Types of credit card processing fees

There are a variety of fees you may encounter when setting up a credit card merchant account

Application fee: - A charge to process your application for a credit card merchant account.

Yearly membership: - Additional, annual credit card processing fees may be required to accept credit cards for certain specialized industries such as casino accounts.

Set-up fee: - A fee or fees charged to process and activate your merchant account and/or gain access to a secure Payment Gateway.

Gateway access fees: - A fee for using the secure server (such as Authorize.net) to approve and process transactions. Depending upon arrangements with the payment gateway processor, your credit card merchant account may include gateway processing fees as a separate line item or include it as part of a general monthly processing fee.

Monthly statement charges: - Some institutions charge fees to generate and process a monthly statement.

Discount rate: -A credit card processing fee charged to process each transaction, based on a percentage of the transaction's dollar amount. The rate is based on risk associated with the transaction and will likely be different for each type of credit card transaction you process. An online transaction processing fees rate, for example, is generally higher than in-person retail discount rates because the associated risks are higher.

Address Verification Service (AVS): -A separate processing service that cross-checks your customers' credit card number with the mailing address. The small per-transaction credit card processing fee is sometimes included in the discount rate.

Fixed transaction fees (charged in addition to discount rate). Flat fees you pay for every credit card transaction processed.