A strip of magnetic tape affixed to the back of credit cards containing identifying data such as account number and cardholder name.

A batch close that the merchant initiated. 

A business that accepts credit cards.

This number is generated by a processor/acquirer and is specific to each individual merchant location. This number is used to identify the merchant during the processing of daily transactions, rejects, adjustments, chargebacks, end-of-month processing fees, etc.

Private label credit cards are designed mainly for repairs, maintenance, and fueling of business vehicles.

The footer is the text printed at the bottom of a sales draft. A merchant can customize the footer (e.g., “Have a Nice Day,” “No Refunds,” “Thank You for Shopping With Us,” etc.).

A bank that is a member of Visa or MasterCard, etc., that gives banks access to their processing networks. Only banks may join; therefore, processors must have an MSP in order to gain access to the processing networks. 

In order to be competitive and offer lower discount rates, credit card processors can get creative and charge fees that are unique to them. This gives the merchant a false perception of what they are truly paying.

Below, the credit card processor added a fee called “Network & Processor Access Fee” for .07%. This is not to be confused with the actual fee named “Network Access Fee” charged by the processing networks and is a dollar amount, not a percentage.

In order to be competitive and offer lower discount rates, credit card processors can get creative and charge fees that are unique to them. This gives the merchant a false perception of what they are truly paying.

Below, the credit card processor is charging the merchant .48% for a “Risk Fee.” This fee is imposed by the credit card processor, not the processing networks. It is not charged to all of their merchant agreements; only some merchants have to pay this fee. We have only found this fee being charged by one credit card processor. To put this in perspective, this added fee is almost ten times what a merchant should be paying the processor, and this does not include the “Discount Rate.”

In order to be competitive and offer lower discount rates, credit card processors can get creative and charge fees that are unique to them. This gives the merchant a false perception of what they are truly paying.

Below, the credit card processor is charging the merchant .15% for a “Settlement Funding Fee.” This fee is imposed by the credit card processor, not the processing networks. It is not charged to all of their merchant agreements; only some merchants have to pay this fee. This little added fee is three times what the merchant should be paying their processor, and that’s before the discount rate gets added in.

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