Great question and thanks for your answers.  My passion and True North was driven out of not being able to represent my employer any more as they were less than straight-shooting.  In my industry, there was no one representing merchants' interests, so I have become a contingency-based, merchant advocate and negotiations expert.  I work solely for my clients, helping them to make sense of and reduce, their card processing costs, usually working with the existing vendor to boot! I sell nothing nor do I charge for my analysis to help you know where your card processing costs stand.  At the very least, you might finally have Peace of Mind with this expense line.  THAT is why I started my merchant consulting firm.