Tips for switching merchant account providers

Quick summary

Switching merchant account or payment provider can help a business reduce costs, improve settlement, access better integrations or move away from a provider that no longer suits its requirements.

• Do not compare providers on headline rates alone. Check the total processing cost, contract terms, settlement, gateway fees and other charges.
• Check your existing contract before switching. Notice periods, termination fees and terminal agreements may apply.
• Plan the technical migration. Businesses using gateways, recurring payments, stored payment details, EPOS or other integrations may have additional steps to complete.
• Do not close the existing facility too early. Ideally, the replacement payment setup should be approved, tested and ready before the old service is removed.
• Provider suitability depends on the business. Sector, turnover, transaction values, payment channels, currencies and integrations can all affect which providers may be relevant.

Merchant Advice Service is an independent UK payments information, comparison and provider-matching service. Switching payment provider is one of the areas MAS has covered since the business was founded in 2016, particularly where the change involves more than simply comparing headline transaction rates.

Switching Merchant Account Provider: How to Compare Costs and Change Without Disrupting Payments

Businesses often stay with the same card-payment provider for years without checking whether the pricing, technology or contract still suits them.

That can become expensive.

A merchant account may have been priced when the business:

• Processed much lower card turnover
• Had little or no trading history
• Used only one card machine
• Had no ecommerce operation
• Accepted a different mix of cards
• Had higher chargebacks
• Was considered harder to underwrite
• Needed a basic payment setup rather than an integrated one

Several years later, the same company may have higher turnover, cleaner processing history and very different payment requirements, while still paying the original rates.

Switching merchant account provider is therefore not simply about finding a lower headline percentage.

A useful review should examine:

• Total payment-processing costs
• Debit, credit, commercial and international card mix
• Fixed transaction charges
• Gateway costs
• Card-terminal rental
• Settlement times
• Contract and exit fees
• Payment authorisation performance
• Payment integrations
• Fraud and chargeback tools
• Reporting and reconciliation
• Whether the existing provider still fits the business

This guide explains how to compare merchant account providers properly, identify where savings may exist and switch without unnecessarily disrupting customer payments.

Find Your New Processor

Thinking about switching merchant account provider?

Merchant Advice Service helps businesses compare their current card-payment arrangement with potential alternatives.

A review may be particularly worthwhile where you:

• Process significantly more than when the account was opened
• Have not reviewed your pricing for several years
• Have received a fee increase
• Are approaching the end of a contract
• Use expensive blended pricing
• Have multiple card terminals or locations
• Pay separate gateway and acquiring charges
• Need better ecommerce or EPOS integration
• Have slow settlements
• Want improved reporting
• Need additional currencies or markets
• Have outgrown a basic payment provider
• Want to improve payment authorisation rates
• Are paying a rolling reserve that may no longer reflect your risk
• Need a second acquiring route

MAS does not guarantee that changing provider will save money.

The purpose of the review is to compare the whole payment arrangement using the merchant's actual transaction profile.

Quick answer: Is it worth switching merchant account provider?

Potentially.

The Payment Systems Regulator found that the card-acquiring market was not working well for many small and medium-sized merchants and larger merchants with annual card turnover up to £50 million. It also found that many businesses did not regularly shop around, switch or negotiate despite evidence that doing so could lead to a better deal. 

But switching only makes sense where the new arrangement is better overall.

A lower transaction rate can be cancelled out by:

• Higher fixed fees
• More expensive commercial-card pricing
• Gateway charges
• Terminal rental
• Longer settlement
• A rolling reserve
• Integration costs
• An expensive contract
• Poor support
• Lower payment authorisation performance

The correct comparison is not simply:

“Which provider has the lowest rate?”

It is:

“What does accepting payments currently cost my business, and what would the same transactions cost under the proposed arrangement?”

Why businesses often overpay for card processing

Card processing is unusual because many businesses negotiate the arrangement once and then leave it untouched.

Meanwhile, the business itself changes.

Your turnover has increased

An account priced when you processed £20,000 each month may no longer represent good value if you now process £200,000.

