Statements

You are charged a retrieval fee when a cardholder’s bank requests more information about a specific transaction—usually because the cardholder doesn’t recognize the charge or needs clarification. This type of request is called a retrieval request or transaction inquiry. The fee helps cover the cost of gathering and submitting the required documentation. It’s important to respond promptly, as failing to do so could result in a chargeback. The exact fee amount can be found in your Merchant Processing Agreement.

You are charged a chargeback fee when a customer disputes a transaction through their card issuer—often due to suspected fraud, an unrecognized charge, or dissatisfaction with the product or service. This fee covers the administrative cost of handling the dispute, even if you win the case.

The Enhanced Security fee covers a range of services designed to protect you from data breaches and support ongoing security compliance. This fee includes financial breach protection of up to $100,000, replacement of up to five processing terminals affected by a breach, and access to the latest security technologies along with discounts on advanced data security solutions. It also provides you with security education resources, best practice guidelines, and tools to help validate PCI compliance, including the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and required security scans.

The AVS fee is a small charge applied when you use the Address Verification Service to confirm a customer’s billing address during a credit card transaction. This service is mainly used for card-not-present purchases, like online or phone orders, to help prevent fraud by checking if the billing address matches the one on file with the card issuer. AVS compares the numeric parts of the address, such as the street number and ZIP code. If there’s a mismatch, the transaction might be flagged for review. While this fee adds to processing costs, it helps reduce fraud and chargebacks, making it useful when you're handling remote transactions.

An Early Termination Fee is a charge applied when you terminate your processing agreement before the contract term is complete. This fee is outlined in the Merchant Processing Agreement and is meant to cover the costs associated with prematurely ending the relationship. The amount of the fee can vary depending on the terms of your contract.

The Mastercard Location Fee is a fee charged monthly by Mastercard for each location that accepts Mastercard as a form of payment. This fee is designed to support Mastercard's network services and the infrastructure needed to process and secure transactions. It applies to each physical or virtual location where you conduct business, meaning that if you have multiple locations or online sales points, each may be subject to this fee.

An Authorization Fee is charged each time you submit a transaction for approval, whether it is approved or declined. This fee covers the cost of verifying the cardholder’s information, checking for available funds, and receiving a response from the issuing bank. It applies to all transaction types—including purchases, refunds, and pre-authorizations—for both card-present and card-not-present transactions.

The Non-Returned Equipment Fee is a charge imposed on you when you receive loaned equipment through the Equipment Placement Program (EPP) and fail to return the equipment within 10 days of closing your account. This fee covers the cost of the unreturned equipment and encourages timely returns to avoid additional charges.

The PCI Non-Validation Fee is charged when a merchant does not complete the required steps to confirm compliance with PCI DSS—security standards that protect cardholder data and ensure safe payment processing. To stay compliant, merchants usually need to complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), pass a vulnerability scan (if needed), and submit proof of compliance. If these steps aren’t completed on time, the fee is applied to encourage merchants to meet data security requirements.

The Wireless Authorization Fee is a charge applied when you process transactions through wireless payment terminals, such as mobile or Wi-Fi-enabled point-of-sale systems. This fee covers the cost of securing and authenticating transactions conducted over wireless networks. It ensures that transactions made via these wireless devices are properly authorized and protected against potential fraud or unauthorized access. The fee is typically assessed on a per-transaction basis or as a monthly charge, depending on your processing agreement.

A Voice Authorization Fee is a charge applied when you obtain transaction approval through a voice-based authorization process rather than an electronic authorization system. This typically occurs when a transaction cannot be processed online or through a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, and you must call the card issuer or a third-party processor to manually verify and approve the transaction. Voice authorization is usually used for transactions involving high-risk payments, unusual circumstances, or when electronic systems are unavailable. The fee covers the cost of providing this manual authorization service.

Gateway Authorization Fee is a charge assessed for each transaction processed through a payment gateway. This fee is applied when the gateway facilitates communication between your point-of-sale (POS) system or website and the payment processor to obtain authorization for a credit or debit card transaction. The fee covers the cost of securely transmitting transaction data and receiving an authorization response. It is typically a fixed amount per transaction and is detailed in your processing agreement or monthly statement.

The Batch Header Fee is charged each time you submit a batch of credit card transactions for processing. Batches are typically sent at the end of the business day and include all transactions made during that period.

This fee covers the administrative and processing work involved—such as record-keeping, authorization, and settlement of the batch.

