Trying to close your GivingFire account? 


Whether your organization is closing, you are moving to a new service provider, or need to cancel for other reasons, this article will walk you through all the steps and forms that need to be completed to fully close your GivingFire account. Please read the article closely in its entirety as it contains important information throughout. 


What are you closing when you close your account?


There are several components that work together to make your GivingFire account work. Think of GivingFire as the the TV and our vendors as the various cables that run into it to provide power, sound, and connection to a DVD player. With that in mind, here are the various vendors ("cables") you have an agreement with:


1. Credit/Debit Card Processor


When you initially set up your GivingFire account, you signed two merchant processing agreements: one for credit/debit card processing and one for ACH/eCheck processing. Depending on when you signed up, you either have an account with PaySafe or PayRoc. Here is how you can tell which vendor you have an account with: 

  • PaySafe account: Your Merchant ID (MID, found on your physical processing statement that gets mailed to you once a month) begins with either 5482 or 5179. 
  • PayRoc account: Your Merchant ID (MID) begins with 5166.


2. ACH/eCheck Processor


We only use one vendor for ACH/eCheck processing, ReliaFund. You should be receiving electronic invoices from them in the middle of each month. 


3. Payment Gateway


The payment gateway acts like a traditional credit card terminal, the piece of equipment where you manually swipe your card at the store. USAePay is the virtual terminal (or gateway) that we use. They have since been bought by NMI, but they have kept the USAePay brand. 


How to close your account


Now that you know who the various vendors are, lets walk through the steps to closing your account. 


1. Communicate to your donors


The biggest impediment to changing online donation platforms is the effort it takes to move your donors from your old platform to your new platform, especially those donors with recurring donations set up. You can quickly see which donors have recurring donations set up by running a recurring donation report. We would recommend contacting these donors and giving them a clear and short deadline to transfer their recurring donation. If you are changing platforms, work with your new platform to provide clear and simple instructions for how to do this. 


2. Download your information


Once all recurring donations have been transferred over and you are done using GivingFire for donations, download all your transaction history. Once your account is closed, you will no longer be able to access this information. This will be especially important for the current year's tax statement information. 


If you are transitioning to a new platform, you can work with them ahead of time to import your donors from GivingFire to their platform. I would recommend working with them to develop a strategy for how to best transfer all your information to their platform.


3. Begin the cancelation process


Contact your account manager


Send an email to your GivingFire account manager (support@givingfire.com) requesting that your account be closed. Your account manager can assemble your cancelation paperwork, send it to you for signature, and submit it to the various vendors for you. In this case, your work is done and you will just need to obtain a verification email from your account manager once your account has been fully closed.


Complete your cancelation paperwork


If you have been able to contact your account manager, they will drive this process for you. If, for some reason, you are unable to contact your account manager, then you will need to do this step yourself. 


First, ensure that your signing officer is updated. PaySafe and PayRoc will not process your cancelation paperwork if the signer they have on file does not match the signer on the cancelation paperwork. Once you have received confirmation that the new signer has been added, you can submit the cancelation request. 


Complete the attached forms (either PaySafe Cancelation Form or PayRoc Cancelation Form) with the required information. Your Merchant ID (MID) can be found on your monthly processing statement. It is important that you are certain that you are sending the right form to the right company. Again:

  • PaySafe account: Your Merchant ID (MID) begins with either 5482 or 5179.
  • PayRoc account: Your Merchant ID (MID) begins with 5166.


When the form has been completed and signed, draft an email with the subject "Closure Request: [Your Organization Name] +[MID]" with the following message:


Dear team,
Please see the attached paperwork for this request. 
Thank you,
[Your Name]


For PaySafe cancellations, email wholesale_ps@paysafe.com (cc'ing meritcardsupport@paysafe.com). For PayRoc cancellations, email cs.commerce@payroc.com. 


To cancel your ReliaFund account, complete the attached ReliaFund Cancelation Form. You will not likely have your ReliaFund MID, not to worry, leave that blank and just make note of it in our email to ReliaFund. When the form has been completed and signed, draft an email with the subject "Closure Request: [Your Organization's Legal Name] +[MID, if you have it]" and send it to operations@reliafund.com. 


Finally, to close your USAePay Gateway account, email cancellations@usaepay.com with the subject "Closure Request: [Your Organization Name] +[PaySafe/PayRoc MID]" and request the closure of your gateway account effective immediately. 


One Important Note: Be sure to obtain verification from each vendor that your account has been fully closed. This may require follow-up emails until you receive the verification. Save this verification email somewhere you can easily find it. ReliaFund, PayRoc, and USAePay are generally good about fully closing accounts. PaySafe may require additional prompting. Your merchant account with PaySafe consists of two parts: a front-end account and a back-end account. PaySafe will often close the front-end account and will send a verification email confirming the same. However, at times they fail to close the back-end account. PaySafe has a 90-day inactive fee. If you see a $99 charge three months after you close your account, this is likely because PaySafe failed to close the back-end portion of your account. Forward them the cancelation confirmation email along with a screenshot of the charge to your bank account and request that they ensure that your entire account is closed and that you are refunded for the $99. Once you have received the refund (only after, not before) request that your bank block any future debits/credits from PaySafe. 


If you have followed these steps, your account is now fully closed. If you have been unable to make contact with GivingFire, send an email to support@givingfire.com after you have received confirmation from all vendors that your accounts with them are closed. Inform GivingFire that you have closed your vending accounts and that the receipt of the email should be considered your formal cancelation of your GivingFire account, effective immediately. 


We appreciate your business and the the trust you have given us over the years. We are sorry to see you go, and we hope that your next season will be fruitful in the Lord.