← Engagements
07

Payments Cost Review

"We have not looked at our card fees since we signed the contract."

Fixed price4 to 6 weeksCFO or PE sponsor

Context

Who it is for
Businesses taking roughly £1m to £50m a year in card payments. Restaurant groups, retail chains, e-commerce brands, and private equity portfolio companies where cards are most of the revenue.
Why it drifts
Pricing agreed at onboarding rarely gets looked at again. Volumes grow, the card mix changes, new fees appear on the statement, and a rate that was fine three years ago no longer is.
Why it is hard to see
Statements are hard to compare. Interchange, scheme fees and the provider's own margin arrive mixed together, in a different layout from every acquirer and PSP.
Why independent
Most people who offer to cut your card fees are paid by the provider you switch to. I am not, so the answer can just as easily be to stay where you are and renegotiate.

Approach

First

Read the statements

Three to six months of statements from each acquirer or PSP. My own AI tool pulls out every fee line, whatever the layout, and I check what it finds. That is what makes a review like this possible in weeks rather than months.

Then

Separate what is fixed from what is negotiable

Interchange and scheme fees are set by the card schemes. The provider's margin, and the fees added on top, are set by the provider. The review splits the two, and compares the negotiable part with what a business of your size and card mix should be paying.

Then

Put a number on it

What the gap costs you a year, fee by fee, and which parts are worth going after.

Finally

The route to fixing it

Renegotiate with your current provider, change the pricing structure, or go to market. You get the numbers and the arguments to take into that conversation, and I can sit in on it if you want.

Most of my career has been on the other side of these prices: at Mastercard, Citi and Elavon, and then advising acquirers and PSPs at Edgar, Dunn & Company. I know where the margin sits in a statement.

Deliverables

A short report on what you pay, what you should pay, and how to close the gap. For a private equity sponsor, the same review can run across several portfolio companies as one cost-out line in the value creation plan.

  • Your effective rate, by provider and by card type
  • Every fee line, split into fixed and negotiable
  • A comparison with what a business like yours should pay
  • The annual saving, fee by fee
  • A recommended route, and the pack to negotiate with

Scope

In scope: the cost of accepting cards, across every acquirer and PSP you use.

Out of scope: running a switch, legal review of contracts, and fraud or payment operations.

Terms

Fixed price, and no commission. I am not paid by any provider, whatever you decide. The price is agreed up front and does not move with the saving.

Start with a free first look. Send me three months of statements and I will tell you whether there is enough in them to justify a full review. If there is not, that is the end of it.

Always open to a conversation.

martin@scalepointpartners.com
Or message me on LinkedIn.