What Is the MATCH List? A Guide for Merchants

MATCH stands for Member Alert to Control High-risk Merchants. Mastercard runs it, and its current version is called MATCH Pro. The acquirers and payment providers that connect merchants to Mastercard are the ones who use it: they add merchants they have terminated, and they search it before they sign a new one.

Both sides are mandatory. An acquirer must search MATCH before it executes a merchant agreement, and when it terminates a merchant for a reason MATCH covers, it must add that merchant within days of the decision. A merchant that closes its own account is still listed if the reasons for listing existed when the account closed.

A listing records the business and its principal owners: names, addresses, tax and identity details where the law allows. Searches compare both, with exact and phonetic matching. That is why setting up a new company with the same owners does not get around a listing. The new application matches on the owners instead.

An acquirer that searched for a merchant is also alerted if that merchant is added to MATCH within a year of the search, so a listing can catch up with an account that is already open.

Every listing carries a reason code. The codes most often seen are listed below. Mastercard revised MATCH when it moved to MATCH Pro, so the code list in the current rules can differ in detail. The acquirer that listed you can tell you exactly which code it used, and that code matters more than anything else in your next application.

• 01 Account data compromise: card data was stolen from the merchant's systems.
• 02 Common point of purchase: the merchant was identified as the common source of fraud on many cards.
• 03 Laundering: the merchant processed transactions for another business, also called transaction laundering.
• 04 Excessive chargebacks: chargebacks above Mastercard's ratio and amount thresholds.
• 05 Excessive fraud: fraudulent transactions above Mastercard's ratio and amount thresholds.
• 07 Fraud conviction: a principal was convicted of criminal fraud.
• 08 Mastercard Questionable Merchant Audit Program: Mastercard itself identified the merchant as questionable.
• 09 Bankruptcy, liquidation or insolvency: the merchant cannot meet its obligations.
• 10 Violation of standards: the merchant broke card scheme rules.
• 11 Merchant collusion: the merchant took part in fraudulent transactions.
• 12 PCI DSS non-compliance: the merchant failed to meet card data security standards.
• 13 Illegal transactions: the merchant processed transactions that are illegal.
• 14 Identity theft: the merchant account was opened with a stolen identity.

Most listings come from code 04. Mastercard sets a threshold that combines a chargeback ratio with a minimum amount, so a small merchant with a few disputes is not listed for a single bad month. The long-standing threshold is Mastercard chargebacks numbering more than 1% of the merchant's Mastercard sales transactions in a month and totalling at least USD 5,000. Industry reports say MATCH Pro has since revised this, so check the current rules with your provider.

Visa has its own threshold for its list. For excessive disputes it is at least 1,000 disputes and a dispute ratio of 1.8% in a month. Our chargeback ratio guide shows how both schemes count disputes and where the monitoring limits sit long before a termination.

Five years. MATCH listings are deleted automatically after five years, and searches cover the past five years. There is no fee or appeal that shortens that.

Early removal is only possible in narrow cases, and only the acquirer that added you can do it: when the listing was made in error, or, for a PCI DSS listing under code 12, once you have become compliant. Fixing the problem afterwards, for example bringing your chargebacks down, does not on its own remove a listing.

Merchants are not formally notified. Most find out when a new application is declined. If you have been terminated, ask your former acquirer in writing whether it listed you and under which code. If you do not know which acquirer listed you, Mastercard can point you to it on request.

Do this before you apply anywhere else. An application that hides a listing the underwriter then finds usually ends there, while one that explains it up front can still be considered.

Visa keeps its own list of terminated merchants, the Visa Merchant Screening Service (VMSS). It works the same way: acquirers must search it before signing a merchant and report merchants they terminate, listings cover five years, and only the listing acquirer can correct a listing made in error. Visa uses its own reason codes. A merchant can be on one list, the other or both, so check both.

Yes, but from far fewer providers. MATCH is a risk tool, not an automatic ban: each acquirer decides whether to accept a listed merchant. Most mainstream providers decline, while some high-risk acquirers consider listed merchants when the cause is understood and has clearly been dealt with.

The reason code decides a lot. A code 12 listing that has since been resolved, or a code 14 identity theft listing, is a very different case from a fraud or laundering listing. Expect stricter terms if you are accepted: a rolling reserve, lower limits, closer monitoring and higher fees, usually easing after a period of clean processing.

• The termination letter and the MATCH reason code, in writing.
• Processing statements for the months before the termination, with chargebacks, refunds and fraud month by month.
• What you have changed since: fraud tools, descriptor, delivery, refund policy, customer support.
• Evidence that it works, such as processing elsewhere with low dispute rates since.
• Current ownership, company documents and the markets you sell into now.

Ecompayer is not a payment provider. You add your business, your termination history and your reason code once, and your profile is matched with a payment provider that considers merchants with that history. Your account is then prepared with that provider so you can take payments again.

• Mastercard Developers, MATCH Pro documentation and Code and Formats.
• Mastercard, MATCH Pro privacy notice, March 2026.
• Mastercard, Security Rules and Procedures, Merchant Edition, August 2026.
• Visa Developer, Visa Merchant Screening Service documentation.
• Stripe, documentation on the MATCH list.

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