Bizzy Advisors

Identify any charge on your statement

Find the exact line item from your statement below. Every fee gets a plain-language definition and a tag for whether it's a real cost, an invented one, or something in between.

The short answer

Search or scan the alphabetical list below for the exact wording on your statement, including common alternate names. Each entry carries one of three tags: Pass-through (a real network cost, non-negotiable), Processor markup (invented by the processor, ask to have it removed), or Pass-through with markup (a real underlying cost that's commonly padded). No link is required to use this page - the definition and tag are enough to identify what you're looking at.

Credit card processing statements are full of line items that don't explain themselves. This page lists every fee we've catalogued so far in one alphabetical index, so you can go straight to the exact charge you're looking at. Common alternate names are listed separately and point back to the same entry - "batch header fee," for instance, points to "Batch Fee."

Once you know what a charge is, the next question is whether your rate adds up to a competitive one overall. Our effective rate calculator answers that in about a minute, using the numbers already on your statement.

Pass-through

A real cost set by the card networks. It's the same for every processor - nobody can discount it, and nobody should claim they can remove it.

Processor markup

Not a network cost at all. The processor invented this charge, which means it can usually be waived or removed if you ask.

Pass-through with markup

A real underlying cost exists, but processors commonly charge more than that cost - so there's usually room to negotiate it down.

For the full breakdown behind these three tags, see how payment processing fees actually work.

No fees match your search.

0-9
A

  • Account Maintenance Fee

    Processor markup

    A flat recurring charge for administering the merchant account, separate from any per-transaction costs.

  • Address Verification Fee See AVS Fee

  • Annual Fee

    Processor markup

    A once-a-year charge simply for keeping the merchant account open.

  • Application Fee See Setup Fee

  • Assessment Fee

    Pass-through

    A small percentage of every transaction that Visa or Mastercard keeps for running their card network, identical no matter who processes your payments.

  • Auth Fee See Authorization Fee

  • Authorization Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A small fee charged every time your terminal or gateway requests approval for a sale, whether or not that sale is later completed.

  • AVS Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A small per-use charge for checking that a card's billing address matches what the issuing bank has on file.

B

  • Batch Fee

    Processor markup

    A small charge applied each time you close out and submit a day's transactions for payment.

  • Batch Header Fee See Batch Fee
C

  • Chargeback Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A charge billed to the merchant every time a customer disputes a transaction with their card-issuing bank, regardless of who wins the dispute.

  • Chargeback Reversal Fee

    Processor markup

    A charge applied even when a merchant successfully wins a disputed chargeback.

  • Cross-Border Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A percentage the card networks add when a transaction involves a card issued outside the United States.

  • Currency Conversion Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A percentage added when a sale is settled in a currency different from the cardholder's home currency.

  • Customer Service Fee See Help Desk Fee
D
  • Debit Access Fee See Debit Network Access Fee

  • Debit Network Access Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A charge tied to routing debit transactions over PIN debit networks such as Star, Pulse, or Accel.

  • Dues and Assessments

    Pass-through

    The card networks' combined membership dues and per-transaction assessments, billed together as one line and set entirely by the networks.

E

  • Early Termination Fee

    Processor markup

    A penalty for closing a merchant account before a multi-year contract term ends.

  • Equipment Rental Fee

    Processor markup

    A recurring charge to rent card-reading hardware month to month instead of buying it outright.

    Read the full breakdown →

  • ETF See Early Termination Fee
G

  • Gateway Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A recurring charge for the software that connects your checkout or terminal to the card networks, most common for online and phone orders.

H

  • Help Desk Fee

    Processor markup

    A recurring charge for access to phone or chat support on your merchant account.

I

  • International Service Assessment Fee

    Pass-through

    Visa's specific charge for processing a transaction made with a foreign-issued card, layered on top of standard interchange.

  • IRS Reporting Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A charge that recoups the processor's own cost of reporting your annual card sales volume to the IRS on Form 1099-K.

  • ISA Fee See International Service Assessment Fee
M

  • Mastercard NABU Fee

    Pass-through

    Mastercard's per-transaction network access and brand usage charge, fixed by Mastercard for every transaction on its network.

  • Merchant Account Annual Fee See Annual Fee

  • Mid-Qualified Rate

    Processor markup

    A higher rate applied to card transactions that partially qualify for a tiered pricing plan, one step below the plan's best rate.

  • Misuse of Authorization Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A penalty charged when a merchant runs an unusually high number of authorization requests relative to completed sales, a pattern the card networks treat as authorization abuse.

  • Monthly Minimum Fee

    Processor markup

    A charge added when your total processing fees for the month fall short of a minimum amount the processor set.

  • Monthly Service Fee See Account Maintenance Fee
N
  • NABU Fee See Mastercard NABU Fee

  • Non-Qualified Surcharge

    Processor markup

    An extra percentage added to card transactions that do not qualify for a tiered pricing plan's lowest rate.

P

  • Paper Statement Fee

    Processor markup

    An extra charge for receiving a mailed paper copy of your statement instead of an online one.

  • Payment Gateway Fee See Gateway Fee

  • PCI Compliance Fee

    Processor markup

    An annual or monthly charge for the paperwork that confirms your business meets card-data security standards.

  • PCI Non-Compliance Fee

    Processor markup

    An extra penalty added on top of the PCI compliance fee when the required security questionnaire has not been completed.

  • Per-Transaction Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A small fixed charge added to every card transaction, on top of any percentage-based rate.

R

  • Regulatory Product Fee

    Processor markup

    A vaguely labeled monthly charge that sounds government-mandated but is set entirely by the processor.

  • Retrieval Request Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A charge for pulling and submitting transaction documentation after a cardholder's bank requests proof of a sale, a step that often precedes a chargeback.

S

  • Setup Fee

    Processor markup

    A one-time charge for opening and underwriting a new merchant account.

  • Statement Fee

    Processor markup

    A flat monthly charge for producing and delivering the statement that lists your other fees.

T

  • Terminal Lease Fee

    Processor markup

    A recurring payment on a multi-year lease for card-reading hardware, which usually continues even after you stop processing.

    Read the full breakdown →

  • Terminal Reprogramming Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A one-time charge to reconfigure existing card-reading hardware for a new processor after switching.

V

  • Visa Acquirer Processing Fee

    Pass-through

    A small flat fee Visa charges on most Visa transactions, standard across the industry no matter who processes your payments.

  • Visa APF See Visa Acquirer Processing Fee
  • Visa FANF See Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee

  • Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee

    Pass-through

    A flat monthly charge Visa sets based on your business's card-present sales volume and merchant category.

  • Voice Authorization Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A charge for manually phoning in for approval when a terminal cannot get authorization electronically.

W

  • Wireless Access Fee

    Pass-through with markup

    A monthly charge covering the cellular data connection used by a wireless or cellular card terminal.

Not sure which of these are on your bill?

Send us your statement and we'll go line by line, name every charge, and tell you honestly which ones you can get removed - free, no obligation.

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