Library · MIDs · How to run this
When to leave a PayFac
You already know you are on a PayFac. This page is whether to leave it. It is not another PayFac-versus-ISO-versus-direct table. That shape is on Payments. The fee lines are on the waterfall.
Pair: When to leave a PayFac on MIDs. Who holds the network seat while you are still on the platform: sponsor bank vs PayFac. Questions before you board a replacement: Ask a high-risk processor in writing. If they add you to MATCH on the way out: Ask the acquirer about MATCH in writing.
History is the part people skip
On a PayFac you sit under the platform’s master account. Processing history, program aging, and MATCH aging belong to that platform. When you leave, a new direct merchant account usually starts at day zero. Underwriting treats you as new. Network programs treat you as new.
Tick “they wrote that history transfers” only if that sentence is on paper. The box starts off. A sales call is not a transfer.
Cost is the other half
Type this month’s volume. Type the PayFac blended percent from the dashboard or the platform terms. Type the direct percent you were actually quoted.
Extra monthly dollars are the lines a PayFac hid inside the blend — gateway, PCI, a minimum. Type them on the direct side. Blank is zero. We do not fill a typical gateway fee.
Early termination is one-time. If the direct quote saves money each month, divide the exit charge by that saving. That is how many months the rate takes to pay back the exit. If the PayFac is still cheaper, the exit charge never pays back on rate alone.
There is no volume where this page tells you to leave. $50k a month is a slogan. Your two percents are the math.
Dump beats the rate
If the platform is freezing you, adding you to MATCH, or walking you at a program line, leave. A cheaper blended percent does not save a dead account. History still dies unless they wrote a transfer. Write MATCH the same week if they add you.
If they are not dumping you, and the PayFac is still cheaper after extra fees, stay on rate. Open a direct account later because you need a MID, not because a thread said you graduated.
If the direct quote is cheaper and history does not transfer, that is the real trade: lower processing cost, new aging, new MATCH clock. Decide that trade. Do not pretend the statements come with you.
Related: Payments (what you signed), Chargebacks (the program line that still attaches per account).
Procedure
- Type this month’s volume and both percents. Extra fees and the exit charge can stay blank.
- Tick history only if they wrote a transfer. Tick dump only if this platform is ending the account.
- Read the verdict. Then the monthly gap. Then exit payback.
- If they add you to MATCH on the way out, write the bank the same week.
Failure modes
- Leaving because a thread said $50k a month.
- Assuming statements come with you.
- Staying for a cheaper blend while the platform is dumping you.
- Pasting a PayFac dashboard rate into an interchange-plus exhibit.
Worked example
None on this page yet. When one lands it will be a real case: what broke, the number, and what changed. Not a composite.
Glossary
- History on a PayFac
- Statements, program aging, and MATCH aging sit on the platform. They usually die when you leave unless the PayFac wrote a transfer.
- Cost crossover
- This month’s volume times the two percents, plus extra monthly dollars on the direct account, versus the one-time exit charge.
Work with us — We run this job on your accounts. Services
FAQ
- Should I leave once I hit $50k a month?
- No. Type this month’s volume and both percents. A slogan is not a crossover.
- Does processing history come with me?
- Usually no. You were a submerchant. Tick the box only if the PayFac wrote that statements transfer.
- The PayFac is cheaper. Should I still leave?
- Only if they are dumping you. A freeze and a MATCH add cost more than the blended percent you like.