How to Read Your Merchant Statement: Find Hidden Fees in 2026

Most US merchants pay 0.5 to 1.5 percent more than they should on credit card processing. The reason is simple: their merchant statement is intentionally complex, and they never read it. This guide teaches you to read every line of your merchant statement, identify the 17 hidden fees most processors slip in, calculate your true effective rate, and use that data to negotiate a better deal or switch processors entirely.

How to read a merchant statement: anatomy of a billing cycle

Your merchant statement is the single most important document in your card processing relationship, and it is the document almost no business owner actually reads. That gap, between what the statement says and what owners understand, is exactly where processors make their margin. This guide walks you through every section of a typical statement so you can stop filing it blindly and start using it to control your processing costs.

What a merchant statement is and why most owners ignore it

A merchant statement is the monthly billing summary issued by your acquiring bank or processor. It documents every transaction batch you settled, every fee assessed against your account, every adjustment, and every chargeback during the billing cycle. A typical statement runs 8 to 20 pages and is packed with industry shorthand: IC++, downgrades, qualified buckets, assessments, interchange categories, BIN ranges. The terminology is dense on purpose.

Most small and mid-size business owners file the statement without reading it. Some glance at the total fee number on page one and move on. This is the single most expensive habit in merchant services. The statement contains every fee you paid, every transaction routed at the wrong interchange level, every padding charge added since you signed up, and every clue you need to know whether you are paying 2.4 percent effective or 3.8 percent. Reading it correctly, even at a basic level, is the difference between a fair processing relationship and a slow leak that costs thousands per year.

The five main sections of every merchant statement

Almost every statement, regardless of processor, contains the same five sections in roughly this order.

1. Summary page. The high-level totals: card volume processed, total fees charged, net deposited to your bank.
2. Transaction summary. A breakdown by card brand and by interchange category, showing where your volume actually landed.
3. Fee detail. The itemized list of every fee charged during the cycle, often the longest section.
4. Batch summary. A line for each daily settlement, with date, card brand totals, and net deposit.
5. Adjustments and chargebacks. Refunds, disputed transactions, fee reversals, and any compliance debits.

Learn to navigate these five sections and you can decode any statement in any format from any processor.

Decoding the summary page

The summary page sits at the front and is the most readable part of the statement. It typically shows total card volume (the gross sales processed through cards during the cycle), total fees (the headline number, often the only one owners look at), effective rate (total fees divided by total card volume, expressed as a percentage), and net deposit (volume minus fees and adjustments).

The single most useful number on this page is the effective rate. Compare it against your contracted rate. If you signed at 2.5 percent and your effective rate reads 3.4 percent, you are paying 0.9 percent above your quoted cost. On 50,000 dollars of monthly volume that is 450 dollars per month, 5,400 dollars per year, leaving your account in fees you did not understand were coming. Mismatch between contracted rate and effective rate is the loudest signal a statement can give, and it usually points to downgrade fees, padded markup, or charges that were not disclosed at sign-up.

Transaction summary: where the data actually lives

The transaction summary is where the real story sits. It breaks your volume down by card brand first (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover), and then by card type within each brand (consumer debit, consumer credit, rewards, corporate, business, signature, infinite, and so on). Inside each card type, the volume is further split by interchange category: qualified, mid-qualified, non-qualified, or under interchange-plus pricing, by specific interchange program name.

Two pieces of information matter most here. First, volume per category, because non-qualified and downgraded transactions cost dramatically more than qualified ones, and this is where most overpayment hides. Second, transaction count per category, because a high non-qualified count usually points to a terminal misconfiguration, missing address verification, or a card-present setup running card-not-present. Fixing those is operational, not a rate negotiation.

Fee detail: 30+ line items typical

This is where the statement gets uncomfortable. A typical fee detail section lists 20 to 40 separate line items. Knowing what each one is, and which are legitimate, is the bulk of statement literacy.

• Interchange fees. Set by the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Discover), non-negotiable, identical for every processor. These pay the issuing bank.
• Assessment fees. Paid to Visa and Mastercard for use of their networks, roughly 0.13 to 0.14 percent of volume, also non-negotiable.
• Processor markup. The negotiable part. Often labeled “discount rate” on tiered statements, or shown as a basis-point markup on interchange-plus statements.
• Statement fee. 5 to 25 dollars per month for issuing the statement itself.
• Monthly minimum. Typically 25 dollars per month if you process below a set volume threshold.
• PCI compliance fee. 10 to 50 dollars per quarter, sometimes billed monthly.
• Annual fee. 75 to 150 dollars per year, often labeled “regulatory” or “membership”.
• Batch fee. 0.10 to 0.30 dollars per daily settlement batch.
• Authorization fee. 0.05 to 0.15 dollars per transaction, separate from interchange.
• Chargeback fee. 15 to 50 dollars per chargeback case, regardless of outcome.
• IRS reporting fee. Charged for 1099-K processing, often 2 to 5 dollars per month.
• Gateway fee. If you use a separate gateway like Authorize.net or NMI, you will see a per-transaction and monthly charge.
• Equipment lease. If your terminal is leased rather than purchased, you will see a monthly equipment charge, often 30 to 100 dollars.
• Wireless fee. For wireless or mobile terminals that use cellular data, typically 10 to 20 dollars per month.

Not every statement will list every one of these, and some bundle multiple fees into a single line. That bundling is usually intentional, and it is one of the things to look for.

Batch summary: daily settlement detail

The batch summary shows each daily settlement individually. For each batch you will see the batch date, totals by card brand, the settlement date when funds hit your bank (typically T+1 for most processors), and the net deposit amount. Any held batches or declined settlements show up here as well.

This section is rarely problematic for most merchants, but it is useful when reconciling against your bank deposits. If you ever see a missing settlement, this is where you find it.

Adjustments and chargebacks

This section captures everything that moved against you during the cycle. Chargeback debits appear when a customer disputes a transaction and the funds are pulled back from your account. Refund adjustments appear when you process refunds, and depending on the processor, the original transaction fees may or may not be returned to you (most do not return interchange). Reversal fees appear when transactions are voided after authorization. Compliance adjustments are rare but show up if Visa or Mastercard penalize your account for excessive chargebacks or program violations.

For most merchants this section is short. For high-risk verticals, it can be substantial, and tracking the chargeback ratio month over month is essential.

The two metrics that actually matter

You can ignore most of the statement most of the time if you track two numbers each cycle.

1. Effective rate. Total fees divided by total card volume. This is a single percentage that summarizes every cost you paid, whether it is interchange, assessments, markup, or fixed fees. It is the only number that lets you compare statements across months, across processors, or against the rate you were quoted.