Higher turnover can sometimes support:

• Lower acquiring margins
• Different pricing structures
• Improved commercial terms
• Dedicated account management

That does not mean rates automatically fall as the business grows.

The merchant normally needs to review or renegotiate them.

Your risk profile has improved

A business may originally have been:

• Newly incorporated
• Pre-launch
• Without processing history
• Operating in a restricted sector
• Experiencing higher disputes

Several years of clean processing can provide an underwriter with much more evidence.

This can be particularly important for higher-risk merchants that accepted expensive terms when they launched because their provider choice was limited.

Your card mix has changed

A business may now process a different proportion of:

• Consumer debit cards
• Consumer credit cards
• Commercial cards
• International cards
• Card-present payments
• Ecommerce payments

Pricing that suited the old transaction mix may no longer suit the new one.

Your payment setup has become more complicated

You may now be paying separately for:

• Acquiring
• A gateway
• Card terminals
• Payment links
• Fraud tools
• Ecommerce plugins
• Reporting
• Several merchant IDs

These costs often build up gradually.

Nobody stops to ask whether the overall payment architecture still makes sense.

Find Your New Processor

MAS insight: Most merchants compare the wrong number

When businesses contact Merchant Advice Service about switching, they often quote their current transaction percentage.

That is useful, but it rarely tells the whole story.

Two merchants both paying “1.2%” can have very different actual payment costs.

One may also pay:

• 10p per authorisation
• £25 monthly gateway fees
• Terminal rental
• PCI charges
• Cross-border uplifts
• Refund fees
• Chargeback fees

while another has several of those costs included.

Similarly, two providers offering 0.8% and 1% cannot be compared properly unless we know:

• Which cards those rates cover
• Whether pricing is blended or IC++
• Which scheme fees are included
• Whether there is a fixed transaction charge
• How commercial cards are priced
• What international cards cost
• What gateway and hardware fees apply

MAS therefore prefers to compare actual processing information rather than headline sales rates wherever possible.

Use your Card Payments Summary Box before you switch

Your Card Payments Summary Box can be one of the most useful places to start when reviewing your current provider.

The Payment Systems Regulator introduced personalised summary boxes as part of its card-acquiring market reforms. Directed providers are required to give merchants key price and non-price information in a consistent format, with the aim of making card-acquiring services easier to understand and compare. The PSR also introduced online quotation tools and messages prompting merchants to shop around or negotiate. 

Depending on your provider, your Summary Box may be available:

• In your online merchant portal
• With your billing information
• Alongside your regular merchant statements or account information

What should you look for in the Summary Box?

Use it to understand areas such as:

• Your current transaction charges
• Fixed fees
• Regular account charges
• Exception charges
• Contract information
• Terminal arrangements where relevant
• Important service features

It is a very useful starting point — but it should not be used in isolation.

Your merchant statements show what you actually processed and paid.

For a meaningful comparison, MAS would ideally look at:

Your Card Payments Summary Box + three recent merchant statements.

Together, these can provide a much clearer picture of:

• Your current pricing
• Your transaction profile
• Where your costs arise
• Whether another pricing model may suit you better
• Which charges are having the greatest effect

Don’t know where your Summary Box is?

Check:

• Your merchant portal
• Billing area
• Recent account communications
• Statements
• Pricing documents

You can also ask your current card-acquiring provider for the information it supplies to help you understand your fees and contract.

Want to know whether you are overpaying?

If you already process card payments, sending MAS your Card Payments Summary Box and three recent merchant statements gives us a much better starting point than simply asking another provider for a headline quote.

We can look at how the existing arrangement is structured and whether a wider comparison appears worthwhile.

You do not need to cancel your current account or commit to changing provider to review your costs.

Find Your New Processor

How to work out what card processing really costs you

Take three recent merchant statements.

Ideally choose ordinary trading months rather than an unusually quiet or exceptionally busy period.

For each month, identify:

Card turnover

The total value of card payments processed.

Number of transactions

This matters because a fixed 5p or 10p fee can have a significant effect on businesses processing large numbers of smaller payments.

Acquiring charges

Include percentage-based and fixed charges associated with processing.

