Staff FAQ's

After you receive the free audit request, you can send them this link to collect the rest of the information.

To be clear- this info is not required, but it will ensure we are not wasting time on deals that may not be able to be done due to ERP limitations, etc. As well as it will allow us to give a more accurate forecast, but the biggest reason you want this is becuse we have had audits fall apart becuse they felt we were not prepared becuse we did not know enough about them. https://www.weaudit.com/how-do-you-process/

They were not even an ISO (Independent Sales Organization) until a couple of months ago (sometime during the first half of 2024). Before that, they were not even approved by the processing networks (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express) to sell merchant processing services, but that did not stop them from selling it. Our guess is that they had no idea that they had to become a registered ISO. Below is a screenshot where they referred to themselves as a “processing Service,” which there is no such thing as a “processing Service”. But they do acknowledge that they are just reselling FISERV.

There is nothing unique about them; they are just like all the other ISO’s for Fiserv (Formerly First Data). As of today 1/22/25.

1– Forced Gateway options – just like Worldpay

Other ISOs will let merchants use whatever gateway they want, but EPX requires them to use its antiquated, outdated gateway. Thus, their interchange issues will remain as they are.

2 – Promising to raise rates

We found this on one of the audits we did – This means they can raise their Discount Rates, Auth Fees, and AVS up to 10% with the April update. Please note that these updates are every April and October! This would imply that those fees could increase up to 20% per year or double every five years.

3 – Potential wrong setup – setting up merchants as retail versus B2B Card Not Present.

Even though the bulk of Eclipse and P21 are B2B AND CARD NOT PRESENT transactions – they consider they consider their system to be a retail solution. Which creates more interchange downgrades

4 – Junk Fee # 1 Infating American Express Fees

Below, the top line shows where they are charging an Amex Direct merchant over 39 basis points for an Amex transaction. Other processors fee for this is ZERO! So, if you did have a low discount rate of 4-5 basis points, you would have to factor in the additional 39+ basis points back into that deal. This is costing this merchant over $600 a month and they have no idea! 

5 – Junk Fee # 2 Made up fee “AVS WATS Fee”

See the second arrow above. In the second line, they are charging an AVS WATS Fee. Watts fees have not been charged for well over a decade. See below – it is for long distance. Today, everything is done via the internet; no system dials a 1- 800 line, and even if it did, there are no more long-distance fees. This is just a made-up fee.

WATS (Wide Area Telephone Service) was introduced in 1961 by Bell Systems as a long-distance flat-rate plan in which businesses could obtain a dedicated line with an included number of hours of call time from specific long-distance areas. 

6 – Inflating PCI Fees

Again, see the image above – the third arrow – Charging $40 per mid / per month, a business with 20 locations would pay $800 for PCI compliance. Versus only $8.95 per mid / per month.

7 – I/C Savings adjustment

See the fourth line down from the top in the above image. They force businesses to use an antiquated payment gateway that creates many transactions to downgrade, costing businesses tens and sometimes several hundred thousand dollars in interchange downgrade fees. However, they offer to fix it on the backend before sending the file to the processing networks if the merchant agrees to let them keep 75% of the savings. Click here to read more about how that works.

8 – Other fees we found on their statements

Monthly Fees – Customer Service Fee – Average Discount Rates 20 – 33 basis points

9 – Black Rated (our internal rating systems)

We rate ISO/Precsccors

Green – Some trust and are truthful most of the time

Yellow – Caution – we see more deception than than normal, but not that bad.

Red – Extrem caution – way more deception than most!

Black – ZERO trust!

We are ranked first in:

Largest Savings – Lowest Fees – Client Satisfaction – Client Retention – Pricing Transparency and Guarantees.

weAudit delivers the largest savings in the industry. With all 5-star reviews and zero BBB complaints, we stand out for our commitment to customer satisfaction. We’re the only company in this space offering a money-back guarantee, operating on a month-to-month basis and not taking a percentage of your savings. Plus, we openly list our fees on our website for full transparency.

The other companies in this space rely on third-party companies to do their audits due to their lack of experience and comprehension of this industry. Only two companies in this space have any industry expertise. 

The weAudit leadership team has over 135 years of executive experience from the world’s largest processor. The other company’s experience is limited to one former sales rep with a few years in the field.

Some of the world’s largest companies turn to weAudit to help reduce their credit card processing fees, and we’re the only auditing firm that specializes solely in this area.

PCI stands for PCIDSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards). All merchants must comply with these standards.

The specific requirements vary based on how many transactions a merchant processes annually. Some merchants only need to submit a questionnaire, while others must undergo additional steps like network scans.

Most merchants are deemed non-compliant simply because they don’t submit the required documentation. Why? Often, they don’t know which form to complete, where to find it, or how to submit it.

