MATCH List
The Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants (MATCH) List is a database of merchants who have had payment processing privileges revoked.
Why Would Payment Processing Privileges Be Revoked?
An acquiring bank or processor may terminate a merchant service agreement if the merchant has exceeded the acceptable level of risk. There are numerous reasons why merchants could find themselves on the MATCH List.
- Excessive chargebacks
- Excessive acceptance of unauthorized transactions
- Excessive acceptance of counterfeit transactions
- Money laundering
- Other fraudulent activity
- Selling products that don’t comply with the acquirer’s requirements or weren’t included in the merchant agreement
- Making changes to the website or sales method that haven’t been authorized by the acquirer
What Happens if a Merchant is Matched?
Every time a merchant applies for a new merchant account, the acquirer will consult the MATCH List to see if the merchant is in the database. If the merchant is on the MATCH List, the acquirer will contact the bank or processor that added the merchant to the database and find out what happened. Based on the information provided, the acquirer will decide whether or not to approve the new merchant account application.
MATCH List is occasionally referred to as Terminated Merchant File (TMF) which is an old database that is no longer in use.