Gateway charges

These might include:

• Monthly gateway fees
• Per-transaction charges
• Additional authorisations
• 3D Secure
• Tokenisation
• Payment links

Terminal costs

Include:

• Terminal rental
• SIM or connectivity
• Additional hardware
• Maintenance
• Replacement cover

Other charges

Look for:

• PCI fees
• Statement fees
• Refund charges
• Chargeback fees
• Cross-border fees
• Currency-conversion charges
• Minimum monthly service charges
• Additional merchant-ID fees

Then calculate:

Total payment costs ÷ total card turnover × 100

This gives you a useful effective processing cost.

It is not the only measure that matters, but it is considerably more useful than comparing one advertised percentage.

Find Your New Processor

Merchant Advice Service view

A good payment-provider switch should solve a defined problem rather than simply replace one supplier with another.

Before comparing new providers, Merchant Advice Service recommends establishing what needs to improve. That might be cost, contract terms, settlement, customer service, integrations, payment methods, international coverage or the suitability of the existing provider for the business itself.

For businesses with more complex setups, the technical migration matters just as much as the commercial deal. Gateways, stored payment credentials, recurring payments, terminals, integrations and Merchant IDs should all be considered before the existing facility is closed.

An example of how small rate differences become significant

Consider a business processing £250,000 per month in card payments.

At an effective payment cost of 1.4%, this represents approximately:

£3,500 per month

If a genuinely comparable arrangement reduced the effective cost to 1.1%, the cost would be:

£2,750 per month

The illustrative difference would be:

£750 per month

or:

£9,000 per year

This does not mean that every merchant processing £250,000 can save £9,000.

A genuine comparison must consider:

• Card mix
• Number of transactions
• Gateway charges
• Hardware
• Scheme fees
• International cards
• Commercial cards
• Contract costs
• Settlement
• Any reserve

But it demonstrates why seemingly small differences become commercially significant as turnover increases.

Blended pricing versus IC+ and IC++

One of the first things to establish is how the existing account is priced.

Blended pricing

A blended arrangement charges one or several simplified transaction rates.

For example:

• One rate for card-present transactions
• Another for ecommerce
• Another for commercial or international cards

The advantage is simplicity.

The disadvantage is that it can be difficult to see the underlying cost and provider margin.

Interchange Plus - IC+

IC+ pricing normally separates:

• Interchange
• The acquiring margin

Interchange Plus Plus - IC++

IC++ typically separates:

• Interchange
• Card-scheme charges
• The acquiring margin

This can give larger merchants more visibility over where their payment costs arise.

It does not automatically mean IC++ is cheaper.

A proper comparison needs to use the merchant's actual:

• Debit and credit split
• Consumer and commercial card mix
• UK and overseas cards
• Ecommerce and card-present transactions
• Average transaction value
• Transaction volume

A business with a straightforward card profile may prefer the predictability of blended pricing.

A higher-turnover merchant with several card types, countries and channels may value the greater transparency of IC++.

When should a business review its merchant account?

There does not have to be anything wrong with the existing provider.

Good times to review include:

Your annual review

Treat payment processing like insurance, telecoms or another significant business cost.

Review it periodically rather than waiting for a problem.

Your turnover increases substantially

A major increase in volume should generally be discussed with your provider anyway.

It is also a sensible point to review the commercial arrangement.

You receive a fee increase

Do not look only at the charge being increased.

Use it as an opportunity to understand the complete cost of the account.

Your contract approaches renewal

Check the notice period before the renewal date arrives.

You open additional locations

More terminals or sites may justify different pricing and reporting arrangements.

You launch ecommerce

The provider that works well for your card terminals is not necessarily the best provider for online payments.

Your card mix changes

International growth, B2B sales or ecommerce can materially alter processing costs.

Your technology changes

A new:

• EPOS system
• Booking platform
• Ecommerce platform
• CRM
• ERP
• Subscription platform

may change which payment providers can support the business.

You need more sophisticated payment functionality

This might include:

• Recurring payments
• Account updater services
• Network tokens
• Smart routing
• Multiple acquirers
• Open banking
• Marketplace payments
• Split payments
• International acquiring

At this point, the decision becomes about payment strategy as much as cost.

