Handbook · APPROVALS

Approvals & processing economics

The numbers that decide whether your payments make money: approval rates versus headline fees, your true effective rate, and how to read what a processor is actually charging you. These articles show why a higher approval rate beats a cheaper quote, and how local acquiring lifts both.

4 articles in this topic

APPROVALS

Why higher approval rates beat lower fees

A 0.5% fee saving costs $42K/month. A 25-point approval lift gains $2.5M/month. Operators chasing cheap rates are optimizing the wrong variable.

2 min read · May 2026Read article

APPROVALS

What you're really paying to process

A "2.5%" contract can land near 5%+ once cross-border markups, scheme charges, per-transaction and gateway fees stack on top. What matters is your effective rate.

4 min read · May 2026Read article

APPROVALS

How to read your PSP statement

Your settlement statement is where the real cost hides. Here's how to read it line by line — gross volume down to net deposit — and spot what you're actually paying.

6 min read · May 2026Read article

APPROVALS

Why local acquiring lifts approval rates

Local acquiring processes transactions through a bank in the cardholder's country. Cross-border doesn't. The approval rate difference is 20-40 points.

3 min read · May 2026Read article

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