8-2 Merchant Account Hidden Fees

Merchant Account Hidden Fees

When you sign a merchant processing agreement (MAP) you are authorizing the merchant service provider to charge you for the rates and fees listed on the agreement. Legally, the provider is not authorized to charge you for anything that you have not agreed to on the merchant processing agreement. After you acquire your merchant account and begin to process credit cards, it is important to keep an eye on the fees that are being charged to your account. Reference your merchant processing agreement and application to make sure that you are not being charged for fees that were not noted on the original documentation.

A common misconception about merchant accounts is that after an account is set up all whole host of additional fees are going to be charged. There should be no unexpected charges after you begin processing credit cards. The true definition of a hidden fee as it pertains to merchant processing is, "a discount rate or other fee associated with merchant processing that is charged to a merchant without prior disclosure on the original merchant processing agreement, application, or on subsequent merchant processing statements".

Essentially, there is no such thing as a legal hidden fee. If you notice that you are being charged rates and fees that you were never made aware of, you should contact your merchant service provider to inquire when you were notified of such fees. Perhaps you overlooked the notification, or perhaps you were never notified. If you were never notified of the fees in question, they would qualify as hidden fees and the provider would be in direct violation of VISA and MasterCard regulations.

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