Find Your New Processor

Card Payments Summary Boxes were introduced for a reason

The Payment Systems Regulator's market review found significant difficulties for merchants trying to compare card-acquiring prices. Pricing structures varied between providers, prices were not routinely published and terminal contracts could make switching harder. 

Its remedies included:

• Personalised Summary Boxes
• Online quotation tools
• Messages encouraging merchants to shop around or negotiate
• Changes to relevant point-of-sale terminal rental contracts

The purpose was to give businesses better information and reduce obstacles to finding a better deal. 

This is why we recommend using the Summary Box as part of a switching review rather than ignoring it as another piece of provider paperwork.

Card-terminal contracts can be separate

One of the most common switching mistakes is assuming the card machine and merchant account form one contract.

They may not.

You could have:

• One agreement for card acquiring
• Another for terminal rental
• A separate gateway contract
• Another EPOS agreement

Cancelling the merchant account does not necessarily cancel the card-terminal lease.

The PSR introduced rules requiring relevant providers of POS terminal hire to limit the initial duration of covered contracts to 18 months, followed by rolling arrangements, because lengthy terminal contracts had been identified as a barrier to merchants switching providers. 

Before changing provider, check:

• Who owns the terminals
• Contract start date
• Minimum term
• Notice period
• Early termination costs
• Return requirements
• Whether the existing hardware works with another acquirer

Do this before signing the replacement agreement.

What else should you check in your existing contract?

Look for:

• Minimum contract period
• Notice period
• Automatic renewal
• Early termination fees
• Minimum monthly charges
• Volume commitments
• Gateway agreement
• Terminal agreement
• Reserve provisions
• Hardware-return terms
• Stored-token arrangements
• Data-export rights

Do not rely solely on what you remember being told when the account was opened.

Ask for written confirmation where anything is unclear.

Should you negotiate with your existing provider first?

Often, yes.

Switching is not the only way to obtain better terms.

An established merchant with strong processing history may be able to use a market comparison to renegotiate:

• Acquiring margin
• Fixed transaction costs
• Terminal rental
• Gateway pricing
• Settlement
• Contract terms

The PSR's market review specifically identified both shopping around and negotiating with an existing provider as potential routes to a better outcome. 

Staying with the existing provider can make sense where:

• The technology works
• Support is good
• Integrations are already established
• Payment tokens would be difficult to migrate
• Competitive pricing can be agreed

There is no benefit in changing provider simply for the sake of changing.

Price is not the only reason to switch

A payment provider can be cheap and still cost the business money.

Payment authorisation rates

For a large ecommerce merchant, the value of legitimate payments being approved can be more significant than a small difference in the transaction rate.

Ask:

• How are declines analysed?
• Is local acquiring available?
• Is smart routing supported?
• Can several acquirers be connected?
• Are network tokens supported?
• How are recoverable declines managed?

A comparison should therefore consider payment performance as well as payment cost.

Settlement

For a business processing substantial card turnover, when funds arrive can be commercially important.

Compare:

• Same-day settlement
• Next-day settlement
• T+2 or longer
• Weekend settlement
• Currency settlement
• Reserve arrangements

A small reduction in fees may be less attractive if the new provider significantly delays access to funds.

Reporting and reconciliation

A cheaper provider that creates additional accounting work may not actually save the business money.

Look at whether reporting clearly identifies:

• Gross sales
• Processing charges
• Refunds
• Chargebacks
• Settlements
• Merchant IDs
• Locations
• Currencies
• Payment methods

Support

Ask what happens when:

• A settlement is missing
• Transactions suddenly decline
• A card terminal stops working
• A chargeback arrives
• The payment gateway fails
• You need to add a website
• Your turnover increases substantially

Find out whether support is:

• Automated
• Call-centre based
• Account-managed
• Available outside normal business hours

Integrations

Your new provider needs to work with the systems the business actually uses.

These might include:

• EPOS
• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• Booking software
• CRM
• ERP
• Accounting software
• Subscription platforms
• Payment orchestration

A slightly cheaper acquirer can become expensive if switching requires a major development project.

Switching ecommerce payment providers

Changing ecommerce acquiring can involve much more than changing the payment button.