This is where we step in. We guide merchants through the process, helping them identify the right form, fill it out, and submit it through our PCI partner, Sysnet (now known as Viking Cloud). We charge $8.95 per location/MID per month, whereas Sysnet charges around $30 per month if purchased directly. We resell this at cost as a courtesy to our clients.

The real issue arises when a merchant experiences a data breach:

• If they are compliant, they are only liable for actual damages.
• If they are non-compliant, the processing networks will impose much heavier fines.

In short, compliance is more about submitting the necessary paperwork than about specific business practices.

Discount Rate – Is the processor’s markup on a transaction. Most of our clients pay around 5 basis points. We see most merchants pay 20 -70 basis points or more on average. This can be negotiated. 

Dues & Assessments – This is the fee from the processing networks (Visa, MC, Discover and Amex) and usually runs around 13 basis points, with Amex being a little higher. These can NOT be negotiated. 

Interchange Fees – Several things determine the fee, and there about one thousand options in all.

Industry – A hotel has different rates than a grocery store which is different than a distributor, or even an airline.

Card Type – Rewards, Non-Rewards, Regulated Debit, Non Regulated Debit, Purchasing, Corporate, Business, High Rewards cards like Signature or World Card: there are dozens of different card types. 

Network – Visa, MC, Discover, & Amex – each network has its own fees as well as rules to get those fees.

How entered – 

Keyed 

Consumer cards (personal cards) have a higher interchange fee when keyed, versus swiped. 

Commercial (business cards) like Purchasing, Corporate, Business cards don’t need to be swiped to get the best rates. 

Swiped

Data Passed – The more data passed the lower the rates on Commercial (business cards) like Purchasing, Corporate, Business cards. Many gateways only pass the minimum data, which causes the transaction to clear at a higher interchange rate as opposed to gateway that passes all of the data. 

On Commercial cards, you only need to pass the 6 basic fields to get Level II. However, a good gateway will pass over 30 fields to get the transaction to Level III – one of the lowest interchange fees. 

Very large companies (such as an airline) can negotiate their own interchange rates. 

A Processor is a generic term that everyone uses to identify themselves in this industry. In other words, an ISO will say they are a processor, as will an MSP, etc. 

A Processor is like:

First Data, which has been acquired by Fiserv, a software company. 

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worldpay/vantiv, was acquired by FIS, a banking/ investing software tech company). Now (Sept 2023), FIS has just sold off Worldpay to a private equity firm. 

Advent International (a private equity group) acquired Fifth Third Processing Solutions in 2009 and renamed it Vantiv, then acquired worldpay in December of 2010. 

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Chase – Paymentech – Chase was reselling First Data, and in 2002 had a falling out, and acquired Paymentech in 2002. 

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Global – Acquires Heartland in December 2015. Heartland started back up as Beyond an ISO for Merrick Bank.

TSYS acquires Transfirst January 2016 and CYAN in 2018 

Global and TSYS merge May 2019. 

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Elavon is a joint venture with US Bank. 

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BAMS (Bank of America Merchant Services) – A joint venture between BOA and First Data. However, BOA announced this year (2019) they are looking to part ways with First Data.

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There are a couple more that are not currently listed, but the above make up about 90%, if not more, of the market.

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An ISO is an “Independent Reseller Organization). That resells merchant processing, like:

FattMerchant An ISO for Wells Fargo, they charge a flat rate versus a % for a Discount Rate.

Flagship

Solupay

Blue (owned by First Data) 

CardConnect (owned by First Data) 

Total Merchant Services 

There are about 1,000 ISO’s in America. 

An ISO is supposed to disclose who they represent at the bottom of their website. 

Most are an ISO for Wells Fargo (First Data). 

Processors have to have what’s called a sponsoring bank to play, as credit cards are owned by banks. So in order to get a seat at the table, a processor has to have a bank sponsor them. Wells Fargo is First Data’s sponsor which is why you see Wells Fargo name instead of First Data. 

MSP Merchant Service Providers

Banks other than Chase Paymentech, which is a processor and BOA (BAMS), are MSPs. They are the same thing as an ISO except they are banks. 

However, they are still reselling this service – to find who, just Google – like the example below. 

I’m not sure who comerica is reselling so I can Google “comerica merchant services (then just trade out Vantiv or First Data etc..) to see who they have partnered with. 

Examples – 

Commerce Bank

Suntrust 

PNC 

City 

The content below this line is next to worthless information that you will most likely never discuss with anyone. If you do, rest assured, they know way more, so gracefully thank them and remind them that the conversation is about the fees, and let’s please stay on point. 

