During onboarding, if a merchant application is submitted that cannot be approved without additional verification from the merchant, Rainforest will move the merchant application to the status of Needs Information.

When a merchant application is in the Needs Information status, the Merchant Onboarding Component can be utilized to request the needed information and re-submit the application for review.

Review reasons

There are various reasons a merchant application will move to the Needs Information status. For each reason, Rainforest will present the necessary steps in the Merchant Onboarding Component to collect the information necessary to verify the merchant for onboarding.

Reasons

Reason	Description
Business Tax ID Number	We were unable to match the business legal name and Tax ID. The merchant can update the business legal name and/or the Tax ID to match IRS records.
Business Verification	We were unable to verify that the merchant's business is actively registered. The merchant must provide a recent business license or Secretary of State filing. Multiple files may be uploaded, allowing the merchant to provide as much information as possible to verify the merchant's business.
Funding Deposit Method	We were unable to confirm the funding bank account provided is an open and active account belonging to the merchant. The merchant can update their business legal name or bank account, if inputted incorrectly. Or the merchant can upload a bank letter or voided check to verify the bank account is in the name of the legal entity.
Billing Deposit Method	We were unable to confirm the billing bank account provided is an open and active account belonging to the merchant. Only applicable to merchants on Gross billing. The merchant can update their business legal name or bank account, if inputted incorrectly. Or the merchant can upload a bank letter or voided check to verify the bank account is in the name of the legal entity.
Financial Review 1	We need additional information to complete a financial review of the merchant. The merchant must provide the most recent 3 months or processing statements OR bank statements. Multiple files may be uploaded, allowing the merchant to provide both processing statements and bank statements.
Financial Review 2	We need additional information to complete a financial review of the merchant. The merchant must provide three types of documents - most recent 3 months of processing statements, most recent 3 months of bank statements, AND 2 years plus current year-to-date financial statements. Multiple files may be uploaded to provide all the required documents.
Owner #1 Name / SSN	We were unable to match owner #1's name and Social security number. The merchant can update the owner's name and/or SSN to match IRS records. The merchant can also update all owner fields if a different owner needs to be added.
Owner #2 Name / SSN	We were unable to match owner #2's name and Social security number. The merchant can update the owner's name and/or SSN to match IRS records. The merchant can also update all owner fields if a different owner needs to be added.
Owner #3 Name / SSN	We were unable to match owner #3's name and Social security number. The merchant can update the owner's name and/or SSN to match IRS records. The merchant can also update all owner fields if a different owner needs to be added.
Owner #4 Name / SSN	We were unable to match owner #4's name and Social security number. The merchant can update the owner's name and/or SSN to match IRS records. The merchant can also update all owner fields if a different owner needs to be added.

The Financial 1 and Financial 2 underwriting review reasons are mutually exclusive. A merchant will only be presented with one of the Financial Review steps depending on the information Rainforest requires to approve the merchant for processing.

How to collect the information

The information can be provided by the platform in the Rainforest Platform Portal or by the merchant in the embedded Merchant Onboarding Component.

Platform portal

In the Platform Portal, your support staff can filter the merchant report for the merchant application status of Needs Information, contact the merchant to collect the information, and then provide it directly in the Platform Portal.

A merchant in Needs Information will have an "Underwriting Review Reasons" section with the reasons why Rainforest was unable to approve the merchant. The information can be provided by clicking "Edit" at the bottom of the Pending Application section.

Merchant onboarding component

You can automate this process and reduce operational tasks for your support staff by enabling the merchant to provide this information with the embedded Merchant Onboarding Component.

Listen to the Needs Information webhook

We will trigger a merchant_application.needs_information webhook when the application is moved to the Needs Information status. You should listen to this webhook and then notify the merchant that they need to come back to the onboarding flow to provide the additional verification.

Embed the merchant onboarding component

In your platform, embed the Merchant Onboarding Component similar to the initial application process. The merchant will be presented with the necessary steps to provide the needed information and re-submit the application.

Sandbox simulation

This process can be simulated in the Rainforest Sandbox environment using the simulate merchant application status change endpoint in the API to move a submitted merchant application to the Needs Information status with various review reasons.