2. Net deposit ratio. Net deposited to your bank divided by gross processed. This tells you what percentage of your sales you actually receive after all card costs. It includes chargebacks and adjustments, so it is the most honest measure of cash retention.

Track these two numbers monthly and you will catch rate creep, downgrade problems, and surprise fees within one billing cycle.

Typical effective rate ranges by business type

Different verticals carry different baseline costs because interchange varies by card type and average ticket. Use this table as a sanity check against your own effective rate.

Business type	Typical effective rate	Reasonable target
Restaurant (full-service)	2.6 to 3.5 percent	2.4 to 2.8 percent
Restaurant (QSR)	2.5 to 3.2 percent	2.3 to 2.7 percent
Retail (general)	2.3 to 3.0 percent	2.1 to 2.5 percent
E-commerce	2.5 to 3.4 percent	2.4 to 2.9 percent
Gas station	2.0 to 2.6 percent	1.9 to 2.3 percent
B2B / wholesale	2.4 to 3.2 percent	2.2 to 2.6 percent
Professional services	2.5 to 3.4 percent	2.4 to 2.8 percent
Medical / dental	2.3 to 3.0 percent	2.2 to 2.6 percent
Salon / beauty	2.4 to 3.1 percent	2.3 to 2.7 percent
High-risk	3.5 to 6.5 percent	3.2 to 4.5 percent

If your effective rate is inside the “typical” range, you are paying a market rate. If you are inside the “reasonable target” range, you are well-priced. Anything above the typical range is a flag.

Red flags on a statement

Some patterns are reliable indicators that something is wrong, either with your pricing, your equipment configuration, or your contract.

• Effective rate more than 0.5 percent above your contracted rate.
• A high proportion of “non-qualified” transactions, which usually means terminal misconfiguration or card-not-present transactions running through a card-present setup.
• Unfamiliar fee names. If you cannot identify a fee, write down its label and ask your processor for a written explanation.
• Sudden mid-month rate changes, especially if no notification was sent.
• New fees that did not appear in your original signed agreement.
• Equipment leases, which almost always cost more over the term than buying the terminal outright. A 39 dollars per month lease on a 400 dollar terminal over 48 months equals 1,872 dollars.
• “Compliance” or “monitoring” fees over 30 dollars per month.
• Annual fees over 200 dollars.

Any one of these by itself is worth a phone call. Two or more is grounds for a statement review and likely a switch.

What a “clean” statement looks like

The opposite of a problem statement is a clean one. A clean statement shows interchange itemized clearly, not bundled into a single “discount rate” line. Processor markup is stated explicitly as a percentage and a per-transaction fee. Monthly fixed fees in total stay under 50 dollars. There are no mystery line items. The effective rate sits within 0.3 percent of the contracted rate. Every charge is easy to identify and easy to explain.

If your statement does not look like this, the design itself is part of the cost.

Why processors hide things on statements

Complexity creates obfuscation, and obfuscation creates margin. Tiered pricing models hide actual interchange behind aggregated buckets, so you can never tell what the underlying cost was. A “discount rate” line combines interchange, assessments, and markup into one number, making it impossible to see the breakdown. Many processors will quote a low headline rate and then charge a much higher effective rate through fees added month by month. The model relies on merchants not checking, and the industry knows most merchants do not.

What ProTech provides instead

We built our reporting around the opposite assumption: that owners want to see exactly what they paid, and why. ProTech statements are single page, with every fee itemized in plain language. The effective rate is calculated for you on page one. Every charge is categorized. There are no surprise fees, no mid-term rate changes, and no equipment leases that outlast the equipment.

For any business currently with another processor, we offer a free statement analysis. Send us your last full statement and we will read it line by line, identify exactly where you are overpaying, and tell you what your effective rate should be for your vertical and volume. No commitment, no sales pressure, just a clear picture of the document you are already paying for.

Sources: Visa Operating Regulations (interchange definitions and qualification rules), Mastercard Operating Regulations, NACHA Operating Rules (ACH-related considerations), ProTech Payments internal statement review data.

Interchange, assessments, and processor markup: the three real costs of card acceptance

Most small business owners look at a merchant statement, see one final number (the effective rate), and assume that single percentage is what credit card processing costs. It is not. Every card transaction you accept actually generates three separate fees, paid to three different parties, governed by three different rules. Two of those three fees are identical no matter which processor you use. The third one, the one nobody explains, is where every overpayment hides.

If you understand the three layers, you can read any statement, spot inflated markup in under five minutes, and walk into a renegotiation conversation knowing exactly what is fair and what is not.

The three components of every card transaction fee

Every credit card transaction generates fees in three layers, and they always come in the same order:

1. Interchange, paid to the bank that issued your customer’s card. Set by Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover.
2. Assessments, paid to the card networks themselves (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover).
3. Processor markup, paid to your acquirer, ISO, or processor (the company whose name is on your statement).

Add those three together and you get your effective rate. The first two are fixed. The third is the only thing you can negotiate. When you read your statement with this framework in mind, the question stops being “is 2.85% a good rate?” and starts being “out of that 2.85%, how much is the processor keeping?”

Layer 1: Interchange fees

What interchange actually is

Interchange is the fee your acquiring bank pays to the bank that issued your customer’s credit card. It is the largest of the three components, and it is the reason banks issue cards in the first place (interchange revenue funds the rewards points your customers earn).

Key facts:

• Interchange is set by the card networks, not by your processor.
• It is updated twice a year (April and October releases are standard).
• It is non-negotiable. Every processor in the United States pays the exact same interchange to issuing banks.
• It is public. Visa and Mastercard publish their full interchange schedules on their websites.

If a sales rep ever tells you they “got you better interchange,” they are either lying or confused. Nobody gets better interchange. They might pass it through more transparently, but the cost itself is identical across processors.

Interchange rate examples (Visa, April 2026 schedule)

These are real, current Visa interchange categories:

• Visa Consumer Credit, CPS Retail: 1.51% + $0.10
• Visa Consumer Credit, CPS Restaurant: 1.54% + $0.05
• Visa Consumer Credit, CPS Card Not Present: 1.80% + $0.10
• Visa Signature (rewards card): 1.65% + $0.10
• Visa Signature Preferred (premium rewards): 2.10% + $0.10
• Visa Corporate or Business: 2.50% + $0.10
• Visa Debit, CPS Retail Debit (Durbin regulated): 0.05% + $0.21

Notice the spread. A debit card costs you 26 cents on a $100 sale. A Visa Signature Preferred card on the same $100 sale costs $2.20. That is a 8x difference, and it is invisible if your processor bundles everything into a single “qualified rate.”

