Here at Laura Ocean Solutions, we’ve received so many questions from concerned business owners regarding their merchant account statements. In fact, a majority of our success is due to the hard to understand, complicated statements, and hidden markups that are typical of the card processing industry. This is unfortunate but that keeps us advocating for business owners.

Questions frequently asked about processing statements include:

• Am I paying too much for card processing? (That’s the big one everyone wants to know!)
• Why did my processing costs all of a sudden go up this month? (We see this too often)
• Now, what is this unexpected/odd named fee?
• Is there anything I can do to lower my costs without changing providers?

Only a thorough understanding of your own statements will answer these questions. The problem is that you can’t completely rely on your provider to explain all the fees. If your account provider is being tricky about extra markups and unnecessary fees, the responsibility falls directly on you to figure out what’s really going on.

There’s no one-size-fits-all method for pricing, because every business and situation is a bit different. Still, there are definitely some basic concepts that should help you understand the process.  

One quick tip to start with: Examine more than one statement side-by-side to avoid missing anything. Often times you need two months of statements just to completely view one month’s worth of charges. So, grab at least two consecutive statements, and let’s get started!

Another tip: Work with someone you know, like and trust, it will really help you concentrate on the items you want to focus on.

***Need a second set of eyes or a FREE- NO OBLIGATION Analysis. Send me 1-2 months statements and I’ll be happy to get you a quote.