Freedom-Embracing Credit Processing Company Open for Business

Over the years banking institutes have labeled federal firearm licensed dealers as a so-called “vice” industry. Companies have been punished via high rates or unjustified debanking. Elite 2A Pay is a credit processing company that respects the Second Amendment and firearm industry.

Director of Sales Adam Yaras from Elite 2A Pay talked about the company’s 22-year history of serving customers. Originally formulated as Elite Merchant Solutions, a few years ago Yaras and the team saw the need to focus on servicing firearm related Industries.

“At any moment in time, they can drop you. I’ve seen it, I’ve heard it. I’ve lived it,” Yaras talked about other processing companies and their hostility towards Second Amendment related businesses during our interview. “We’ve had plenty of accounts where we’ve called [potential clients and they say], ‘Hey, I’m doing alright. I’ll be alright.’ Boom, they call us a month or two later, ‘Hey, I got shut down by Square.’”

This is not a tale that’s new. Firearm related businesses have been dealing with the threat of debanking for years. The President Barack Obama era “Operation Choke Point” was the federal government’s program that encouraged banking institutes to sever services to alleged high risk businesses – specifically targeting any company involved with firearms.

The threat of having services severed is not the only attack on these types of companies. Yaras explained that many conventional credit processing companies would charge exorbitant rates to merchants just to conduct business. Transaction fees, he said, could be as high as six percent. At Elite 2A Pay, they aim to keep those fees low.

While the company does not have a set schedule for every service they have, they do give each business an individualized program to work with.

“Our effective cost is in the mid to high 2’s versus our competitors [who] are 3, 4, sometimes even 5 or 6 percent. Sure we’re steady in the 2’s,” Yaras explained the fee structure. “Sometimes it could be even lower, but it depends on the product – as what they sell. A range that is doing a lot of rentals and ammo sales, people are more inclined to use their debit card. And then you have those high end gun stores where, hey, you’re selling Scars and Staccatos and Nighthawks. I’m going to use probably a card that’s going to get me miles or points, and that card’s a little bit more expensive.”

Elite 2A Pay offers a host of options and solutions for those who need credit processing. If a customer needs hardware, they’re happy to supply it, but it’s really in the software – the back end, where the company gets their flex. Yaras said that when they onboard new clients, they don’t try to force a hardware exchange. Rather, they keep what they’re already using and just reprogram it for their system.

For established companies who already work in different arenas, Elite 2A Pay, Yaras says, can work with what you have.

“A lot of these gun stores have now added their gun store on the internet as well as GunBroker. All of those components, we’re able to integrate into, and actually, those are the easiest ones to turn over,” Yaras said when discussing integration options. “It’s funny to think that – sometimes people think, ‘Oh, it’s all this headache.’ It’s really a flip of the switch. We reuse their gateway, and things really don’t change other than the service, and the cost is going to go down.”

In terms of numbers for who needs servicing, perhaps not volume or revenue, it might be instructors. Yaras talked about options for folks who don’t have a brick and mortar location, but do want credit processing.

“Instructors fall into this category because they are dealing with firearms. They’re not FFLs, per se, but they are still affiliated with that. Our world. Our 2A space. We take those guys on all day long,” Yaras noted. “We have systems that can send out text-to-pay, email-to-pay. You can go on their site, they’ll have a shopping cart, or [if] they want to have that mobile reader.”

In addition to servicing freedom oriented businesses, Elite 2A Pay is very above the fold with their support of Second Amendment related organizations and causes. Right on their website they list that they support groups like the Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, and Gun Owners of America. That support, Yaras says, comes in the way of either direct contribution or percentages back.

“Here’s a percentage back to the association, or to the 501(c)(3),” Yaras said as an example of how they’ll work with C threes or C fours. “Or we pay for dues, or we have certain ways where we can customize it however we want.”

This could be of particular importance to gun clubs and grassroots groups who are already working on a shoestring budget. “I’m passionate, man, I really am. But yeah, anyone out there – 501’s, anyone out there – those ones that you talked about, well, I’m a member of a bunch of them.”

When Yaras was asked about what’s coming down the line for the company he said, “I won’t bore you with every little nook and cranny detail, but partnerships for softwares and point of sales are coming down the bend.” Some of the conversations the company is having deals with direct integration with FFLs’ software, FastBound.

Looking into the immediate future, Yaras says he’s just thankful for opportunity.

“We’re starting to do stuff like this…podcast shows. We’re meeting people,” Yaras said about what else they have coming around the bend. “There’s the NRA coming up, end of April, we’ll be there, we’ll have our booth. And then GOA, we’re for sure locked and loaded for that in August, I went last year just to walk, and had a great time. I’ve been a member of GOA for a long time.”

With all of the hurdles and issues advocates, activists, and businesses relating to the Second Amendment, it’s refreshing to learn about companies like Elite 2A Pay. Maybe this is a good option for you and your business needs. Maybe it’s not. But it’s certainly worth checking out, which you can do at Elite2APay.com.

If you’d like to watch the entire interview with Adam Yaras, the director of sales of Elite 2A Pay, you can do so HERE or in the embed below.