Why interchange varies

Card networks use interchange as a pricing lever. The rate you pay on any given transaction depends on:

• Card type: rewards, premium rewards, corporate, and business cards cost more because the issuing bank funds richer perks.
• Transaction method: a swiped or dipped card-present transaction costs less than a keyed-in or online (card-not-present) transaction, because card-present has lower fraud risk.
• Merchant category code (MCC): a grocery store, a gas station, a restaurant, and a software company all sit on different MCC-specific interchange tables.
• Volume: some interchange programs offer reduced rates above certain monthly thresholds.
• AVS and verification: a card-not-present transaction with a verified billing address qualifies for a lower interchange tier than one without.

How interchange appears on your statement

You will see one of two pictures:

• Itemized: every interchange category appears on its own line, with the count of transactions and the dollar volume. This is interchange-plus pricing and it is what you want.
• Bundled into a “discount rate”: a single percentage hides interchange completely. This is tiered or flat-rate pricing, and it is where markup hides.

When you see line items with names like “CPS Retail”, “Signature”, “Visa Business Card”, or “Visa Commercial”, that is interchange showing through. When you see one line that just says “discount fee 2.49%”, interchange has been buried.

Layer 2: Assessment fees

What assessments are

Assessments are the fee your acquirer pays to the card network itself, separate from what flows to the issuing bank. Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover all charge their own network fees on top of interchange. These are the smallest of the three components, typically around 0.13 to 0.14 percent, but they add up.

Like interchange, assessments are non-negotiable. Every processor pays the same.

Assessment rate examples

• Visa: 0.1375% + $0.0195 per authorization
• Mastercard: 0.1375% + $0.0195 per transaction
• American Express: 0.15% + $0.025
• Discover: 0.13% + $0.0195

Visa-specific assessment line items

Visa also stacks several small per-transaction fees that your statement may or may not show separately:

• Network Access Brand Usage (NABU): $0.0195 per transaction.
• Acquirer Processing Fee (APF): $0.0195 per credit, $0.0155 per debit.
• Cross-border assessment: an extra 0.50 to 1.00 percent when the cardholder’s bank is outside the United States.

If you sell online to international customers, those cross-border assessments can be a real cost driver, and they should appear as a separate line on a transparent statement.

Layer 3: Processor markup, the only negotiable part

What processor markup actually is

Processor markup is your acquirer’s profit margin. It is the part of the rate that pays for their platform, their support staff, their sales commissions, and their shareholder returns. Every processor needs some markup, that is how the business works. The question is how much, and whether you can see it.

This is the only number on your entire statement that you can move with a phone call.

How processor markup is structured across pricing models

Interchange-plus pricing. The markup is stated explicitly as a percentage plus a per-transaction fee on top of actual interchange. For example, “interchange + 0.30% + $0.10 per transaction.” You can see exactly what the processor keeps. This is the only pricing model that lets you audit your own statement.

Flat-rate pricing. One headline rate applies to every transaction. Square’s 2.9% + $0.30 is the famous example. The markup is whatever is left after interchange and assessments are deducted. Simple to read, expensive in practice for most volume above a few thousand dollars a month.

Tiered pricing. Three rates (qualified, mid-qualified, non-qualified) cover all your transactions. The processor decides, after the fact, which tier each transaction falls into. Rewards cards almost always get downgraded into the more expensive tiers. This is the least transparent pricing model in the industry and historically the most profitable for processors.

Subscription or membership pricing. A flat monthly fee replaces most of the variable markup, with a small per-transaction add-on plus interchange pass-through. Example: $99 a month plus interchange plus $0.10 per transaction. Works well for high-volume merchants with predictable processing.

Typical processor markup ranges

• Interchange-plus: 0.10% to 0.50% plus $0.05 to $0.15 per transaction. This is the competitive range.
• Flat-rate: equivalent to 0.50% to 1.00% effective markup over interchange.
• Tiered: 1.00% to 2.00% effective markup. Almost always the worst deal.
• Subscription: $99 to $499 per month plus 0.05% to 0.20% markup. Excellent above roughly $50,000 per month in volume.

Real-world math: a $100 restaurant transaction

Let’s run the same $100 sale through three different pricing models, using a Visa Consumer Credit card swiped at a restaurant terminal (interchange category CPS Restaurant).

Interchange-plus pricing

• Interchange (1.54% + $0.05): $1.54 + $0.05 = $1.59
• Assessments (Visa NABU + APF + assessment fee): roughly $0.18
• Processor markup (0.30% + $0.10): $0.30 + $0.10 = $0.40
• Total fee on $100: $2.17. Effective rate: 2.17 percent.

Flat-rate pricing (Square 2.9% + $0.30)

• Total fee: $2.90 + $0.30 = $3.20
• Effective rate: 3.20 percent.
• Difference: $1.03 more per $100, every transaction, every day.

Tiered pricing, “qualified” tier advertised at 1.79%

• Looks cheaper than interchange-plus on paper.
• In practice, rewards cards downgrade to mid-qualified (often 2.39%) and corporate or business cards downgrade to non-qualified (often 2.99%).
• Realistic blended effective rate: 2.50 to 2.90 percent.
• The “1.79%” advertised rate almost never applies to the actual mix of cards you accept. That is the design.

On a single $100 sale the difference looks small. Multiply by 8,000 transactions a year and a tiered processor at 2.85% costs $5,440 more than an interchange-plus processor at 2.17%. That is a part-time employee, paid every year to a processor instead of you.

How to find processor markup on your statement

Read your statement looking for one of these three signatures:

1. Interchange-plus statement. Every interchange category appears on its own line. After all the interchange lines, you see a separate “discount rate” or “interchange-plus markup” line showing the processor’s cut. The math is transparent.
2. Flat-rate statement. One rate (for example 2.9% + $0.30) is applied to every single transaction with no interchange breakdown anywhere. Simple to read, impossible to negotiate without changing processors.
3. Tiered statement. Three buckets (qualified, mid-qualified, non-qualified) with three different rates, no interchange detail. You cannot tell what is interchange and what is markup without doing the calculation yourself.

If your statement is tiered or flat-rate, you cannot directly see processor markup. The only way to find it is subtraction: total fees minus published interchange minus assessments equals markup. That math is what a statement audit does.

Why most small businesses overpay 0.5 to 1.5 percent

Across thousands of merchant statements, two numbers stay remarkably consistent:

• Interchange plus assessments (the unavoidable cost): typically 1.70 to 2.40 percent of volume, depending on card mix and MCC.
• What merchants actually pay (their effective rate): typically 2.80 to 3.50 percent of volume.

The gap between those two numbers is processor markup. Across the market, that gap averages 0.50 to 1.50 percent of every dollar processed.

