GreenHouse Payment Solutions offers banking aid for cannabis businesses.
The lack of banking in the cannabis industry is as difficult for a cannabis business owner to deal with as it is easy for everyone to understand: Businesses need banks. Nobody wants to tote around garbage bags of cash.
Last fall, Congress passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019 (SAFE), which would give canna-businesses access to banking. But the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, so the banking issue is a long way from resolution.
Chris Mills, CEO of GreenHouse Payment Solutions, says that the conundrum continues to confound bankers and bank-service providers, especially with so many CBD companies looking for guidance now. “The FDIC has not put in place any kind of information to the regulators,” he says. “The big banks that look at it and who have the formula about the percentage of assets and bank money on hand can facilitate having cannabis businesses.
It’s all nice and dandy that things are getting discussed in Washington and all. But the banks still need direction.”
He thinks that medical cannabis will be legalized in all 50 states before banks make any real decisions. “The general business community is pushing their elected representatives, telling them that this is coming and asking them, ‘Do you want to regulate this or not?’”
GreenHouse has now opened two new banking solutions for the industry, both designed to avoid the mistakes Mills sees with other banking solutions. It makes it easy for the customer to use, it’s inexpensive for merchants to operate, and it won’t be shut down. “Those are our parameters,” he says.
One is styled after a Google Pay app, where a user will be able to pay either online or use a credit card at dispensaries. “Both use bank accounts, but we won’t charge for the bank account, unlike some other banks,” he says. “So we will see how it goes. People want to pay with their cards or their phones. People don’t carry around cash anymore.”
The new products have been a long time coming, Mills says, but he believes in staying prudent. “People come and go in the payment and banking side of this business, and we have been here almost 11 years now,” he says. “We are here for the long term and not just to make money. We try to stay cutting edge and have solutions that no one else has. Honesty, integrity, and service are at the heart of GreenHouse Payment Solutions.”
“People want to pay with their cards or their phones. People don’t carry around cash anymore.”
—Chris Mills, CEO of GreenHouse Payment Solutions
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