Are you overpaying on credit card processing?
Credit card processing fees are the most opaque expense category most businesses have. Hidden tiers, downgraded transactions, and quarterly rate creep mean most growing businesses are paying 15–35% more than they need to.
What a merchant services engagement typically delivers.
- Reduced effective rate. Most clients see effective rates drop 0.3–0.8 percentage points after audit and renegotiation.
- Statement-level transparency. You'll understand exactly what every fee on your monthly statement means — many for the first time.
- Recovery of past overcharges. When we find errors, we pursue retroactive credit for up to 18–24 months of misbilling.
- No forced switch. If your current processor is genuinely best in category once we benchmark them, we tell you to stay put. Viking earns nothing on that engagement — and that is the alignment.
What we check
- Effective rate vs. interchange floor — your margin to the processor
- Non-qualified and mid-qualified downgrade rate
- PCI compliance fee billing accuracy
- Monthly minimum and statement fees
- Equipment lease vs. own economics
- Chargeback and dispute handling fees
- ACH and bank-deposit timing
Composite figure across recent engagements. Your savings depend on current pricing and volume.
Specialty practice: $9,200 in annual overcharges, fully refunded.
A specialty healthcare practice in Dallas had been silently moved to non-qualified rate tiers after a software upgrade. They didn't know because the line item on their statement was labeled 'Other Misc.' We documented 18 months of overcharges, recovered the back-billing, and reset their rate structure — all without changing processors.
We thought our merchant services were 'standard.' Brad showed us standard means whatever they could get away with. The first month after the audit our processing was $700 cheaper.
Common questions on merchant services.
Do I have to switch processors?
Almost never. About 70% of our wins in this category come from renegotiating with the existing processor once we surface what's wrong.
How long does the statement audit take?
5 business days from when you send statements. You'll receive a written report with line-item findings and a savings estimate.
What's a 'fair' processing rate?
It depends on your average ticket, transaction mix, and volume. For most growing businesses with $1M–$20M in card volume, an effective rate above 2.7% is worth investigating. Above 3.0% is almost always negotiable.
Will my processor know I'm getting an audit?
Not unless you tell them. We work confidentially with the data you send us. If we recommend renegotiation, we coach you through that conversation or handle it on your behalf.
Worth 20 minutes to find out?
Discovery calls are free. Findings reports are free. You never pay Viking. The providers we place business with do.