In payment processing being on MATCH List is very bad news. Being put on MATCH (or TMF) puts a black mark on your record, which can prevent you from being able to accept credit cards for payment for up to 5 years. Here are some tips and tricks to avoid being put on the dreaded MATCH list.
MATCH List (Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants) or TMF (Terminated Merchant File) it is a safety net used by credit card processing companies to secure their merchant portfolio by avoiding merchants with high-risk accounts or excessive chargebacks. When a merchant violates card brand rules, the merchant’s acquiring bank may, at its discretion, terminate the merchant AND place the merchant on the MATCH list.
Once you are “MATCHED”, your merchant account must be terminated. In fact, every merchant account that you have must be terminated, according to card brand rules. Additionally, you will not be able to open a new merchant account for five years after being put on MATCH.
What infractions will result in a MATCH or TMF listing? While there are many possible reasons that you can be placed on the MATCH list, one of the most common is having as high chargeback rate. More often however, it takes an egregious infraction (i.e., fraud) to land you on the MATCH list. The following list was created by MasterCard to help acquiring banks classify MATCH listings:
01 Account Data Compromise – A merchant facilitated the unauthorized use or disclosure of account information accidentally.
02 Common Point of Purchase (CPP) – A merchant intentionally facilitated the unauthorized use or disclosure of account information.
03 Laundering – A merchant gave its acquirer purchase records that were invalid transactions for sales of items or services between the business and the individual who holds the card.
04 Excessive Chargebacks – “Excessive chargebacks” (as per MasterCard rules) means a chargeback ratio that surpassed 1% and the sum of all chargebacks was greater than $5,000. For American Express acquiring banks, a merchant must surpass 100 chargebacks and have a chargeback ratio more than 1%.
05 Excessive Fraud – A merchant had fake or other types of fraudulent transactions that met or surpassed the minimum reporting standard. This implies that the business’ fraud to sales volume ratio was greater than 8% in a single month and the merchant had 10 or more fraudulent transactions that equalled $5,000 in one given month.
06 Unused – The merchant account is not being used.
07 Fraud Conviction – The merchant’s principal owner was convicted of criminal fraud.
08 Mastercard Questionable Merchant Audit Program – The merchant matches the criteria laid out in the MasterCard Questionable Merchant Audit Program.
09 Bankruptcy/Liquidation/Insolvency
10 Violation of Standards – The merchant broke one of the standards and procedures required when a payment card is used.
11 Merchant Collusion – The merchant was involved in an illegal conspiracy to commit fraud.
12 PCI-DSS Non-compliance – The merchant failed to comply with Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard requirements.
13 Illegal Transactions – The merchant was involved in Illegal Transactions.
14 Identity Theft – The identity of the merchant was illegally assumed to join into an unlawful merchant agreement.
So, there are many reasons that your acquiring bank can place you on the MATCH or TMF lists. In my experience, acquirers that don’t specialize in ‘high-risk’ merchant accounts (i.e. Stripe, Braintree, etc) sometimes do place merchants on MATCH for chargebacks. In rare instances, proper high-risk acquirers may place merchants on MATCH for very high chargebacks.
If you landed on the MATCH list, it is possible to be removed. The acquiring bank that put you on MATCH is the only party that can remove you from the list. If you feel that you were placed on match unfairly, you can plead your case with the acquirer and request de-listing. If that doesn’t work, there are attorneys that specifically handle MATCH delisting.
Hopefully, the only MATCH list reason you need to worry about is excessive chargebacks. Maintaining a low chargeback ratio and count will help to keep your merchant account healthy, prevent MATCH listing and improve your profit margins. So educate yourself about preventing chargebacks with tools like 3DSecure and alerts and make it your goal to keep your merchant account clean and healthy this year.