The short answer
The most common avoidable fees are: statement fee, monthly minimum, PCI program fee, PCI non-compliance fee, annual fee, regulatory compliance fee, IRS reporting fee, batch header fee, terminal warranty fee, gateway access fee, network access fee markup, retrieval fee, chargeback fee, voice authorisation fee, address verification fee, early termination fee and equipment lease.
The invented ones
Regulatory compliance fees, IRS reporting fees and terminal warranty fees have no external cost behind them. Nobody charges the processor for these — they are margin dressed in official-sounding language. They are the first lines to remove.
The real ones that get marked up
Assessments, network access fees and interchange are genuine costs, published by the card brands. Compare the rate on your statement against the published figure. Anything above it is markup presented as pass-through.
The ones with a contract behind them
Equipment leases and early termination fees are contractual, which makes them the hardest to remove. Read those clauses before signing anything, because after you sign, the only remedy is time.
Key takeaways
- Fees with no external cost behind them are pure margin
- Compare assessment lines against published card-brand rates
- Leases and termination clauses are the only ones you cannot argue away later
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