Onboarding Friction for Mid-Tier Merchant Account Applications

Curious to hear about others' experiences navigating merchant account applications recently, specifically for businesses transacting in the mid-five to low-six figure range monthly. It feels like the goalposts for onboarding and KYB have shifted considerably in the past year, especially with certain PSPs and acquiring banks. We're a legitimate operation, clean compliance record, but the back-and-forth for seemingly trivial documentation, extended review periods, and requests for information beyond standard due diligence feels disproportionate to the risk profile.

It's not just the time sink, which is significant when you're trying to scale, but the opportunity cost of having funds tied up or being limited to sub-optimal processing rates due to being stuck in an 'under review' loop. Has anyone found particular strategies or, without naming specific providers, types of institutions that are more streamlined for established businesses that aren't quite institutional, but well beyond startup phase? We're evaluating alternatives to our current setup, but the upfront friction is a major deterrent to switching.