The fact is that the barrier to entry into this space is extremely low, doing extensive background checks (including credit pulls) is one way to push people out of the space. Credit inquiries only affect your FICO for the first 12 months and play a very small part in your actual credit scoring.

This industry reflects very heavily on The Pareto Principle, where 80% of the people on the telephones calling on merchants will be gone from the industry within 6 months. That's a shame, because all it does is hurt the other 20% who have actually been here and will be here for the long haul, providing real value to this industry (by having built it) from doing their job and gaining access to merchants.

Think about it for a minute? Funders are hiring Joe Blow, without a credit check, without a full criminal history check, and without any other quality background check, and Joe Blow is collecting social security numbers, bank statements, tax returns, home addresses, etc. of merchants. Does that not sound scary to you guys?