Credit Card Brands Like MasterCard Announce Fees to End 2016

Right before the holiday shopping season, some credit card brands like MasterCard quietly announced new fees. Most notably was MasterCard’s Merchant Location Fee. Just what does this significant change mean for you and your business? We help you navigate through your statement and explain below.

 

What is MasterCard’s Merchant Location Fee?

First and foremost, allow us to clear the air: a merchant location fee should not be assessed by your payment processor. As a matter of fact, many businesses are assessed fees by credit card brands and it’s up to your processor to help spell these charges out for you to mitigate any impact fees may have on your business.

If a Mastercard-related location fee appears in a processing proposal or statement, ask the provider to identify the applicable program, effective period and how the charge is calculated or passed through. Network assessments and the merchant’s contracted charges are not automatically identical. Verify current terms rather than applying a historical fee to every account.

This fee assessment came as a surprise to many businesses – when first announced, MasterCard’s Merchant Location Fee was not going to be assessed until the end of this year and would be based upon the total number of active locations at that time. Many businesses, however, began to see this fee appear on their statement as far back as August 2016, raising merchants’ eyebrows as to why the fee is being assessed ahead of schedule.

Credit card brands seldom share clear information about the fees they assess. Where interchange charges are very transparent, the MasterCard Merchant Location Fee is not. Fortunately, Payline has a reputation for being a transparent payment processor. The $15 fee assessed on the ISO side of our business is passed through at-cost and only when it is invoiced by MasterCard. The fee assessed to payment facilitators is not passed along to our merchants and is covered by Payline.

Experience Payments Differently

While other processors mark up the fees assessed by credit card brands like MasterCard, Payline is honest about the fees that appear on your statement. Be sure to work with a payment processor that will educate you on these fees and help lead you in the right direction.