---
name: merchant-fee-audit
description: Audits a small business's credit-card processing costs from their monthly statements. Calculates the true effective rate, flags junk fees and inflated markups, compares against 2026 benchmarks by business type, and drafts a renegotiation letter. Use when someone asks about processing fees, merchant statements, interchange, PCI fees, whether their processor is overcharging them, or how to negotiate a better rate.
---

# Merchant Fee Audit

## Purpose

Find what a business actually pays to accept cards, and whether it is too much. Most owners look at the rate their sales rep quoted and never learn the real number. The audit computes the true effective rate (every fee, divided by volume), spots fees that should not exist, and turns the result into a renegotiation letter with real numbers behind it.

## Workflow

1. **Collect statements.** Ask for the last 3 monthly processing statements. Three months matters: billback and some surcharges skip months, so one month lies. If they only have one, say so in the report and note the confidence is lower.

2. **Extract the two numbers that matter.** From each statement: total card volume (gross sales processed, not net deposits) and total fees (every fee line, including monthly fixed fees, equipment, PCI, gateway). Watch for the trap: some statements print a "summary" that mixes fee periods, like fees from last month billed on this statement. Match fees to the volume period they belong to. When in doubt, sum the individual fee lines yourself instead of trusting the summary.

3. **Parse into categories.** Have the user paste or upload the statement text (or hand-type the fee lines), then run `bin/statement_audit.py` with a CSV of fee lines. Categories: interchange, assessment, markup, per_txn, monthly, pci, equipment, other. The script computes the effective rate, per-category totals, the markup as a share of volume, and prints a benchmark comparison. CSV format is one line per fee: `category,label,amount` (amount in dollars).

   Example:
   ```
   category,label,amount
   interchange,Visa Signature Preferred 2.40% + 0.10,482.10
   assessment,Visa assessment 0.14%,28.34
   markup,Discount rate 0.35%,70.86
   monthly,Statement fee,15.00
   pci,PCI non-compliance fee,39.95
   ```

4. **Flag junk fees.** Check the fee lines against `references/junk-fee-flags.md`. The script flags the common ones automatically; the reference has the full list and what to do about each. Confirm every flag by reading the actual line on the statement, never trust a regex hit alone.

5. **Benchmark.** Compare the effective rate against the business type: retail card-present, restaurant/food, or online/keyed. Use `references/benchmarks-2026.md`. If the rate is above the competitive band and the business is not high-risk, that is overpayment, say so plainly.

6. **Deliver the report.** Output contract below. Then, only if the audit found savings, offer the renegotiation letter from `assets/renegotiation-letter.md`, filled in with the merchant's numbers.

## Output Contract

The audit report contains, in plain language:
- Period covered (months of statements used) and data confidence.
- True effective rate, with the math shown (total fees / total volume).
- Breakdown: interchange + assessments (wholesale, fixed), processor markup + per-transaction fees (negotiable), fixed monthly fees.
- Verdict: competitive, borderline, or overpaying, against the benchmark for the business type.
- Flagged fees: each one named, the amount per month and per year, and the fix.
- Estimated annual savings if the flags were fixed (state assumptions).
- Next step: either the renegotiation letter or "your rate is fine."

## Operating Rules

1. **Accuracy rule (verbatim, non-negotiable):** "Every factual claim in a skill must be verified via web search or a primary source. Never invent numbers, dates, quotes, or events. Unverifiable = cut it or frame as opinion. No confident unverified claims, ever." Every benchmark figure in the report must come from `references/benchmarks-2026.md` or a fresh source lookup. Never quote interchange rates from memory.

2. Only the processor markup, monthly fees, and per-transaction fees are negotiable. Interchange and assessments are wholesale cost every processor pays identically. Never promise a rate below wholesale.

3. The quoted rate from a sales rep means nothing. The effective rate is the only number that counts. Always compute it from statement data.

4. Do not recommend surcharging as a cost fix without checking state law and the debit-card prohibition (surcharges are capped at 3%, never allowed on debit, and some states ban them). Frame it as an option with compliance strings attached, not free money.

5. The report is advisory. It is not legal or tax advice, and it does not move anyone's money. No account changes, no cancellations, no calls to processors on the user's behalf.

6. Annual savings estimates must show the math and the assumption (e.g., "assumes $50k/month volume holds"). Never state savings as guaranteed.