11-4 Common Mistakes About Statements

Common Mistakes & Misconceptions About Statements

The most common mistake made by people as they read their merchant processing statement is that they fail realize all of the charged that have been incurred throughout the month to find their total charge. Many people complain (and we tend to agree) that the merchant service provider should be required to list a grand total of card fees for the entire month.

If you take a look at your merchant account statement you may think that they already do this, because almost all merchant account statements do have a place where "Total Fees" are listed. This is very misleading because this figure does not represent the total amount of fees taken out of your bank account for the processing period. The total fees listed on your statement only represents the surcharge percentage discounts and card fees that were charged during the processing period.

The qualified discount rate is usually withdrawn from transaction prior to deposit throughout the month. All of the qualified discount charges are not figured in to the " Total Card Fees " on your month-end merchant processing statement. In order to realize how much you have been charged for processing services, you must add the qualified discount charges that have been applied to your account throughout the month, to the card fees and discount surcharges (mid and n o n-qualified discount rates) that are applied at the end of the month. Most business owners go years without fully understanding exactly how much their merchant processing is costing them. If you have any doubts about how to read your merchant account statement, or about how much you are being charged, you should contact your merchant service provider and have them explain your statement to you in detail.

11-5 Sample Merchant Account Statements

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