Gateway Financial
The Gateway Field Guide

Know exactly what you’re paying.

No jargon, no sales spin. Deep, sourced, plain-English guides to how card processing actually works, so you can read your own statement and never get sold a bad rate again.

Cited to the networks’ own schedulesInteractive tools on every pageWritten by people who read statements all day
Start here · Fundamentals

How to read a merchant statement

Your true cost is hiding in plain sight. Find your real effective rate in two minutes, then spot every junk fee.

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Fundamentals

10 min read

Interchange fees, fully explained

The biggest line on your bill, set by the card networks, identical for every processor. Here is exactly how it works.

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Fundamentals

7 min read

Assessment fees and network dues

The small, fixed slice Visa and Mastercard keep for themselves. Tiny, non-negotiable, and often misrepresented to you.

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Pricing

11 min read

Processor markup and pricing models

The only part of your rate that is actually negotiable. Interchange-plus vs tiered vs flat, and how markup hides.

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Advanced

9 min read

Level 2 & 3 processing for B2B

Pass a little extra data on commercial cards and the networks reward you with lower interchange. Most processors never set it up.

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Now see it on your own statement.

Theory is useful. Your real numbers are better. Send us a recent statement and we’ll show you your true effective rate and exactly where you can save.

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