Overview
Residuals Verifier helps admins check whether the fees charged by processors match the rates the ISO expects to pay. It scans imported residual reports, compares the reported fees against the ISO’s saved buy rates, and flags differences that may need investigation.
- Pass-Through Fee Checks: Compares fee income and expenses to identify cases where the ISO may be overcharged or undercharged.
- Rate Comparison: Compares the rate shown in the processor’s residual report with the ISO’s agreed-upon buy rate and highlights mismatches.
- Merchant-Level Review: Lets admins drill into individual merchants to see which accounts are affected by incorrect or inconsistent fees.
- Exports & Corrections: Results can be exported and shared with the processor when disputing charges, or used internally to identify merchants that are not being charged fees the ISO is paying. Admins can also update saved buy rates when processor pricing changes.
This feature is used to verify residual costs before or after processing a report, identify incorrect processor charges, and catch pricing issues that could reduce the ISO’s profitability.
How does Residuals Verifier work?
After you import a residual report, Merchant Central compares the processor's reported fee data against the ISO Buy Rates stored in the CRM.
The first time a report is imported, Merchant Central automatically saves the ISO’s Buy Rates. These rates can then be used as a baseline when reviewing future residual reports.
The resulting data allows your ISO to:
- Compare pass-through fee income and expenses.
- Identify differences between Report Rates and ISO Buy Rates.
- Review affected merchants at a more granular level.
- Identify processor fees that may have been charged incorrectly.
- Identify fees your ISO is paying that may not have been passed on to merchants.
- Export data for further review or follow-up with processors or internal teams.
How to use Merchant Central’s Residuals Verifier
Step 1: Enable reports for a processor
- Go to Manage → Processors → Processor Settings.
- Locate the processor you want to update and click the pencil icon.
- In the Edit Processor popup, select the appropriate processor and enable the required report settings.
Step 2: Import a residuals report
After reports are enabled, import your residual report so Merchant Central can verify the data before the full import and payout process. More info: Importing Residuals
Step 3: Verify your residuals
- Open the Imported Residual Reports tab on the Import Residuals page.
- Locate the report you want to analyze, then click the View Fees icon on the far right.
- Merchant Central displays the fee data identified in the imported residual report for review.
The Residuals Verifier provides three primary sections for reviewing your imported residual data:
- Pass-Through Fees Verifier
- Report Fees
- Other Report Fees
Pass-Through Fees Verifier
The Pass-Through Fees Verifier displays matched fee records so you can compare income and expenses for pass-through fees.
Income and expense should be equal for these fees. When they are not equal, the difference can indicate that your ISO is being overcharged or undercharged.
You can filter the data by All Impact, Positive Impact, or Negative Impact depending on the information you want to review.
To export the displayed data, click Export All. To review excluded merchants, click Excluded Merchants.
Report Fees
The Report Fees table displays all expenses included in the residual report you imported.
Entries highlighted in red indicate that the ISO Buy Rate differs from the Report Rate.
You can drill into these entries to review the affected data at more detailed levels.
Click the number in the Merchants row to view a breakdown by merchant. Merchant counts appear in red when one or more merchants have a different rate for that fee.
Use the All Expenses or Conflicts dropdown to isolate fees with different rates in the imported residual report.
When All Conflicts is selected, you can manually update an individual rate by clicking Apply Report Rate.
If your processor changes your agreement, you can update the correct buy rate without importing an entirely new report. Click Manage Buy Rates in the upper-right corner.
You can also export Report Fees data for additional follow-up. For example, you may use the exported data to contact your processor about an incorrect fee or work with your sales team to determine why certain merchants were not charged for fees currently being paid by your ISO.
Other Report Fees
The Other Report Fees section displays additional fees included in the imported residual report.
You can review these fees by breakdown level and fee type for a more granular view of the remaining fee data in the report.
The fee types available in this section include:
- Income
- Return
- Sales
- Qualification
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does a red entry in Report Fees mean? A red entry indicates that the ISO Buy Rate differs from the Report Rate included in the imported residual report.
- How can I see which merchants are affected by a fee conflict? Click the number in the Merchants row for the applicable fee. Merchant counts displayed in red indicate that one or more merchants have a different rate for that fee.
- Can I update a buy rate without importing another residual report? Yes. Click Manage Buy Rates in the upper-right corner of the Report Fees section to update the applicable buy rate.
- How do I review only fees with rate conflicts? Use the All Expenses or Conflicts dropdown and select All Conflicts.
- Can I export Residuals Verifier data? Yes. Residuals Verifier provides export options that allow you to use the data for additional analysis or follow-up with your processor or internal teams.