For a merchant doing $500,000 in annual card volume, a 0.5 to 1.5 percent markup gap translates to $2,500 to $7,500 a year of overpayment. For a million-dollar-volume restaurant, it is $5,000 to $15,000 a year. None of that money buys better service, faster funding, or stronger security. It is pure margin sitting on top of fees that would still get paid on any pricing model.

How to evaluate if your markup is reasonable

Use this as a quick sanity check:

• Interchange-plus with markup under 0.40 percent: very competitive, hold on to it.
• Interchange-plus with markup of 0.40 to 0.60 percent: average, worth renegotiating if you have grown.
• Interchange-plus with markup above 0.60 percent: clear room to negotiate or shop.
• Flat-rate at 2.6 to 2.9 percent: appropriate for low volume (under $10,000 per month) or startups that value simplicity.
• Flat-rate above 3.0 percent: overpaying. Move to interchange-plus.
• Tiered pricing of any kind: almost always overpaying. The structure itself is the problem, not the rate. Move to interchange-plus.

What ProTech provides

ProTech Payments operates on interchange-plus pricing exclusively. That is a deliberate choice, and it is the single biggest thing a processor can do to align incentives with the merchant.

What that means for you in practice:

• Itemized statements, with every interchange category broken out, assessments listed separately, and the processor markup shown as its own line. No bundling, no tiers, no surprises.
• Free statement analysis for prospects. Send us your last three statements and we will quantify, in dollars per month, what your current overpayment looks like. We have done this audit on hundreds of statements out of Katy and the wider Houston metro.
• Typical findings from those audits: 0.40 to 0.80 percent of volume in excess markup for merchants on tiered pricing, and 0.20 to 0.50 percent for merchants on flat-rate pricing above $20,000 a month.

If your current statement is tiered or flat-rate and your volume is climbing, you are almost certainly the kind of merchant who benefits most from switching pricing models. That switch alone, before any negotiation on markup, recovers most of the gap.

Sources: Visa Interchange Reimbursement Fees (April 2026 schedule, publicly available at visa.com), Mastercard Interchange Rates and Criteria, Federal Reserve Regulation II (Durbin Amendment debit interchange caps), ProTech Payments internal statement audit data (2024-2026 sample).

17 hidden fees on your merchant statement (and how to spot them)

Your processor advertises a clean rate. The contract you signed mentions a clean rate. The salesperson promised a clean rate. Then your statement arrives with 14 line items you do not recognize, your effective rate is 60% higher than quoted, and nobody at the processor can explain why.

This is not an accident. The merchant services industry has spent four decades building a fee taxonomy designed to be invisible, unchallenged, and profitable. After auditing more than 1,000 statements over the past three years, we can tell you the same fees appear on almost every account, and almost every merchant overpays.

Below are the 17 hidden fees that quietly drain $2,000 to $6,000 per year from a typical small business. For each one, you will see the typical cost, what it actually does, whether it is negotiable, and the red flag threshold that tells you to push back.

1. PCI compliance fee

• Cost: $10 to $50 per quarter ($40-$200/year)
• What it does: covers your processor’s PCI scanning and questionnaire administration
• Negotiable: YES (many processors include it free)
• Red flag: any PCI fee above $30/month is excessive

The PCI Council does not charge you anything. Your processor charges this fee to administer a Self-Assessment Questionnaire you fill out yourself in about 20 minutes. Reasonable processors include it at no cost.

2. PCI non-compliance fee

• Cost: $30 to $100+ per month
• What it does: charged if you have not completed your annual PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire
• Negotiable: NO (complete the questionnaire instead)
• Red flag: appears suddenly because you missed an email reminder

This is the punishment for ignoring the email that nobody reads. It is fully avoidable. Complete the SAQ once a year, and the fee disappears. We see it on roughly 40% of statements we audit.

3. Statement fee

• Cost: $5 to $25/month
• What it does: covers monthly statement generation (mostly anachronistic for digital)
• Negotiable: YES (request waiver, especially if going paperless)
• Red flag: $20+ statement fee for digital statements

You receive the statement as a PDF emailed to you. It costs the processor nothing. A $25/month digital statement fee is pure margin padding, $300/year for a file.

4. Monthly minimum fee

• Cost: $25 to $50/month
• What it does: charged if your total monthly fees fall below a threshold (e.g., $25)
• Negotiable: YES (renegotiate if you process consistently)
• Red flag: high threshold for low-volume merchants

If you process $5,000/month at 2.5%, you generate $125 in processing fees, well above the threshold. Seasonal businesses get hit hardest, paying minimums during slow months when they need cash flow most.

5. Equipment lease fees

• Cost: $40 to $90/month per terminal, often 48-month contracts
• What it does: monthly lease for credit card terminal (instead of purchase)
• Negotiable: NO (signed lease is binding)
• Red flag: ANY equipment lease is usually a bad deal. Total cost over 48 months: $1,920 to $4,320 for a $300 terminal you could have bought outright.

This is the single most predatory fee in merchant services. Leases are signed with a third-party leasing company (not the processor), are non-cancelable, and survive even if you close the business. We have seen merchants paying $89/month for a terminal that costs $279 retail. Never lease. Buy.

6. Wireless fee

• Cost: $10 to $30/month per wireless terminal
• What it does: cellular data for wireless terminal connectivity
• Negotiable: YES
• Red flag: $25+ when actual wireless cost is ~$8/month

Wholesale cellular data for a credit card terminal runs roughly $8/month. Anything above $15 is markup. Anything above $25 is gouging.

7. Annual fee

• Cost: $75 to $150/year
• What it does: nothing specific, just margin padding
• Negotiable: YES (request waiver)
• Red flag: annual fees above $100 should be challenged

The annual fee has no operational purpose. It exists because most merchants do not notice an extra $149 line item on one statement per year. Ask for a waiver. If denied, ask why. The answer is usually silence.

8. Batch fee

• Cost: $0.10 to $0.30 per daily batch settlement
• What it does: covers daily transaction settlement processing
• Negotiable: YES (especially if multiple batches per day)
• Red flag: $0.25+ per batch is excessive

If you batch once daily, this is $35 to $110 per year. If you batch multiple times per day (some retailers do), it compounds fast. A fair batch fee is $0.10 to $0.15.

9. Authorization fee

• Cost: $0.05 to $0.15 per transaction
• What it does: card network authorization request
• Negotiable: YES (especially on interchange-plus)
• Red flag: $0.12+ is high; $0.06-$0.08 is fair

This is the “transaction fee” you see on every line. For a business doing 5,000 transactions per year, the difference between $0.06 and $0.12 is $300/year. For 20,000 transactions, it is $1,200.

