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Matt_White
Posts: 9
Registered: 02-19-2010
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The Infamous MATCH List

One of the more obscure aspects about the excessive chargeback programs at the major card associations is what happens if you don't find your way below the 1% limit. If a merchant acquirer decides to terminate your account because of excessive chargebacks, they may be required to place you into a file called the MATCH/Terminated Merchant File (TMF) list.

 

I've seen this happen once or twice, and it's basically the worst-case scenario. Whenever you apply for a merchant account, the acquirer is required to check that list. If you are in there, and you somehow manage to get approved for an account, you will usually be designated a high risk merchant, which means that you lose a number of rights around things like dispute, and more importantly, interchange qualification. You'll likely have to pay over 5% to process!

 

Here's a page that describes the list and criteria for the list in greater depth: http://www.findmerchant.com/merchant/merchant_tmf_file.htm