Merchant Financial Institutions (Acquirers) {#payments-intro-banks-acquiring}
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A merchant financial institution, also known as an *acquirer*, offers accounts to businesses that accept payments. Before you can accept payments, you must have a merchant account from an acquirer. Your merchant account must be configured to process card-not-present or mail-order/telephone-order (MOTO) transactions.  
Each acquirer has connections to a limited number of payment processors. You must choose a payment processor that your acquirer supports.  
You can expect to pay these fees:

* Discount rates: your acquirer charges a fee and collects a percentage of every transaction. The combination of the fee and the percentage is called the *discount rate* . These charges can be *bundled* (combined into a single charge) or *unbundled* (charged separately).

* Interchange fees: payment networks, such as Visa or Mastercard, each have a base fee, called the *interchange fee*, for each type of transaction. Your acquirer and processor can show you ways to reduce this fee.

* Chargebacks: when cardholders dispute charges, you can incur *chargebacks*. A chargeback occurs when a charge on a customer's account is reversed. Your acquirer removes the money from your account and could charge you a fee for processing the chargeback.  
  Take these precautions to prevent chargebacks:

* Use accurate merchant descriptors so that customers can recognize the transactions on their statements.

* Provide good customer support.

* Ensure rapid problem resolution.

* Maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.

* Minimize fraudulent transactions.  
  If excessive chargebacks or fraudulent changes occur, these actions might be taken:

* You might be required to change your business processes to reduce the number chargebacks, fraud, or both.

* Your acquiring institution might increase your discount rate.

* Your acquiring institution might revoke your merchant account.  
  Contact your sales representative for information about products that can help prevent fraud.