10. Chargeback fee

• Cost: $15 to $50 per chargeback
• What it does: covers processor’s chargeback handling
• Negotiable: PARTIALLY (some processors charge nothing)
• Red flag: $40+ per chargeback

Some processors charge nothing for chargebacks. Others charge $50 even when you win the dispute. Negotiate this at signing, especially if you operate in a chargeback-prone vertical.

11. Retrieval request fee

• Cost: $5 to $25 per retrieval request
• What it does: charged when a customer disputes and the bank requests transaction details
• Negotiable: PARTIALLY
• Red flag: $20+ per request

A retrieval request precedes a chargeback. The bank asks for receipt details. Your processor forwards the request. There is almost no labor involved. $20+ is unjustified.

12. IRS reporting fee (1099-K)

• Cost: $25 to $100/year
• What it does: covers 1099-K reporting to IRS
• Negotiable: USUALLY NO (federally required)
• Red flag: above $50/year is excessive

Processors are required by federal law to file 1099-K forms. The labor is automated. Some processors charge $25, others charge $99 for the same automated filing.

13. Address Verification System (AVS) fee

• Cost: $0.01 to $0.05 per AVS check
• What it does: address verification for card-not-present transactions
• Negotiable: SOMETIMES
• Red flag: $0.04+ per AVS

For ecommerce or phone orders, AVS runs on every transaction. At $0.04 each on 10,000 transactions, that is $400/year. At $0.01, it is $100.

14. Gateway fee

• Cost: $10 to $30/month plus $0.05 to $0.15 per transaction
• What it does: payment gateway service (for online/virtual terminal)
• Negotiable: YES
• Red flag: $25+/month plus high per-transaction (often double-billing)

The gateway fee is where ecommerce merchants get hit twice, once for the gateway monthly, again for per-transaction. A reasonable gateway is $10/month plus $0.05/tx. Anything above $25 monthly plus $0.10 per transaction is bundling profit on top of profit.

15. Compliance / monitoring fee

• Cost: $10 to $50/month
• What it does: vague catch-all, often pure margin
• Negotiable: YES (challenge the description)
• Red flag: ANY fee labeled “compliance” or “monitoring” or “regulatory” with vague description

This is the most cynical fee in merchant services. The label is intentionally vague so it cannot be challenged. “Regulatory recovery fee.” “Network compliance fee.” “Risk monitoring fee.” Ask the processor to define it in writing. They almost never can.

16. Voice authorization fee

• Cost: $0.65 to $1.50 per voice auth
• What it does: backup authorization via phone when electronic fails
• Negotiable: LIMITED
• Red flag: charged on every transaction (should be rare)

Voice authorization should occur once or twice per year, when an electronic auth fails. If you see this fee on every statement, something is misclassified. Call and demand an explanation.

17. Cancellation / early termination fee (ETF)

• Cost: $250 to $500+, sometimes liquidated damages clause
• What it does: penalty for ending contract early
• Negotiable: YES (at signing, not at termination)
• Red flag: ETF over $250 should be challenged at signing. Liquidated damages clauses can run thousands.

The ETF is leverage. It exists so processors can raise your rates mid-contract without losing you. Liquidated damages clauses are worse, they calculate the processor’s lost future profit and bill you for it. We have seen ETFs of $8,000 on businesses generating $50,000 in annual processing volume.

Hidden fees comparison table

Fee	Typical cost	Annual impact	Negotiable	Red flag threshold
PCI compliance	$40-$200/year	Up to $200	Yes	$30+/month
PCI non-compliance	$30-$100/month	Up to $1,200	No	Any appearance
Statement fee	$5-$25/month	Up to $300	Yes	$20+/month
Monthly minimum	$25-$50/month	Up to $600	Yes	High threshold
Equipment lease	$40-$90/month	Up to $4,320 (48mo)	No	Any lease
Wireless	$10-$30/month	Up to $360	Yes	$25+/month
Annual fee	$75-$150/year	$75-$150	Yes	$100+
Batch fee	$0.10-$0.30 each	$35-$110/year (1/day)	Yes	$0.25+
Authorization fee	$0.05-$0.15 each	$250-$750 (5k tx)	Yes	$0.12+
Chargeback fee	$15-$50 each	Variable	Partial	$40+
Retrieval request	$5-$25 each	Variable	Partial	$20+
IRS 1099-K	$25-$100/year	$25-$100	No	$50+
AVS check	$0.01-$0.05 each	Variable	Some	$0.04+
Gateway	$10-$30/month + $0.05-$0.15/tx	$120-$600+	Yes	$25+/mo
Compliance/monitoring	$10-$50/month	$120-$600	Yes	Any vague label
Voice authorization	$0.65-$1.50 each	Variable	Limited	Every tx
Early termination	$250-$500+	One-time	At signing	$250+

Total annual hidden fee exposure for a typical SMB

For a merchant processing $500,000/year in card volume, here is the realistic overpayment exposure if these fees go unchallenged:

• Combined hidden fees (without negotiation): $1,500 to $4,500/year
• Equipment lease alone if signed: $480 to $1,080/year
• Total potential overpayment: $2,000 to $6,000/year (4% to 12% of total card processing cost)

That is real money. Over a 5-year stretch, the same merchant overpays $10,000 to $30,000 without ever touching their advertised processing rate. The “rate” the salesperson quoted you is often the smallest cost on your statement.

How to challenge each fee

You do not need a lawyer. You need three things: your last three statements, a printed list of these fees, and the willingness to ask “what is this for?” until you get a specific answer.

• PCI fee: ask processor to include in monthly cost
• Equipment lease: do not sign, buy terminal outright ($200-$400)
• Annual fee: request waiver in next renewal cycle
• Statement fee: switch to paperless statement (often free)
• Monthly minimum: confirm volume meets threshold or renegotiate
• Compliance/monitoring fees: demand specific definition in writing
• Wireless fee: ask for the wholesale cost benchmark
• Batch fee: request reduction to $0.10
• Authorization fee: move to interchange-plus pricing to expose markup
• ETF: negotiate to $0 or maximum $250 before signing
• Voice auth: dispute charges, request reclassification

Most processors fold when challenged. They count on inertia. When a merchant calls with specific fee numbers and a written list, the retention team usually waives 50% to 80% of the disputed items to keep the account.

Why these fees exist

The structure is not random. It is the predictable outcome of how the industry sells.

• Processors compete on advertised rate (e.g., “2.0% rate”)
• They add fees to make profitable margins
• Most merchants do not notice or challenge
• Industry has normalized these fees over decades
• Sales reps are commissioned on margin, not rate

A processor making 0.1% on the contracted rate makes 0.4% to 0.8% on the full statement once you add PCI, statement, batch, authorization, compliance, gateway, and annual fees. The margin lives in the line items, not the rate.

