How Do Credit Card Processing Fees Show Up on My Bank Statement

Credit card processing fees typically appear as separate line items on a merchant’s bank statement or settlement report. These fees may be grouped together or broken down by type, depending on your processor. Understanding how these charges are listed is essential for reconciling deposits, managing expenses, and identifying opportunities to lower costs.

What Are Credit Card Processing Fees?

Processing fees are the costs businesses pay to accept credit and debit card payments. These fees usually consist of three parts:

• Interchange fees: Paid to the issuing bank
• Assessment fees: Paid to the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.)
• Processor markup: Paid to the payment processor

Together, these fees typically range from 1.5% to 3.5% per transaction, depending on your business type, risk level, and transaction method.

How Are Fees Displayed on a Bank Statement?

On most bank statements or settlement reports, fees are displayed in one of the following ways:

• Net settlement: You receive your sales minus fees. The fees aren’t itemized on the bank statement, but appear in a processor’s separate report.
• Gross settlement with daily fees: You receive the full amount of sales, and then fees are withdrawn daily as lump sums.
• Gross settlement with monthly fees: You receive the full amount of all sales, and then fees are withdrawn in one lump sum at the end of the billing cycle.

RevitPay’s accounting services for merchants help businesses interpret these statements by matching deposits to batch reports and clarifying which fees apply to which transactions.

What Line Items Should Merchants Look For?

Here are some common labels you may see on your bank statements or processor reports:

• Discount rate fee
• Authorization fee
• Transaction fee
• PCI compliance fee
• Batch fee
• Monthly minimum fee
• Chargeback fee

If your statement is unclear, review the accompanying merchant report from your processor. Many processors separate out Visa and Mastercard fees, as well as gateway and terminal charges.

Why Are Fees Sometimes Hard to Understand?

Processing fee structures are often non-transparent. Flat-rate processors like Square or Stripe typically deduct a fixed percentage per transaction, but traditional merchant accounts use tiered or interchange-plus models that separate each component.

For example:

• Flat rate: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (simple, but often more expensive overall)
• Interchange-plus: 1.8% + $0.25 + actual interchange cost (more transparent but requires reconciliation)

RevitPay’s accounting team helps merchants decode fee reports and reconcile them against sales data. With accounting services for merchants, you can track exactly how much you're paying and why.

What's the Difference Between Gross and Net Settlements?

Gross settlement means you receive the full transaction amount, and fees are deducted later.

Net settlement means fees are removed before funds are deposited into your account.

Many small businesses don’t realize which method they’re on until they compare deposits to receipts. Knowing the difference is essential for:

• Cash flow forecasting
• Accurate bookkeeping
• Identifying processor overcharges

How Can You Lower Processing Fees?

To reduce your overall costs, consider the following tactics:

• Negotiate lower markup with your processor
• Switch to an interchange-plus pricing model
• Encourage debit card use over credit cards
• Avoid entering card data manually (which often incurs higher fees)
• Reduce chargebacks and fraud

RevitPay’s guide on how to lower credit card processing fees outlines actionable strategies specific to high-risk and high-volume businesses.

Can Accounting Software Help Reconcile These Fees?

Yes. Modern accounting software can sync with your processor or gateway to import batch-level data, associate fees with transactions, and generate reports that match your bank deposits.

To use this properly:

• Set up fee categories in your chart of accounts
• Match daily or monthly deposits to your processor’s payout report
• Reconcile statements monthly to catch discrepancies

RevitPay’s accounting integrations support this process across multiple payment platforms and settlement types.

Conclusion

Credit card processing fees can be confusing, especially when they’re lumped into net deposits or buried in monthly reports. By using accounting services for merchants and reviewing RevitPay’s processing fee reduction strategies, merchants can gain control of their payment expenses, identify hidden costs, and improve their bottom line.

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