Finance & Loans

A Guide to Hidden Merchant Account Fees

When it comes to merchant banking accounts, what you see isn’t always what you get. This is certainly true when it comes to the account fees that merchant banks charge for initial account setup or on a recurring basis. Some account fees are necessary, even for companies like SolidTrustPay who are very upfront with their costs. However, some merchant banks try to hide their account fees and spring them on businesses by hiding them in the contract.

Make sure you read all of the fine print before you sign a contract with a merchant bank. You also need to know what types of fees to watch out for when evaluating a bank. Here are a few hidden merchant account fees to keep an eye on:

Teaser Rates: Many merchant banks will attempt to entice customers with an extremely low rate on each transaction. Make sure you read the fine print and see if this is the permanent rate or only applies to the first few months of the service. Some merchant banks will bait businesses in with super-low introductory rates, only to jack up the rates after a short period of time.

Additional Transaction Fees: One of the ways that merchant banks such as Solid Trust Pay make their money is with a transaction fee each time one of their customers makes a credit card transaction. However, some merchant banks tack on additional transaction fees that aren’t widely publicized. One of these are PIN transaction fees, which allow merchant banks to charge extra if a credit card is used as a debit card and the purchase is made with a PIN.

Minimum Monthly Fees: The rate you are charged for credit card transactions is often based on having a minimum amount of transactions — and fees that the merchant bank will collect — each month. Even if your sales are below the limit, many banks will still charge you the minimum rate. For example, if your minimum in fees is $50 and you only generate $40 in fees, the merchant bank might still charge you the full $50.