Meet or beat

Statement Review

Almost every existing business hands you a statement at some point in the deal. Here's how to read it, compute what they really pay, and build the beat. No statement? Jump to projections.

1 · Get the statement

  • Ask for the most recent full month — all pages. The fee summary is usually at the back.
  • Easiest path: merchant uploads it at nextpaypos.com/statement-upload (10 MB max).
  • A phone photo of the fee pages works fine to start.
  • Three months is better than one if volume swings seasonally.

2 · Find the two numbers

  • Total card volume — "Total sales / amount submitted / settled".
  • Total fees — "Total fees / fees charged / total deductions". Include everything: discount, per-item, monthly, PCI, statement, batch fees.
  • Watch for junk fees: PCI non-compliance ($19.95+/mo), annual fees, "regulatory" fees, inflated AmEx or keyed rates.
  • Note the pricing model: tiered ("qual/mid/non-qual" = worst), flat rate, or interchange-plus.

3 · Effective rate calculator

their current effective rate
monthly savings with us
annual savings — lead with this number
How to present it: "You paid $— to take $— in cards last month — that's . We'll do the same for , which puts $— a year back in your pocket. If I can show you that on paper, is there anything stopping us from moving forward?"

4 · Decide the play

What the statement showsThe play
Effective rate over ~3% card-presentEasy beat on interchange-plus — or flip the whole cost to $0 with dual pricing.
Junk fees (PCI, statement, annual)Line-item them in the proposal: "we don't charge these." Small numbers, big trust.
Already cheap (under ~2.2% CP)Don't nickel-and-dime — win on product: better POS, pay-at-table, online ordering, support. Meet the rate, beat the stack.
Flat rate (Square/Stripe/Toast)At $15k+/mo, interchange-plus nearly always wins. Below that, sell product + service.
Lease on the terminal ($30–$100/mo!)Huge win: our placement model is $0 down without a 48-month non-cancellable lease. Check their lease end date.
Early termination fee in their contractQuantify it vs annual savings — usually savings covers it in 1–3 months. Ask in Deal Desk about buyout options on bigger deals.

No statement? Startup & projections worksheet

New businesses, new concepts, or owners who "can't find" the statement: build the numbers from projections. Underwriting works off estimates for new merchants — just keep them honest.

projected gross monthly sales
projected monthly card volume — use on the application
  • Quote conservatively — underwriting may cap early volume and raise it with history.
  • Startups are the best dual-pricing candidates: no habit of eating card fees yet.
  • Cash-tight startup? $0-down placement (SkyTab, Clover placement) beats buying hardware.
  • Any processing history helps — Square/Stripe/PayPal exports count as documentation.