recharge a card once a refund has been processed.

Your Operators Licence confirms that you are legally registered to provide private hire/taxi services.

As a regulated financial services provider Judopay will occasionally be required to update the compliance documentation relating to your account.

This alters depending on the country. Proof that you are legally registered to carry out private hire/taxi services will be required.

PCI-DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and IS intended to protect sensitive cardholder data by enforcing tight controls surrounding the storage, transmission and processing of cardholder data that businesses handle. Everyone that accepts card payments must be compliant with the PCI-DSS requirements at some level, even when using a third party as payment provider.

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is legislation that sets requirements related to data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union and the European Economic Area. The aim is to ensure that individual's data is handled in a standard secure way across all industries. More about GDPR can be found here https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

Penetration testing is performed by an independent security company twice per year and after any major changes. All new product features are subject to penetration testing before they are released. Internal and external vulnerability scans are performed weekly. Intrusion detection is handled through systems which alert us if suspicious activity is detected or files are unexpectedly changed on any system. Our PCI-DSS compliance Level 1 status means we are audited annually to ensure we maintain best practice in securely storing sensitive card information.

You may block a consumer from your Judopay online account. In order to do this, please locate the specific transaction, click “card validation” and then “blacklist” under the consumer information. You may follow this same process to blacklist devices. To blacklist a card, please email help@judopay.com with the consumer reference to blacklist all cards linked to that consumer or a specific receipt ID to just blacklist the card used on that specific transaction.

Fraud rules block transactions based on customer behaviour. That is, you may limit the number of transactions a specific consumer or card can complete within a defined period of time, how many declined transactions they can have or how many cards a single customer can register on their profile. Any transaction that exceeds any of your rules will be blocked to protect you from potential fraud.

We offer multiple rules, including: Number of transactions a consumer / device / card, maximum number of declines per consumer / device / card, maximum number of cards a consumer can register and blacklisted issuing countries.

By using these fraud rules you will ensure that any consumer exceeding your rules is prevented from transacting with you. This will protect you from potential fraud and avoid authorised transactions that could then turn into chargebacks, at cost to your company.

The fraud rules are effective by blocking transactions based on consumer behaviour, however we do advise merchants to also set up their own limitations within their own platforms, i.e. controlling the number of cards a customer can register, limiting transaction amounts etc. Please note that these rules are not designed to eradicate fraud or chargebacks.

Judopay supports 3D Secure (3DS) authentication. When in use, 3DS transactions are authenticated by the issuing bank prior to authorisation, minimising the risk of fraudulent chargebacks and shifting the liability on to the issuing bank in case of fraud. Judopay also offers JudoShield, a set of rules that block transactions based on historic consumer behaviour to reduce fraudulent transactions.

If it is your first time integrating 3D Secure, you will need to ensure you have an API application key (token and secret) enabled for 3D Secure. Please contact help@judopayments.com to get this configured on your account.

We're currently unable to block or reject non-3DS payments. If the card is not enrolled with 3DS, authentication is not requested and the transaction is processed as normal. In these cases we flag the transaction with the issuer as "3DS attempted but not enrolled".

However, for cards that are enrolled in 3DS, if the cardholder does not pass the authentication stage, the payment fails.

You can access reports in the Judopay portal by heading to the 'History' tab.

– Click 'Filter' and select the information and dates you want to report on (you can filter by: All TXs, Refunds, Payments).
– Once confirmed, click 'Download' and a CSV report will be downloaded to your computer.
**Please note – You can download a maximum of 50,000 TXs per report** for larger volumes you will need to split your reports by date.
– E.g. Enter a 7 day date range and download, change dates, download.

We also offer daily automated reports which show all transactions from the previous day – If you would like these enabled, please contact help@judopay.com.

Pre-auth, Pre-authorisations or Pre-auths are used to:
– Verify card details
– Verify the card has sufficient balance to cover its transaction

Pre-auths can be for any amount but you will mostly see £1.01p or £0.01p. These pre-auths are used to verify that the card details entered are valid
– These amounts never leave the cardholders account and are held by the issuer and usually voided (returned to the cardholder’s account) within a few hours
- **Please note** It can sometimes take up to a week for these to be returned. Judopay are unable to return these funds as they are held by the card issuer.
- If a cardholder has not received their funds after 7 days, please contact Judopay with the transaction details and we can supply you with an Authorisation code which the cardholder can give to their issuer to reverse the pre-authorisation.


Pre-auths for larger amounts are usually used to check that the cardholder has sufficient funds to pay for the goods/services.
– These pre-auths will not be void by the issuer until a collection or cancellation request is sent by the merchant
– Depending on your payment flow, you can collect a larger/smaller amount than was pre-authorised
– These will show in your transaction reports as a COLLECTION rather than a payment.

We need to have a legally binding agreement establishing responsibilities and rights associated with the provision of services. This is also very important for your compliance with PCI-DSS requirements as we will process payments on your behalf.

If you are not an authorised signatory of the company we will need to receive your proof of ID and address in order to update our systems. In case you receive a document to sign via DocuSign and you want to assign to an authorised signatory, you can click “reassign” and add the email address and full name of the person you want to receive it.