Merchant Financial Institutions (Acquirers)

A merchant financial institution, also known as an
acquirer
, offers accounts to businesses that accept payment cards. 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, card-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 your acquirer to charge 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 fraudulant 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.