How to read a merchant statement

Merchant statements vary in layout from provider to provider, but almost all of them contain the same building blocks. Once you know what those blocks are, you can read any statement in about ten minutes. This guide walks through each section in the order you'll usually find it, then gives you a checklist, the red flags to look for, and how to ask for clearer fee disclosure.

Before you start: gather three statements

One statement shows you a month. Three show you a trend. Pull the last three monthly statements (PDF or paper), plus your processing agreement if you can find it. Some fees are quarterly or annual, and some pricing changes only become visible when you compare months side by side.

1. Summary and deposits

The first page usually shows totals for the month: gross sales submitted, refunds, chargebacks, fees, and net amount deposited. There is often a daily deposit table listing each batch and the amount sent to your bank account.

Two things to check here. First, find total card volume and total fees — you'll need both for the effective rate. Second, note whether fees are taken daily (deducted from each deposit, so deposits are net) or monthly (deposits are gross and fees are debited in one amount at the start of the next month). Monthly debiting is not a problem in itself, but it means your deposits won't match your bank's single fee withdrawal unless you know to look for it.

2. Card-type breakdown

This section splits your volume by network and card type: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and in Canada, Interac debit. Many statements also break out credit vs. debit, and sometimes consumer vs. business or rewards cards. It lists transaction counts, sales amounts, and average ticket for each.

Your card mix drives your costs, because interchange differs by card type and by how the card was accepted (chip, contactless, keyed, online). If your fees change from one month to the next, look here first: a shift toward premium rewards or commercial cards, or toward keyed transactions, can move your costs without any change in pricing.

3. Interchange

Interchange is paid to the bank that issued your customer's card. The card networks publish their interchange programs, and the rates depend on card type, merchant category, and how the transaction was processed. Interchange is the same whichever processor you use; a processor can't discount it, but it can affect whether transactions qualify for the rate they're eligible for (for example, by passing complete data on card-not-present or business-card sales).

On an interchange-plus (or "cost-plus") statement, you'll see interchange listed as its own section, often with a line for each interchange category. On a tiered or flat-rate statement, interchange is usually not shown at all — it's bundled inside the rate you pay.

4. Network assessments and network fees

Card networks charge their own fees on top of interchange. These typically include a percentage-based assessment on volume and a range of smaller per-transaction network fees (for example, fees related to authorization, cross-border transactions, or network access). Names vary by network and are often abbreviated on statements.

The networks set these, and on an interchange-plus statement they should appear as pass-through lines. The practical check: if your statement labels a fee as a network or card-brand fee, ask your provider to name the specific network fee it corresponds to. A genuine pass-through should map to a published network fee; a line that can't be mapped is provider pricing, whatever it's called.

5. Processor markup (discount rate)

This is what your provider charges for its service, and it's the part that is actually negotiable. How it appears depends on your pricing model:

• Interchange-plus: a stated percentage (often shown in basis points) plus a per-transaction fee, applied on top of interchange and network fees. The markup is visible.
• Tiered: transactions are sorted into buckets such as "qualified," "mid-qualified," and "non-qualified," each with its own rate. The markup is embedded, and the provider defines which transactions fall into which bucket.
• Flat rate: one percentage (and sometimes a per-transaction fee) for everything. Simple to read; markup is not separately visible.

6. Per-item and authorization fees

Per-item fees are fixed amounts charged per transaction, and authorization fees are charged per authorization request — which can include declined attempts, not just completed sales. You may also see AVS (address verification) fees, batch fees, or gateway per-transaction fees.

For businesses with small average tickets, these fixed fees can matter more than the percentage rate. A fixed fee of ten cents is about 1% of a $10 sale but only 0.1% of a $100 sale.

7. Monthly, annual and PCI fees

These are account-level fees that don't depend on volume. Common ones include a statement fee, monthly service or account fee, monthly minimum (charged if your fees fall below a threshold), gateway or software fee, annual fee, and PCI-related fees.

PCI fees come in two kinds, and they're worth separating. A PCI program or compliance fee is a charge for tools or support to help you complete PCI requirements. A PCI non-compliance fee is charged when your provider's records show you haven't completed your annual self-assessment questionnaire or required scans. The second can usually be stopped by completing what's outstanding — ask exactly what that is.

Annual and quarterly fees are easy to miss because they only appear in one month. That's why you look at more than one statement.

8. Chargeback and retrieval fees

When a cardholder disputes a transaction, you'll typically see the disputed amount debited, plus a chargeback fee, and sometimes a separate fee for a retrieval (a request for transaction documentation). If you win the dispute, the amount is returned, but the fee often isn't. Check how many disputes were filed and whether the fee is charged per dispute or per stage.