Acquire – just what it says, but it is a word (term) you will hardly ever hear used. It is who “Acquires” the transactions, or what is often times called the front end. This is who sends the transaction to the processing Networks (visa, MC, Discover, or Amex) to get an approval. 

Settlement – or what’s called the back end. This is who moves the cash. 

More times than not, it is the same Processor; but sometimes due to IT or integrations limitations, it will be split between two processors. Now that is very rare! 

The one who issues the credit card, which is Bank of America in the case below. 

Unfortunately, we are a privately held company and do not disclose that information. Given the nature of our business, we prioritize confidentiality and operate on a need-to-know basis. While our website shares what we can, if it’s not listed there, we don’t discuss it. You might say that privacy is our currency.

It typically takes 7-10 days, depending on how busy our auditors are at the time. We’ll keep you updated throughout the process to ensure everything stays on track.

POS (Point of Sale) – Typically used in retail or restaurants, where face-to-face interactions occur.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) – Generally used in B2B environments. While some face-to-face interactions happen, it is often not the case. ERPs are most common among smaller manufacturers and distributors because they are typically out-of-the-box, ready-to-use systems.

SAP (Systems, Applications, and Products) – Designed for large companies, SAP manages every aspect of an enterprise. It is costly to purchase, maintain, and customize, but it offers extensive capabilities.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – Primarily used by companies offering services rather than products. A popular example of a CRM is Zoho.

Notice that each description starts with “typically” because there are no absolute scenarios. What’s critical to understand is whether the merchant is integrated. Is their ERP, or another system, locked down to a single gateway, or do they have options?

Also, unlike other systems, SAP has no inherent limitations. Although expensive to program and modify, it offers flexibility without restriction.

If the merchant is not integrated, it doesn’t matter whether they have a POS, ERP, or other systems.

This is when a merchant keys the transaction into a POS or ERP, and the ERP sends the transaction to the Virtual Terminal for them in the background. The Virtual Terminal then becomes a Gateway, which is known as an integrated solution. 

This is when a merchant keys the transaction into a POS or ERP, and the ERP sends the transaction to the Virtual Terminal for them in the background. The Virtual Terminal then becomes a Gateway, which is known as an integrated solution. 

A VT is when the merchant keys the transaction directly into a website such PayTrace, or Auth.net, etc. All a VT can do is process payments and nothing more. Most VTs can only pass Level II interchange. PayTrace can pass Level III. 

A MagTek Reader. It can not do anything if it’s not plugged into a PC or POS System etc. 

Terminal/Reader 

It is a glorified MagTek Reader – It can accept PIN Codes and some of them have larger screens that allow Signature Capture. They have to be plugged into a computer or ERP, POS, etc  (They do not print receipts.) 

A Dial Terminal  – This is the little black box that sits on the counter. It can connect via a telephone line or via an internet line. Regardless of how it connects, they still call them Dial Terminals. (They print receipts.) 

Most of the time, the answer is NO. Dial terminals cannot process at Level III. However, a card reader, like a MagTek (the small black readers often attached to keyboards or the side of monitors), can connect to a virtual terminal that has Level III capabilities. An even better option would be a Level III Data Enhanced payment gateway.

Percent means per 100

Cent is short for Century or 100

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One Point is 1% or 100 BP

Half a Point is 1/2% or 50 BP

Quarter Point is 1/4% or 25 BP

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100 X 1% = 1

100 X 0.01 = 1

It is the same thing; it’s just % versus decimal.

Often, processors will show rates like 0.0253, which look very cheap. However, that is really 2.53%.

Read the first line – “Epicor Payment Exchange is a payment processing service, which is provided by Fiserv.” There is no such thing as a “Payment Processing Service.” There are processors, ISO’s, MSP’s, etc. (See definitions for processors, ISO’s, etc.)

The question here is: Who are they an ISO for? They are not an ISO, as they do not appear in Visa or MasterCard’s database of ISOs. In short, we cannot find any evidence that shows they are approved by Visa or MasterCard to resell merchant processing. Most likely they are simply passing merchants to Fiserv and receiving a kickback, often referred to as “revenue sharing.”

MID (Merchant Identification Number) – This is your processing account number.

Do you need just one MID?

In general, fewer MIDs are better. However, there are situations where you may need or want more than one.

For example, if you have multiple locations that share a single deposit account, you can use one MID. However, the processing networks (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) recommend having a separate MID for each location. This can increase costs, such as statement and location fees.

If your business processes transactions differently across locations—such as “Face to Face” in one and over the phone or via email at another—then you should use separate MIDs.

This ensures that payments are processed at the lowest interchange rate. For instance, “Face to Face” transactions have one set of interchange rules, while “Card Not Present” transactions, such as those over the phone or email, have another.