One statement, read
Twelve lines. Three are the networks'. Tap the rest.
This is a card processing statement for a business taking $30,000 a month in card sales, the way most small businesses receive one: from a processor they opened an account with through a bank or a sales agent, on a pricing schedule called tiered. The document is designed to be filed. Read it instead.
Every line below opens. Some are card network costs that nobody can negotiate, and it matters to know which, because arguing about those is how a business loses the conversation with its processor. The rest are the processor's own, and each ends in what to ask: something only the contract, or the processor, can answer.
- The networks'
- The processor's
Northbridge Payment Systems
Merchant Processing Statement
Processing summary
Fees and charges tap a line
Qualified discount rate 1.69% × $30,000.00$507.00
The processor's
The rate this business was sold. It is real, and it is charged on every dollar. What the sales conversation left out is that "qualified" is a category the processor assigns, and that only 44% of this month's card sales, by value, landed in it. The other 56% are the next two lines.
Mid-qualified surcharge 1.15% × $9,600.00$110.40
The processor's
Added on top of the qualified rate for transactions the processor moved down a tier: rewards cards, mostly. A rewards card does cost more at interchange, which is the honest part. The surcharge is set by the processor and is usually larger than the cost it covers, which is the other part. The statement does not say which cards were moved, or why.
Non-qualified surcharge 1.79% × $7,200.00$128.88
The processor's
The expensive tier. Corporate cards, keyed-in numbers, and transactions that settled a day late all land here, at the processor's discretion. This month it is 24% of volume, at nearly three and a half percent all in. A business on interchange-plus pricing pays the actual cost of each card plus one fixed margin, and this line does not exist. Whether this account can move to that pricing is a question for the processor, and the answer is usually yes when asked in the right words.
Per-item fee 750 × $0.10$75.00
The processor's
Ten cents each time a card is run. Ordinary, if it is the figure in the agreement. A per-item fee that has drifted from 8¢ to 10¢ since signing is not ordinary, and the only way to know is the agreement.
Visa / Mastercard assessments$42.00
The networks'
Paid to the card networks. Published, around a tenth of a percent of volume, identical for every merchant in the country. There is nothing to negotiate and nothing to ask. Knowing that is worth as much as knowing the rest.
MC network access fee$14.25
The networks'
Mastercard's, not the processor's. It reads like padding, and it is the line an owner most often calls to complain about. It is a published network charge passed through at cost. Disputing it is how a processor's representative wins the call.
Visa fixed acquirer network fee$12.50
The networks'
Visa's. Same story. A fixed monthly charge set by the network on a published schedule. Real, and not worth a minute of the conversation.
PCI non-compliance fee$29.95
The processor's
Charged, in principle, because a card security questionnaire was not completed this year. Sometimes that is exactly what happened, and completing it ends the charge. Sometimes the charge continues regardless, or the questionnaire was never offered. Which of those this is takes the agreement and one email to the processor, which the review writes, and it is $359.40 a year until someone sends it.
Regulatory compliance fee$9.95
The processor's
Regulation does not charge a fee. A processor does, and names it after regulation. The question to ask is which regulation, and what it costs the processor per merchant.
Statement fee$9.95
The processor's
The charge for this document: $119.40 a year. Whether it can be dropped, for an emailed copy or simply on request, is a line in the agreement, or one email to the processor, which the review writes.
Batch settlement fees 31 × $0.25$7.75
The processor's
A quarter each time the day's sales are closed out and sent for deposit. Small. It is here because a statement is made of small things, and the review counts all of them or none.
Terminal rental$45.00
The processor's, or its leasing company's
For a terminal this business has had since 2022, at $45 a month, which is now more than the terminal cost. Some equipment leases run for a fixed term and cannot be cancelled early; some have quietly gone month to month; some were never separate from the processing agreement at all. Which one this is decides whether $540 a year is recoverable or simply regrettable. It is the line a review reads most carefully, and the one it never guesses at.
Northbridge Payment Systems is not a real processor and Kellerman Hardware is not a real business. The line names are. They appear, in this wording or close to it, on statements from most tiered-pricing processors.
The number that is not on the page
$992.63 ÷ $30,000.00
3.31%Total fees ÷ card volume
2.15%What a well-priced retail business of the same volume pays: $645.00 on the same month
The statement shows a rate of 1.69% at the top and a total of $992.63 at the bottom, and never divides one by the other. That division is the only number that matters, and on this statement it is 3.31%, against about 2.15% for a well-priced retail business of the same volume on interchange-plus pricing. About $350 a month sits between them.
Three lines are the card networks' and are not worth a minute. Five lines account for most of the difference. Which five, in what order, and what to say about each: that is the review, and it is written for the account in front of it, not for this one.
Read yours the same way.
Check your card rateOr send one statement
The review reads only numbers and carries no retainer. If nothing is found, there is no fee. If something is found and you recover it, DEKALOS invoices a share of twelve months of the saving, once, after a later statement confirms the new rate. Pricing in full.