The Fraud Management Fee is a flat monthly charge when you are enrolled in the Encytro Advantage Program, which provides reimbursement for card-present chargebacks and associated fees.

The Monthly Minimum Discount Fee applies if your total discount fees for the month fall below a set minimum amount. If you process transactions but don’t meet the required minimum, you’ll be charged the difference. If you don’t process any transactions, the full minimum fee will be applied. However, if your total discount fees exceed the minimum, you won’t be charged this fee at all.

To avoid the Monthly Minimum Fee, you need to process enough transaction volumes so that your discount fees meet or exceed the minimum. This is calculated by dividing the minimum fee by the lowest qualified discount rate on your account. For example, if your minimum is $25 and your lowest rate is 1.95%, you would need to process at least $1,282.05 in monthly volume to avoid the fee.

Your monthly statements are available on your merchant portal. You can find the link to access the portal in your welcome email.

Your monthly statement is typically available on the merchant portal within the first 7 business days of the following month.

Month End Fees refer to the total fees billed to your account at the end of each month. This includes your processing fees, along with any other applicable charges such as monthly minimum fees, statement fees, PCI fees, and others based on your account activity. All of these are combined and deducted as a single amount during the month-end billing cycle.

A DDA Change Fee appears on your statement when there has been an update to the bank account (Demand Deposit Account) where your deposits or debits are processed. This fee covers the administrative work involved in verifying and updating your banking information in the system.

Processing fees are automatically billed to your account either daily or at the end of the month.

If the payment was rejected due to insufficient funds, you can request a rebill. If it was rejected for another reason—such as a recent bank account change or an issue with your bank account verification—your banking information may need to be updated or confirmed before the payment can be processed again.

You will be billed within the first few days of the month, which will cover all the charges and services for the previous month.

Your statements are generally posted between the 4th and 7th of each month. Billing is always processed in arrears. You'll be debited on the last day of each calendar month, and the debit will typically appear on your account between the 2nd and 5th of the following month.

Statement fees is a sum of fees used to pay card brands, banks and Paysafe for helping you move your money safely. The total depends on the type of card used and your pricing setup.

A 1099-K form reports the total gross Sale your business has processed during the year, including card payments and transfers. It’s used for tax reporting and does not include returns or chargebacks. Forms will be mailed to you by January 31st.

A Less Discount Paid statement refers to the qualified discount rate that is deducted from the batch amount prior to deposit. This deduction represents the processing fees taken out before the funds are deposited into your account.

If you see a difference between the total amount funded and the total amount billed, this is primarily due to processing fees and deductions, such as discount rates, refunds, chargebacks, and other applicable fees.

The statement shows "non-qualified" or "downgraded" transactions because these transactions do not meet the criteria for the lower "qualified" discount rate. Transactions may be downgraded to a higher rate (mid-qualified or non-qualified).

The end-of-month charge occurs because some fees, like mid-qualified rates, non-qualified rates, and monthly fees, are accumulated throughout the month and deducted in a lump sum at the beginning of the next month. Only the qualified discount rate is deducted daily.

Even if you're not processing transactions, your account remains open and ready to use. Monthly fees cover security, maintenance, fraud protection, and support to keep your account active and protected for future use.

Clover fees are handled by Clover. For more information on fees charged by Clover, please contact Clover on 844-864-5449 / 855-853-8340.

A Monthly Service Fee is a recurring fee charged by payment processors to provide ongoing support, maintenance and services for your account. This fee is typically assesed every month and covers various administrative and operational costs involved in handling your merchant account.

A PCI compliance fee is charged to your merchant account for all the services, tools and support that are provided to support you to meet the requirements set by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

You are charged an Application Fee when you first apply for a merchant account. It is a one time fee.

A Regulatory Reporting Fee is an annual fee and is charged to your account to cover the costs associated with compliance and reporting requirements imposed by regulatory bodies. This can include things like providing you with your 1099k or validating your Tax Identification Number/Filing name with the relevant Revenue Service.

The Regulatory Non-Compliance Fee is also sometimes referred to as a TIN Mismatch Fee. You will be charged this fee when there are discrepancies or failures to comply with the regulatory requirements related to your business's Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN).

You will be charged with an inactivity fee if you don’t process any card sales transactions/you don’t have any card transaction processing volume for 3 consecutive months. The fee is used to cover maintenance costs and to keep your account secure.

You can see the fees you're charged on your Merchant Agreement Contract. This will list all the fees applicable to you.