Should You Outsource Your Payment Processor Audit? | Expert Insights

Accepting card payments comes with an added expense, which is commonly referred to as payment processing fees. Businesses cover these costs in exchange for access to the card network infrastructure.

While payment processing costs may seem small, they can add up as the volume of your transactions grows. And let’s not forget the fact that many businesses end up paying unnecessary expenses as they are under the tiered pricing structure.

What does all of this mean? As your transactions become more complex, so does your payment system. This, along with the tight language in the processor contractual agreements, can adversely affect businesses. To protect your bottom line, you must regularly audit your payment processing system.

At Momentum Growth Partners, we have the expertise and skills to audit merchant payment processing systems and contracts to identify problematic areas and inefficiencies. Our trusted payment processing consultants will conduct a thorough analysis to determine hidden surcharges and operational gaps for maximum savings.

In this guide, we will go over the following:



• What is a payments audit?
• What to do during a payment processor audit
• Why you should let an expert audit your merchant statements
• How a merchant processing audit consulting firm can help protect your bottom line

What Is a Payments Audit?

A payment processing audit is a detailed analysis of your payment processing system. It includes everything, from examining debit and credit card statements to assessing your payment gateway efficiency.

Auditing Payment Processing Costs: What to Do

When auditing payment processing costs, here's what you should do:

Analyze the Fee Structure

Processors may downgrade transactions or add unwarranted charges to a merchant's account. You need to be careful during an audit, especially when verifying the following costs in your statements:

• Debit and credit card transaction fees
• Monthly minimums
• PCI compliance charges
• Gateway fees
• Network assessments

Check Which Tier Your Transactions Fall Into

To incentivize bulk buying, processors may offer discounts, especially when the transaction volume increases. However, not all of them will apply discounted rates unless asked.

Many business owners qualify for better rates. Unfortunately, due to disadvantageous pricing tiers, they end up losing a lot of money. Always check the tiers your transaction falls into and see if you’re eligible for these discounts.

Optimize Interchange Fees

There are many different costs that make up the credit card processing fee, and the interchange fee is the largest. While you can't negotiate this cost, you can optimize your payment system for better interchange rates. Check out our recent blog to learn the 10 strategies to reduce interchange fees.

During an audit, go beyond the numbers. See if your payment system is capturing and transmitting the customer's data correctly. If not, you may be getting poor rates due to downgrades. Identifying and fixing these issues may result in reduced interchange costs.

Look for Chargeback and Fraud Expenses

Some businesses, especially those in the e-commerce industry, may incur chargeback fees. Whatever the reason may be, this can result in increased payment costs and lost revenue. In some cases, you may even face potential payment network restrictions.

It's crucial to analyze the statements to determine the root cause of chargeback and fraud. You should also consider evaluating your fraud prevention systems and implementing tools to mitigate such risks.

Review Your Agreement with the Processor

Your merchant processor agreements may include clauses that could lead to more expenses for your business. Always review your contract for hidden fees, auto-renewal clauses, and early termination penalties.

If you're not happy with what you're seeing, it's best to renegotiate the agreement. When that’s not possible, you can think about changing processors after the contract ends.

Determine the Operational Workflow

Some businesses still have manual processes, which can lead to increased error rates and additional fees. An audit can help reveal these inefficiencies, allowing you to implement secure workflow processes for improved profit margins.

Ensure Compliance

When accepting card payments, businesses must comply with the card network rules and state laws. Failure to do so may lead to fines and even a potential data breach.

During an audit, you must verify PCI DSS implementation and assess KYC/AML procedures to avoid non-compliance issues.

Should You Outsource Your Processing Audit?

Auditing payment processing systems requires expertise and knowledge. Business owners need to know what they're looking for, assess the impact it's having on their margins, and how they can fix it. If you can't do that, it's best to let an expert have a look at your payments ecosystem.

Here are a few reasons why you should outsource your processing audit:

You Get Specialized Expertise

Auditing the payment processing system requires deep industry knowledge about debit card and credit card processing. Without expertise in interchange fees optimization, contract negotiations, and pricing models, it's impossible to identify tangible savings.

Business owners do not possess the knowledge and experience to conduct a thorough payment processor audit. Fortunately, our payment processing consultants can help evaluate statements and identify cost reduction opportunities. We know how processors add hidden fees and can work towards eliminating them.

You Receive Objective Analysis

If you're a high-volume business, you probably have skilled finance professionals who are actively monitoring expenses. Their relationship with the processors and operational challenges may hinder their ability to properly audit your payment processing system.

As a business owner, you need an unbiased assessment of your payments ecosystem. Whether it's auditing processing statements or evaluating the existing payment infrastructure, our skilled consultant brings in an outsider's perspective while covering all the blind spots. We can benchmark your rates against many other similar businesses to identify potential savings.

You Save on Resources

Just like an annual accounting audit, a payment processor audit also requires a lot of time. Many different departments may get involved, diverting their focus away from core business activities. This is why you may want to consider hiring a consultant for a thorough payment audit.

At Momentum Growth Partners, our payment processing experts can carry out a comprehensive audit without affecting your business operations. Since we know what to look for, we will help your business realize cost reductions much sooner than you expect.

You Get to Enjoy a Decent ROI

Instead of auditing processing statements and optimizing payments, most business owners look at other cost-effective ways to improve their margins. For them, bringing on an experienced payment processing consultant is an extra and unnecessary expense. However, they fail to realize how much they could save with expert guidance.



Whether it's conducting a payment processor audit to identify possible savings or optimization opportunities, Momentum Growth Partners and our experts deliver measurable results. Plus, we don't charge you unless we save your business some money!

Why Us for Payment Processor Audit

Over the years, Momentum Growth Partners has helped many clients take control of their payment ecosystem. When we audit payment processing systems and statements, we go beyond the generic checklists.



Our consultants will help your business realize greater savings by tailoring the audit to your business model, transaction patterns, and growth objectives. This targeted and thorough review ensures that our optimization strategies and recommendations align with your risk profile and merchant account requirements.

Save Money and Make Better Decisions with a Complete Payment Processor Audit!

Are you running a high-volume business that's suffering from tight margins? That's because credit card processing may have complicated your payment ecosystem, requiring extra attention to reduce costs. You could audit your payment systems, statements, and transaction data, but for that, you'll need knowledge and expertise. This is where we come in.



At Momentum Growth Partners, our payment processing services help businesses reduce their payment processing costs while mitigating risks. We will analyze your complete payment ecosystem, from processor agreements to interchange optimization opportunities, to improve your bottom line.

Are you ready to outsource your payment processor audit? Call us at +1 (888) 682-8004 to learn how a processing audit and credit card payment optimization can lead to massive savings!