Check:

• Gateway compatibility
• Ecommerce plugins
• API requirements
• 3D Secure
• Apple Pay and Google Pay
• Stored cards
• Subscription tokens
• Customer account data
• Refund handling
• Webhooks
• Reconciliation
• Fraud rules

What happens to stored cards?

This is particularly important for recurring-payment and subscription businesses.

Stored card information should normally be represented through secure payment tokens rather than the business keeping raw card numbers.

Those tokens may belong to:

• The gateway
• Existing processor
• Tokenisation provider
• Payment-orchestration platform

They may not automatically work with a replacement provider.

Before switching, establish:

• Who controls the tokens
• Whether they can be exported
• Whether the new provider can import them
• Whether customers will need to enter their card details again
• Whether network tokens are being used

Do not cancel the existing gateway until this has been established.

Find Your New Processor

Switching card machines

For physical locations, changing provider may involve:

1. New terminals being delivered
2. Merchant IDs being configured
3. EPOS integration
4. Staff training
5. Test transactions
6. Refund testing
7. Connectivity checks
8. Old terminals being returned

Do not schedule cancellation of the old service before the new hardware is working.

For multi-location businesses, a phased rollout may be safer than changing every location simultaneously.

How to switch merchant provider without downtime

1. Audit your existing arrangement

Understand:

• Costs
• Contracts
• Terminals
• Gateway
• Integrations
• Settlement
• Payment methods

2. Find your Card Payments Summary Box

Use it alongside recent statements to create a clearer picture of the current account.

3. Prepare recent statements

Three months is often a useful starting point.

Higher-risk and larger merchants may be asked for a longer history.

4. Define what you actually want to improve

This could include:

• Processing cost
• Authorisation rates
• Settlement
• Support
• International acquiring
• Integrations
• Reporting
• Resilience

Without a clear objective, it is easy to select a cheaper-looking provider that solves the wrong problem.

5. Compare providers using the same transaction information

Do not give one provider £50,000 monthly turnover and another £100,000.

A meaningful comparison requires consistent assumptions.

6. Complete underwriting before cancelling anything

A quote is not a live merchant account.

Wait until the replacement arrangement has been properly approved.

7. Build and test integrations

Test:

• Successful payments
• Declines
• Refunds
• Digital wallets
• Payment links
• Recurring transactions
• Reporting

8. Run a controlled transition

Where appropriate, keep the existing account available while the replacement setup is verified.

9. Cancel old services individually

Check:

• Acquiring
• Gateway
• Terminals
• Fraud software
• Additional merchant IDs

10. Reconcile the final month

Look for:

• Late settlements
• Chargebacks
• Refunds
• Final invoices
• Direct debits
• Terminal charges
• Reserve releases

Keep historic statements and reports wherever possible.

When should you not switch?

Changing provider may not be sensible simply because another salesperson has quoted a lower percentage.

Pause where:

• Your current provider is reviewing the account
• Chargebacks have suddenly increased
• There is an unresolved fraud incident
• Your PCI position is unclear
• Your business activity has changed without being disclosed
• The replacement provider has not approved your complete business model
• You do not understand the termination costs
• Important integrations have not been tested
• Stored payment tokens cannot yet be migrated
• The proposed reserve is substantially higher
• The new contract is more restrictive

Resolve the underlying issue before moving.

The mistake of switching on headline rate alone

Imagine your existing provider charges:

0.9% + 5p

A salesperson offers:

0.7%

That sounds cheaper.

But suppose the new arrangement also introduces:

• 12p authorisation charges
• £30 monthly gateway fee
• Higher commercial-card pricing
• £20 monthly terminal rental
• A lengthy software commitment

Depending on your transaction profile, the apparently cheaper rate could cost more.

This is why MAS looks at pound-for-pound cost, rather than simply comparing percentages.

High-turnover businesses should look beyond rate reduction

For businesses processing substantial volumes, the bigger opportunity may be in payment architecture rather than negotiating a few basis points.

