Credit Card Processing Rates And Fees Audit Analysis

How We Help Small Businesses Lower Processing Fees

In today’s competitive market, every dollar counts—especially for small businesses. One of the most overlooked areas where businesses lose money is through excessive or hidden credit card processing fees. If you’re a business owner accepting credit or debit card payments, there's a high probability you're paying more than you should. That's where a comprehensive credit card processing audit can save you money—month after month. Its absolutely free and simple, just upload your pdf monthly merchant service statements for auditing here to get started.

At Merchant Fee Savers, our mission is simple: to help small and mid-sized businesses reduce their credit card processing fees by offering professional auditing services and free statement analysis. We use advanced technology, insider industry knowledge, and direct rate comparison to uncover overcharges, misclassified transactions, and overpriced rates hidden in your merchant statements. Here's how our auditing process works, what we look for, and how we help you keep more of your hard-earned revenue.

What Is a Credit Card Processing Audit?

A credit card processing audit is a detailed review and eakdown of your merchant account fees and charges. This audit goes beyond surface-level costs and dives into the granular line items that processors often use to charge unnecessary or inflated fees. Many of these fees are buried in your monthly merchant statements under cryptic labels, acronyms, or pass-through designations that even seasoned business owners find hard to decipher.

We simplify this process by providing clear, transparent explanations of every fee—and more importantly, by identifying which ones are negotiable or excessive. Our audits reveal:

Hidden fees that weren’t disclosed in your original agreement
Tiered pricing tricks and over-billing
Non-compliance penalties you can avoid
Inflated surcharges or markups on interchange and assessments
Misclassified business types that result in higher rates

How Our Statement Analysis Works

We offer a free merchant statement analysis service that makes it easy for any business owner to understand what they’re really paying.

Step 1: Upload Your Statement: You can securely upload your monthly merchant processing statement through the secure form on our website. We accept statements from all major processors, including TSYS, Fiserv, Elavon, Worldpay, Global Payments, Square, Stripe, Clover, and others.

Step 2: We Analyze Line by Line: Our proprietary AI enhanced system reads and analyzes your merchant statement line by line. We normalize the data across processor types and extract vital metrics such as total processing volume, total fees, per-item transaction costs, interchange pass-through fees, assessments, monthly and batch fees, PCI compliance charges, and other hidden expenses.

Step 3: Compare to Industry Buy Rates: We compare your current rates against industry benchmarks and wholesale (buy) rates using our internal database of processor pricing models. This comparison identifies your true effective rate—a simple percentage that reflects how much you’re really paying for credit card processing.

Step 4: We Deliver a Custom Savings Report: You’ll receive a detailed report highlighting how much you’re currently paying, which fees are excessive, and how much you could save by switching providers or renegotiating your current agreement.

What We Look for in an Audit

Our credit card processor audit digs deep to uncover every possible cost-saving opportunity. Here are some of the common problem areas we investigate:

1. Interchange Optimization

Many processors use generic interchange categories, which leads to downgraded transactions and higher costs. Our audit identifies where interchange could be better optimized through proper transaction classification.

2. Non-Compliant PCI Fees

Are you paying PCI non-compliance penalties each month? Often, merchants are charged fees simply because their processor didn’t assist them in completing compliance requirements. We help you correct this and eliminate the fee.

3. Batch and Monthly Minimum Fees

You may be overpaying for batch fees or being penalized by monthly minimum charges that your volume already satisfies. We flag these items and recommend alternatives.

4. Statement Padding and Junk Fees

You’d be surprised how many processors pad statements with arbitrary labels like “Regulatory Fee,” “AVS,” or “Support Charges.” These are often processor-created fees that can be eliminated entirely.

5. Tiered Pricing vs Interchange Plus vs Flat Rate

Many small businesses are placed on tiered pricing plans, which are notoriously opaque and expensive. We show you how Interchange Plus pricing works, and how much lower your fees could be under a transparent model.

Benefits of Our Audit and Statement Analysis Services

✔️ Save Money Every Month – Our clients regularly save 20% to 50% on their processing fees.

✔️ No Cost, No Commitment – Our initial statement analysis is 100% free. There’s no catch, and no obligation to switch providers.

✔️ Independent & Unbiased – We don’t work for any single processor. Our only goal is to help you find the lowest possible rates.

✔️ Fast Turnaround – Get your savings report in as little as 24-48 hours after submission.

✔️ Data-Driven – Our system doesn’t guess—we calculate your real effective rate and compare it to thousands of market-based processor rates.

Real Results for Small Businesses

Here are some examples of businesses we’ve helped:

Retail Store in New Jersey: Lowered effective rate from 3.20% to 1.89%—saving over $450 per month.
Online CBD Seller: Identified hidden high-risk surcharge and switched to a processor with compliant pricing—saving over $2,000 annually.
Automotive Repair Shop: Recovered more than $1,500 in overcharges after catching duplicate “network fees” buried in monthly statements.

Expertise in Credit Card Processor Fees Reduction

We’re experts in merchant fee optimization and transparency. We advocate for small business owners by providing data-backed reports, low-cost processor recommendations, and direct support with negotiation and setup.

Whether you're a retail shop, eCommerce business, service provider, or restaurant, our merchant processing audit services will uncover exactly what you're paying—and where you can save.

Get Started Today

Ready to lower your merchant fees? Don’t let hidden processing costs eat into your profits. Upload your statement today for a free, no-obligation audit, and see how much you could be saving every month!