What a clean statement looks like

After 1,000+ audits, here is what a fair, transparent statement contains:

• 5 or fewer line items beyond interchange + assessments + markup
• No “compliance” or “monitoring” fees
• No equipment leases (terminal purchased)
• Statement fee waived or under $10
• Annual fee waived
• Effective rate within 0.3% of contracted rate

If your statement has 12 fees, 4 of them labeled “compliance” or “regulatory,” and an effective rate 80 basis points above what you signed for, you are paying for someone else’s commission structure.

Free statement audit from ProTech

Send us your last 3 merchant statements from any processor. We identify every hidden fee, calculate your true effective rate, and give you a written report showing exactly where you overpay. We do this even if you have no intention of switching providers. The audit is yours to use however you want, including taking the findings back to your current processor to renegotiate.

No obligation. No sales pressure. Free.

Call (888) 255-0425 or upload your statements at protechpayments.com. We are based in Katy, TX, and we serve merchants across the Houston metro and nationwide.

The fees on your statement are negotiable. The first step is knowing they exist.

Cita: Federal Trade Commission merchant services guidance, ProTech Payments statement audit dataset (1,000+ audits 2023-2025), CFPB consumer protection reports.

Calculating your effective rate: the only metric that matters

Why effective rate is the single most important number

Your processor will quote a “rate” when you sign up. Maybe 1.69% or 2.5%. That number is meaningless on its own. The number that matters is your effective rate, calculated from your actual statements.

A quoted rate is a marketing number. It applies to one specific transaction type under one specific condition, often the most favorable one the processor can find. Your effective rate is reality. It tells you what every dollar of card volume actually costs you, blended across every card type, every transaction size, every fee line, every month.

If you only learn one metric about merchant processing, learn this one.

The formula

Effective rate = Total fees ÷ Total card volume

That’s it. One calculation. Done correctly, it tells you exactly what your card processing actually costs you.

Total fees means every dollar your processor took from you that month. Interchange, assessments, markup, statement fees, PCI fees, gateway fees, batch fees, monthly minimums, chargeback fees. All of it. Total card volume means the gross dollar amount of cards you ran through the system before any deductions.

Divide one by the other. Multiply by 100. That’s your effective rate as a percentage.

Step-by-step walkthrough with real numbers

Statement example: Houston restaurant, March 2026

Card volume by network:
– Total Visa volume: $42,580
– Total Mastercard volume: $28,140
– Total Amex volume: $12,300
– Total Discover volume: $3,890
– Total card volume: $86,910

Fees by category:
– Visa fees: $1,210
– Mastercard fees: $720
– Amex fees: $445
– Discover fees: $98
– Monthly fees (statement, PCI, etc.): $187
– Total fees: $2,660

Effective rate: $2,660 ÷ $86,910 = 3.06%

That 3.06 percent is your real cost. The 2.49% rate the salesperson quoted at signup is irrelevant. The merchant in this example is paying 57 basis points more than what was promised, every single month, on every single dollar of card volume.

How to read different pricing structures and calculate

The same merchant, with the same volume, will see very different statement layouts depending on pricing model. Here is how to derive effective rate from each.

Interchange-plus pricing (transparent)

Statement breakdown:
– Interchange fees: itemized by category (1.8%, 1.9%, 2.1%, etc.) totaling, say, $1,500
– Assessments: 0.1375% × volume = $120
– Processor markup: 0.30% × volume + $0.10 × 800 transactions = $260 + $80 = $340
– Other fees (statement, PCI, etc.): $200
– Total: $2,160 on $86,910 volume = 2.49% effective rate

The markup line is the only piece the processor controls. Interchange and assessments are pass-through.

Flat-rate pricing (semi-transparent)

Statement breakdown:
– All transactions at 2.9% + $0.30 = $2,520 + $240 = $2,760
– Plus monthly fees: $100
– Total: $2,860 on $86,910 volume = 3.29% effective rate

Flat-rate is predictable but expensive. You pay the same percentage whether the customer uses a debit card (cheap to process) or a premium rewards card (expensive). The processor pockets the spread.

Tiered pricing (opaque)

Statement breakdown:
– Qualified transactions: 1.79% × $30,000 = $537
– Mid-qualified: 2.49% × $35,000 = $872
– Non-qualified: 3.29% × $21,910 = $721
– Monthly fees: $250
– Total: $2,380 on $86,910 volume = 2.74% effective rate

In this tiered example, the merchant might think they pay 1.79% (the headline rate), but they actually pay 2.74% because most transactions downgrade to mid or non-qualified tiers. The downgrades are controlled by the processor. They decide which cards land in which tier, and they rarely tell you.

What your effective rate should look like

Effective rate benchmarks (US SMB, 2026)

Pricing model	Card-present typical	Card-not-present typical
Interchange-plus (well-negotiated)	2.2 to 2.5 percent	2.5 to 2.9 percent
Interchange-plus (typical)	2.5 to 2.9 percent	2.7 to 3.2 percent
Flat-rate (Square-style)	2.9 to 3.5 percent	3.1 to 3.8 percent
Tiered pricing	2.4 to 3.5 percent (highly variable)	2.8 to 4.0 percent
Subscription/membership	2.0 to 2.3 percent + monthly fee	2.2 to 2.6 percent + monthly fee

If your effective rate falls outside the “well-negotiated” range for your model, you have room to renegotiate or switch.

The gap analysis: where you are overpaying

Effective rate over what you contracted minus what you actually pay = your overpayment.

Example calculations:
– Contracted: 2.49% interchange-plus
– Actual effective: 3.06%
– Gap: 0.57%
– On $86,910 monthly volume: $495 overpayment per month
– Annualized: $5,940 overpayment per year

If this merchant switched to a transparent processor with a 0.30% markup on interchange-plus, they would save ~$5,940/year. That savings number is not theoretical. It is the difference between the rate they were quoted and the rate they actually pay, multiplied by their volume.

Effective rate by transaction type

Different card types have different costs. Your effective rate is the average across all types.

Visa Consumer Credit (CPS Retail): 1.51% + $0.10 interchange

On a $50 transaction:
– Interchange: $0.85
– Assessments: $0.075
– Processor markup (0.30% + $0.10): $0.25
– Total: $1.18 = 2.36% effective on that transaction

Visa Signature (rewards): 2.10% + $0.10 interchange

On a $50 transaction:
– Interchange: $1.15
– Assessments: $0.075
– Processor markup: $0.25
– Total: $1.48 = 2.96% effective on that transaction

Visa Business Card: 2.50% + $0.10 interchange

On a $500 transaction:
– Interchange: $12.60
– Assessments: $0.75
– Processor markup: $1.60
– Total: $14.95 = 2.99% effective

This is why your effective rate varies. A merchant accepting mostly business cards will have higher effective rates than one accepting mostly consumer debit. You cannot control which cards customers hand you, but you can control the markup your processor charges on top.

