How To Get Off The Match List

As a small business, everything relies on your merchant account. Hardly anyone walks around with cash these days and, more and more, people are paying with just their phones, and their entire wallet is stored digitally. This makes the ability to accept credit cards (also known as your merchant account) one of the most—if not the most—important parts of your business. However, merchant accounts can become compromised for a variety of reasons. Usually, this happens when the business’s merchant account gets added to the Match List. There are a number of different names for this list, including the TMF List, Terminated Merchant File Match List, Mastercard Match List, and more. Keep reading to learn more about the Match List, what happens if you’re on it, and, most important, how to get off the Match List.

What is the TMF or MATCH List?

The MATCH in MATCH List stands for Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants. It is exactly what it sounds like: A database to alert banks and credit card companies to high-risk merchants whose credit card processing privileges have been terminated for cause. Mastercard Worldwide created it, and they still maintain the list today.

Think of it as an industry blacklist. It can affect many aspects of a business, so much so that it will likely go out of business entirely after being placed on the TMF List. There are many reasons for this, most importantly of which including the 5-year waiting period for automatic removal.

How to Check Match List

The results of being placed on the MATCH list can be devastating, which makes it so unfortunate to learn that finding out you are on the MATCH List in the first place is very difficult in itself. There is no official notification or alert when it happens unless a bank or processor lets you know. Usually, merchants discover their MATCH status after approaching their bank or processor directly or if they get denied a merchant account.

Some important things to know about the MATCH list includes:

• The list is very comprehensive. It highlights all your business names in their various forms, the business owners, and even, in some cases, associates.
• Altering your business name will not get you off the list if you are already on it.
• Landing on the MATCH List is done by actions that may not even be your fault at all.
• No matter how “by the book” you run your business, how ethical you are, or how long you’ve been in business, you can get on the MATCH List—intended or not.

How Did I Get On The TMF Match List?

There are many reasons that you may have landed on the TMF Match List. Some of these reasons include:

• Your bank determined you were too high-risk and closed your account
• Excessive chargebacks—This is usually the most common reason for being placed on the MATCH List
• Consistent issues with fraud
• Frequent data breaches and data compromises
• Engaging in illegal activities, such as money laundering, conspiracy, illicit transactions, and more
• Your identity was stolen and used for illegal purposes
• Bankruptcy, liquidation, or insolvency
• Violation of Standards
• PCI-DSS Non-compliance
• Unused account
• Cheating customers
• Failing to comply with security regulations

What Happens If I Am On The Terminated Merchant File Match List?

If you have discovered that you are on the Terminated Merchant File Match List, your business will suffer severe consequences. The significance and severity of the situation are enormous. Some of the consequences for being placed on the Terminated Merchant File Match List include:

• Refusal from credit card processors
• Refusal from ISOs
• Refusal from payment facilitators, such as Square, Stripe, Venmo, and many more
• Inability to accept credit card payments
• Your business’s legal name of the entity, DBA(s), URLs, the principal owner(s), and address information blacklisted for banks to see
• A 5 year wait period for removal

After becoming red-flagged, most (if not all) institutions will not do business with you. If they do, it will come with exorbitant fees. Both of these situations will put a business on the fast track to shut down, leaving you without an income and the inability to reopen for a minimum of five years. Even then, it can be almost impossible to recover the lost time, revenue, marketing opportunities, brand building, and more, and reopening your business may be extremely difficult if you are able to weather the 5-year storm.

How To Avoid Getting On The Mastercard Match List

As mentioned, there are a few ways that a business may fall victim to the MATCH List and be placed on it through no fault of their own. However, there are still some things you can do to protect your business and avoid being placed on the MATCH List.

To things you can do to avoid getting placed on the Mastercard Match List include:

• Maintaining ethical business standards. Controlling what you can control to the best of your ability is key when it comes to avoiding the Mastercard Match List. Staying compliant with standards and regulations asked of you and doing your best to protect yourself from fraud and identity theft are a couple of the easiest ways. And, it goes without saying that avoiding breaking the law is one of the easiest ways, too.
• Avoid chargebacks. Excessive chargebacks is the most common reason that businesses are placed on the Mastercard Match List. As such, avoiding chargebacks by offering excellent customer service and offering the product or service as you advertise it are the best ways to prevent them. Chargebacks can happen for a wide variety of reasons, so avoiding them completely might be impossible. However, keeping a chargeback percentage of under 1% is ideal and will keep your business in the safe zone.

How to Get Off Match List

Let’s talk about what you’re really here to find out: How to get off Match List. Once you have been placed on the Match List, it is essential to know your options to see how you can remove yourself, save your business, and save your livelihood.

1. Wait five years. Five years after being placed on the Match List, you will be automatically removed, and your record of ever having been on it will be erased entirely. Sounds easier said than done—this kind of long wait can kill a business, as the wait is seemingly intended to do. And, since you are personally also part of the MATCH List and not just your business’s name, you won’t be able to reopen anything else in the meantime.
2. Make a call to your processor. Sometimes, getting off Match List can be as simple as making a phone call to your payment processor. Finding out the reasons you were placed on the list will help guide the best course of removal. For example, if you can prove that your chargeback rate was below 1%, you may have a good chance of getting removed.
3. Consider your legal options. If you’re not able to convince your processor to remove you from Match List, you should consider legal representation to help you. Whether it is having a representative speak to your processor on your behalf, or filing a lawsuit, navigating this minefield on your own can be tricky and disastrous.

About TFM Law

If you have found yourself on the Match List, we can help you. The Law Offices of Theodore Monroe focuses on litigation and counseling in the areas of payments, credit card processing, e-commerce, direct response marketing, and Federal Trade Commission enforcement. Last year the firm got 100% of the people who came to us off the MATCH list.

Theodore F. Monroe, Founder of TFM Law, has successfully:

• Represented merchants recovering funds from processors
• Structured processing relationships to comply with Card Brand requirements
• Drafted and negotiated contracts involving payment facilitators and ISOs
• Represented continuity merchants in compliance and litigation issues
• Fought for numerous companies in suits brought by the Federal Trade Commission and obtained excellent results for firms in the digital products, loan modification, government grant, and nutraceuticals industries

Before opening his firm, Mr. Monroe practiced law with Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May (now Reed Smith LLP) and Lewis, D’Amato, Brisbois & Bisgaard (now Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith), where he defended numerous accounting and law firms in professional liability actions, and insurance carriers in bad faith actions.

Before becoming a lawyer, Mr. Monroe worked as a forensic accountant at Coopers & Lybrand, which provided him a background in forensic accounting and financial analysis that is unique among litigators in Los Angeles. Mr. Monroe studied at Duke University Law School, achieved a BS with Honors, Accounting, University of Kentucky, and is a member of the California State Bar and the Kentucky State Bar.