A processing statement can run to five or ten pages of codes and abbreviations. You don't need to understand every line — you need to know where the money goes and which parts are negotiable.
What's on a typical merchant statement?
Most statements have four sections:
- Summary — total card sales, total fees, and the deposit you received.
- Deposits — the money paid into your bank account, usually by day.
- Card-type breakdown — sales and fees split by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Amex and debit.
- Fee details — every individual charge, often with cryptic names.
Which fees can't I negotiate?
- Interchange — set by the card networks and paid to the bank that issued the card. It varies by card type and how the card was taken.
- Assessments / network fees — charged by Visa, Mastercard and the others.
These are the same no matter which processor you use.
Which fees can I negotiate?
Everything else is set by your processor:
- The markup over interchange (or the flat or tiered rate itself).
- Per-transaction fees and authorization fees.
- Monthly fees — statement, account, PCI, gateway, minimum and "regulatory" fees.
- Equipment leases and rentals.
- Batch fees, AVS fees and chargeback fees.
What warning signs should I look for?
- Fees that appeared recently with a notice buried in the statement.
- A PCI non-compliance fee every month — usually fixable with a short questionnaire.
- Non-qualified surcharges on a large share of your transactions.
- A monthly minimum you never meet.
- An equipment lease for a terminal you could have bought outright.
What's the one number to track?
Your effective rate: total fees ÷ total card sales. Track it every month — if it creeps up, something changed. Our free fee checker calculates it instantly and tells you whether it looks high for your type of business.