How to calculate effective rate from your statement (manual method)

1. Find total card volume on the summary page (often labeled “Net Processed” or “Gross Sales”).
2. Find total fees (often labeled “Total Fees” or sometimes itemized: interchange + assessments + markup + others).
3. Divide total fees by total card volume.
4. Multiply by 100 to get percentage.

That’s your effective rate.

If your statement shows totals split across multiple summary pages (one per card brand, plus one for monthly fees), sum them yourself. Do not trust a single subtotal labeled “Discount Fees” because it usually excludes the monthly junk fees that inflate your real cost.

Tools that automate this calculation

If you don’t want to do it manually:
– ProTech free statement analyzer: send us your statements, we calculate it for you (free).
– Spreadsheet templates: download our Excel template, paste numbers from statement.
– Your processor’s online dashboard: most show this number (look for “Effective Rate” or “ETV ratio”).

Why processors do not advertise effective rate

The “quoted rate” they advertise (e.g., 1.79%) is the lowest possible rate (qualified tier in tiered pricing, or rare card type in interchange-plus). Most transactions cost more. The effective rate is the average across all transactions. Quoting an average reveals the true cost. Quoting a headline rate hides it.

If a processor was confident their pricing was competitive, they would lead with effective rate. None of them do. That tells you everything.

Monthly effective rate variability

Your effective rate will fluctuate month to month based on:
– Card mix (which cards customers use).
– Average transaction size (larger transactions amortize per-transaction fees better).
– Ticket size (smaller tickets have higher % fees due to per-transaction minimums).
– Seasonality (holiday tipping can shift card mix).

Typical monthly variation: 0.05 to 0.15 percentage points. Anything more suggests inconsistent processing, hidden fee additions, or downgrade games on tiered pricing.

Track 6 months of effective rate. If the line trends upward without any change in your card mix, your processor is silently raising your markup. That happens more often than merchants realize.

Annual effective rate

Calculate your year-end effective rate by summing 12 months of fees and dividing by 12 months of card volume. This number is your true cost of card acceptance, and the best benchmark for comparing processors.

When a competing processor pitches you, ask them one question: “Given my last 12 months of statements, what effective rate would I have paid on your platform?” A transparent processor will run the math and show you. A predatory processor will deflect with quoted rates.

What ProTech provides

• All merchants on interchange-plus pricing.
• Effective rate displayed on every statement.
• Monthly review of effective rate vs target.
• Free statement analyses for prospects.
• Typical findings: 0.4 to 0.7 percent overpayment vs interchange-plus benchmark.

We do not hide the number. It prints on page one of every statement, every month, next to the contracted markup. If those two numbers ever drift apart, you call us and we explain why or we fix it.

Real merchant example: switching saved $8,400/year

Sugar Land medical practice. Annual card volume $700,000. Previous processor (tiered pricing): effective rate 3.21%. Annual fees $22,470. Switched to ProTech interchange-plus: effective rate 2.41%. Annual fees $16,870. Annual savings $5,600. Plus eliminated $2,800 in monthly statement/compliance fees. Total annual savings: $8,400.

The merchant did not change card mix, ticket size, or business model. The only thing that changed was the pricing structure and the markup on top of interchange. Same volume, same customers, $8,400 back in the practice every year.

Bottom line

If you remember nothing else from this section, remember the formula. Total fees divided by total card volume equals effective rate. Run it on your last statement before you finish reading this page. If the number is over 3.0% on card-present volume or over 3.3% on card-not-present volume, you are overpaying, and the gap is bigger than most owners think.

Cita: Visa Interchange Schedule April 2026, Mastercard Interchange Programs, ProTech Payments internal statement audit data.

How to negotiate your merchant rates (and when to switch processors)

The negotiation reality

Your processor wants to keep you. Switching is painful (re-applying, re-installing hardware, re-training staff, possibly paying early termination fees). Processors know this, which is why they slowly increase fees over time hoping you do not notice.

When you notice and you push back, they usually negotiate. Especially if you have a credible threat to leave.

The dynamic is simple. Processors operate on portfolio economics. Losing a merchant costs them the lifetime value of that account, often thousands of dollars in residual revenue. Matching a competitor quote on markup costs them a few basis points. The math favors negotiation, but only if you ask. Merchants who never ask never get adjustments, and processors quietly keep the difference.

The 5-step negotiation playbook

Step 1: Calculate your effective rate

Use the formula from previous section. You need a number to negotiate from. Without an effective rate, you are arguing with feelings. With it, you are arguing with arithmetic.

Step 2: Get a competitive quote

Call ProTech or another transparent processor. Get a written quote for interchange-plus pricing on your volume. A written quote is leverage. A verbal quote is a wish.

Step 3: Identify your biggest cost line items

From your statement, find the largest fees. Usually processor markup first, then monthly fees, then per-transaction fees. Attack the biggest line first because that is where the dollars live.

Step 4: Request a review with your current processor

Call your account manager. Say: “I have been reviewing my statements and I am paying X effective rate. I have a competitor quote at Y rate. Can you match it?”

Possible responses:
– They match, great, get it in writing.
– They counter halfway, decide if savings are worth staying.
– They refuse, ready to switch.
– They offer credits or waivers, temporary fix, will likely reverse in 90 days.

Step 5: If they refuse, switch

Do not bluff. If you threaten to leave and stay anyway, your next negotiation has no weight. Processors track this internally.

Specific fees you can negotiate (with scripts)

Processor markup (the biggest one)

Script: “My current markup is X.XX%. ProTech is offering 0.30%. I need you to match or beat this rate.”

Expected outcome: 60% match the rate, 30% offer a partial reduction, 10% refuse.

Annual fees

Script: “I am paying $XXX in annual fees. I want this waived. Other processors do not charge it.”

Expected outcome: 70% waive, 30% reduce to $50 to $75.

Statement fees

Script: “I want to switch to paperless and waive the statement fee.”

Expected outcome: 90% waive, 10% reduce.

PCI compliance fees

Script: “I want PCI compliance included in my monthly cost, not added on. Other processors include it.”

Expected outcome: 60% include, 30% reduce, 10% refuse.

Equipment lease (the hard one)

Script: “I want to buy out the lease and end the equipment lease arrangement.”

Expected outcome: 30% allow buyout at lower cost than remaining lease, 70% refuse and you continue paying or face liquidated damages. Equipment leases are usually with a third party leasing company, not the processor itself, which is why they are the hardest to unwind.

Monthly minimum fees

Script: “I consistently exceed the minimum but I am still charged. Please remove this fee.”