For example:

• Local acquiring may improve authorisation performance
• Better routing may recover legitimate declined payments
• Multiple acquiring routes may improve operational resilience
• Network tokens may support repeat-payment performance
• Consolidated gateway reporting can reduce reconciliation work
• Appropriate open-banking options may reduce card dependence
• IC++ pricing can provide more visibility over underlying costs

At this level, switching provider becomes a payment-strategy decision, rather than simply a cheaper merchant account.

Find Your New Processor

What information should you compare between providers?

Use the same checklist for every proposal.

Commercial

• Pricing model
• Acquiring margin
• Fixed transaction fee
• Gateway fees
• Terminal rental
• Refund fees
• Chargeback fees
• International-card costs
• Minimum charges
• Setup fees
• Exit fees

Cash flow

• Settlement time
• Weekend settlement
• Rolling reserve
• Security deposit
• Currency settlement

Contract

• Minimum term
• Renewal
• Notice period
• Hardware contract
• Price-change provisions

Technology

• Gateway
• API
• Ecommerce integration
• EPOS compatibility
• Digital wallets
• Payment links
• Recurring payments
• Token migration
• Reporting

Performance

• Authorisation reporting
• Smart routing
• Fraud tools
• 3D Secure
• Account updater
• Network tokens

Service

• Account management
• Technical support
• Dispute support
• Out-of-hours assistance
• Escalation process

How Merchant Advice Service helps businesses switch

Merchant Advice Service provides free, independent guidance for businesses comparing card-payment providers.

Switching reviews can be particularly useful where a merchant already has processing history, because existing statements allow potential alternatives to be considered using real transaction data rather than estimates.

MAS may help with:

Reviewing current card-processing costs

We can look at the existing arrangement to understand:

• Pricing structure
• Transaction charges
• Gateway costs
• Terminal fees
• Settlement
• Potential duplicated costs

Reviewing your Card Payments Summary Box

Where available, the Summary Box can be considered alongside your statements to help build a clearer picture of the existing commercial arrangement.

Understanding what you actually need

The cheapest provider is not useful if it cannot support:

• Your sector
• Your software
• Your payment channels
• Your customer countries
• Your transaction values

Identifying potential alternatives

MAS works with different acquiring banks, payment providers, gateways and specialist payment businesses.

Potential routes can be considered against the merchant's actual requirements.

MAS does not compare every provider in the market, and all applications remain subject to underwriting.

Comparing like for like

Where sufficient information is available, potential proposals can be assessed against the same transaction profile.

That is considerably more useful than comparing unrelated headline percentages.

Supporting the changeover

Depending on the requirement, this may include considering:

• Gateway compatibility
• Terminals
• Ecommerce
• Integrations
• Settlement
• Contract timing

MAS does not cancel existing contracts on behalf of businesses or guarantee that changing provider will create a saving.

Find Your New Processor

What should you send MAS for a switching review?

For the most useful initial comparison, provide:

• Your Card Payments Summary Box, where available
• Three recent merchant statements
• Current provider
• Monthly card turnover
• Number of transactions
• Average transaction value
• Maximum transaction value
• Online/card-present/telephone split
• UK/international split
• Number of terminals
• Current gateway
• Current EPOS or ecommerce system
• Settlement period
• Contract end date
• Any rolling reserve
• The main reason you are considering changing

For higher-turnover or more complex businesses, it may also be useful to provide:

• Card-type breakdown
• Currency mix
• Authorisation data
• Chargeback information
• Multiple merchant IDs
• International acquiring requirements

You do not need to know every answer before making an initial enquiry.

What happens after contacting MAS?

For an established merchant looking to switch, the process may involve:

1. Understanding the current payment setup
2. Reviewing actual processing costs and the Summary Box where available
3. Identifying the merchant's priorities
4. Checking technical and sector requirements
5. Considering suitable providers
6. Comparing potential commercial arrangements
7. Making an introduction where appropriate
8. Planning the changeover before the old service is cancelled

Businesses do not pay MAS for its initial matching and introduction service. MAS may receive commission from a provider or partner following a successful introduction.

This article provides general payments information and is not legal, accounting or contractual advice. Merchant agreements, pricing structures and payment requirements differ. Businesses should review the terms of their existing and proposed agreements before switching.