9. Equipment leases and rentals

Terminal charges can appear on your processing statement or as a separate withdrawal from your bank account. A lease is frequently a separate contract with a leasing company, may run for a fixed multi-year term, and may not end when you close your processing account. A rental is usually month-to-month. Find out which you have, who the contract is with, how many payments remain, and whether you own the equipment at the end.

10. Batch and settlement timing

Deposits depend on when you close (settle) your batch and your provider's funding schedule. If deposits arrive later than you expect, compare the batch date with the deposit date. Leaving batches open longer than necessary can also affect how some transactions are priced, so an automatic daily batch close is worth confirming.

11. Adjustments and messages

Near the end of the statement you'll often find an adjustments section (corrections, reversals, fees from prior months) and a messages or notices section. Read the messages every month. Pricing changes, new fees, and updated terms are often announced there, sometimes in general language such as "changes to your pricing schedule."

Annotated sample statement

Illustrative example — not a real merchant. All numbers below are invented to show how the lines relate. They are not typical, average, or recommended fees.

How to calculate your effective rate

Effective rate = total fees ÷ total card sales × 100.

In the example: $1,030 ÷ $40,000 × 100 = 2.58%. Be consistent about what you include. Most people include every processing-related fee (including leases if they're on the statement) so that the number reflects the total cost of accepting cards. If you exclude the lease, note that when comparing.

Calculate it for each of your three statements. If the effective rate moves, check whether your card mix or average ticket changed before assuming pricing changed.

How to estimate your markup

Markup is everything that isn't interchange or network fees:

Markup = total fees − interchange − network assessments and fees.

In the example: $1,030 − $700 − $60 = $270, or $270 ÷ $40,000 × 100 = 0.675% of volume across all provider charges. On an interchange-plus statement you can do this directly. On a tiered or flat-rate statement, interchange isn't shown, so you'd need a transaction-level report (or an analysis that estimates interchange) to separate the two.

Red flags to look for

• Non-qualified surcharges on tiered plans. If a large share of transactions lands in "mid-" or "non-qualified" buckets, ask for the written definitions of each tier and why those transactions were downgraded.
• Fees that appear after month three. Compare your first statements with recent ones. New line items, or fees that were waived at the start and now apply, are worth asking about.
• PCI non-compliance fees. Find out what's needed to be compliant and whether your provider offers help completing it.
• Rate increases announced in statement messages. A notice buried in the messages section still counts as notice under many agreements. Read it monthly.
• Auto-renewing contracts and early termination clauses. Check your agreement for the term, renewal date, cancellation notice period, and any early termination fee or liquidated damages.
• Equipment leases. A non-cancellable lease can outlast the processing relationship. Know the remaining payments before you make changes.
• "Network" fees that don't map to a network. Ask which published network fee each line corresponds to.

Merchant statement checklist

Canada: what's different

Canadian statements usually show Interac debit as its own section. Interac transactions are typically priced as a fixed fee per transaction rather than a percentage, so treat those lines like per-item fees when reviewing them.

Canada also has the Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada (formerly the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada), overseen by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC). The major card networks, including Interac, Visa, Mastercard and American Express, have adopted it. According to FCAC, it gives merchants these rights, among others:

• Statement content: monthly information including the effective merchant discount rate by card type, interchange rates and amounts, and itemized fees.
• Fee disclosure: agreements must include an information summary box with key terms, a cost-per-transaction disclosure, and a disclosure of fees.
• Notice of increases: 30 to 60 calendar days' notice before a new or increased fee takes effect.
• Cancellation: the right to cancel without penalty within 70 calendar days after a fee increase or new fee takes effect.
• Choice: merchants may accept credit without having to accept debit from the same network, and vice versa.

If your Canadian statement is missing information the Code requires, raise it with your provider first, then with FCAC if needed. Check the FCAC pages linked below for the current text, since the Code was updated in 2024 and 2025.

How to request a clearer statement or fee disclosure

You're entitled to understand what you're paying. A short written request to your provider usually works:

1. Ask for a complete fee schedule for your account, including every monthly, annual, PCI, chargeback and equipment fee.
2. Ask for your signed agreement, including the term, renewal date, cancellation terms and any early termination fee.
3. If you're on tiered pricing, ask for the written tier definitions and a report showing how your transactions were categorized.
4. Ask whether they can provide an interchange-level or transaction-level report so you can separate interchange and network fees from markup.
5. For any equipment charge, ask for the lease or rental contract and the name of the company that holds it.

Keep the request and reply in writing. It makes any later conversation about pricing much more specific.

Want a second set of eyes?

CELER Merchants is an independent merchant services agent, not a processor. If you'd rather not work through the arithmetic yourself, send us a statement for a free analysis. We'll label the lines and explain what we find, and the result is yours to use however you decide.