Expected outcome: 80% remove.

When to switch processors (decision framework)

Switch if:
– Effective rate is more than 0.5 percentage points above transparent benchmark.
– Equipment lease is locked in for 24+ months at high cost.
– Multiple PCI non-compliance fees in past year.
– Account manager is unresponsive.
– Statement is impossible to read (tiered pricing usually).
– Hidden fees discovered (more than 2 unclear charges).
– Customer service has been bad.
– You are about to grow significantly (good time to renegotiate).

Stay if:
– Effective rate is within 0.3 percentage points of best alternatives.
– Processor responds to your concerns and adjusts fees.
– Your industry is high-risk and switching is difficult.
– You signed a recent contract with a buyout clause that would cost more than savings.

How to actually switch

Step 1: Get a new processor on board

• Apply with new processor (ProTech application takes 24 to 48 hours).
• Receive new merchant account, MID, terminal or POS setup.
• Schedule installation date.

See the full switch merchant services walkthrough for documentation requirements and timing.

Step 2: Notify current processor

• Send written notice via email and certified mail.
• Reference contract termination provisions.
• Request final statement and account closure date.
• Ask about pro-rated fees and refunds.

Step 3: Switch hardware

• Install new terminal or POS.
• Test with sample transactions.
• Run for a few days alongside old system (some processors allow).
• Disconnect old system after successful test.

Step 4: Handle data transition

• Customer data typically does not transfer (you keep your customer records).
• Recurring billing must be set up fresh.
• Settlement, old processor settles open transactions, new processor takes over.

Step 5: Communicate to staff

• Brief training on new POS.
• Update operational procedures.
• Test refund processes.
• Test chargeback workflow.

Step 6: Monitor first month

• Compare first month’s effective rate against quote.
• Verify all fees are itemized as quoted.
• Document any discrepancies.
• Call new processor with questions.

Early termination fees (ETF): what to expect

Most processor contracts include ETFs:
– Standard ETF, $250 to $500 flat fee.
– Liquidated damages, percentage of remaining contract value.
– Equipment lease, separate liability, often largest exposure.

Sometimes you can negotiate at switching:
– Show evidence of unfair practices (hidden fees, downgrades).
– Threaten complaint to Better Business Bureau or state Attorney General.
– Request waiver if you can show processor breach.
– New processor may reimburse ETF as switching incentive.

ProTech offers ETF reimbursement up to $500 for new merchants switching from a competitor.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I review my merchant statement?

Monthly. Effective rate, total fees, and any new line items should be checked every month. Annual review is too infrequent because rate creep happens quarterly.

Can I negotiate every merchant fee?

No. Interchange and assessments are not negotiable (set by card networks). Processor markup, monthly fees, equipment leases, and most administrative fees ARE negotiable. See pricing models for which fees fall on which side of that line.

What is the average savings from switching processors?

Typical SMB savings range from $1,500 to $7,500 per year by switching from tiered or flat-rate pricing to transparent interchange-plus. Higher volume merchants save more in absolute terms.

How long does it take to switch processors?

Application to live processing: 7 to 14 days. New merchant account approval: 1 to 3 business days. Hardware installation: 1 day. Total time from decision to first transaction: typically 10 to 14 days.

Will my customers know I switched?

No. Customers see their card transaction process normally. No customer-facing change.

What if my new processor’s effective rate is higher than promised?

Document the discrepancy. Call the account manager. If unresolved within 30 days, escalate to executive contact. If still unresolved, switch back or file complaint with your state Attorney General.

Can I run multiple processors simultaneously?

Yes, technically. Most SMBs use one primary processor for simplicity, but some use multiple (e.g., one for in-store, one for online). This is common for businesses with very different transaction types.

What is a buy-out clause?

Some processors offer to buy out your existing contract (pay your ETF) in exchange for signing with them. ProTech offers this for ETFs up to $500.

What is liquidated damages?

A type of ETF where you owe the processor a percentage of the remaining contract value, not a flat fee. Liquidated damages can run into thousands of dollars. ALWAYS read your contract before signing.

How do I know if my processor is overcharging me?

Calculate your effective rate. Compare it to industry benchmarks for your business type (see effective rate section). If you are 0.3+ percentage points above benchmark, you are overcharged.

Should I switch if my contract has 18 months left?

Calculate: monthly savings from switching minus (ETF divided by remaining contract months). If savings outweigh ETF, switch. ProTech reimburses up to $500 in ETFs.

What about my POS hardware?

Most modern hardware (Clover, Square, PAX, Verifone) is interoperable across processors. You may need to update software or configuration, but you usually keep hardware. ProTech reconfigures existing hardware for free.

Is interchange-plus pricing always better?

For most SMBs above $5,000 per month in card volume, yes. Below that volume, flat-rate pricing (Square, Stripe) can be simpler and competitive. ProTech is best for $5,000+ monthly merchants.

What is the minimum monthly volume for ProTech?

No minimum. We work with merchants from $1,000 per month to $50M+ annually.

How does ProTech compare to Square?

Square is simple, flat-rate (2.6% + $0.10 in-person, 2.9% + $0.30 online), $0 setup, $0 monthly. ProTech offers interchange-plus pricing typically 0.5 to 1.0 percentage points lower for moderate-volume merchants, true monthly statements, dedicated account management.

What documents do I need to apply with a new processor?

EIN letter or SSN for sole proprietors, voided business check, government-issued ID, most recent 3 months of merchant statements (for rate matching), and a business license if your state requires one. ProTech approves most applications in 24 to 48 hours.

Do processors run a credit check?

Most do a soft pull for standard low-risk merchants. High-risk verticals (CBD, firearms, nutraceuticals, adult, travel) may face a hard pull and additional underwriting. ProTech handles low and moderate risk in-house.

Ready to know exactly what you’re paying?

ProTech Payments offers a free statement audit. Send us your last 3 merchant statements (any processor). Within 24 hours, you get:
– Calculated effective rate.
– Breakdown of every fee (interchange, assessments, markup, monthly fees, hidden fees).
– Comparison to transparent interchange-plus pricing.
– Estimated annual savings from switching.
– Written report you can share with your accountant.

No obligation. We do not call you and harass you. We send the report and you decide.

Get your free audit at protechpayments.com, start your application at /get-started/, or call (888) 255-0425. Questions before you audit, contact us.

ProTech Payments. 30+ years experience. Katy TX based. Serving Houston metro and nationally.

25140 Kingsland Blvd STE 180, Katy TX 77494
(888) 255-0425
info@protechpayments.com

Sources: Visa Operating Regulations, Mastercard Operating Regulations, Federal Trade Commission merchant services guidance, ProTech Payments internal merchant statement audit data (1,000+ audits).