Card machine fees suddenly gone up? Here is why, and your three options
Last updated: August 2026 · Rates checked: August 2026
Quick answer: mid-contract fee rises usually come from one of two places: repricing at your contract anniversary, or a fee-schedule update announced in a service notice most businesses never read. Whether the provider was entitled to do it depends on the variation clause in your contract and the notice they gave, so read both. Then pick from three options: challenge the increase if it was not done properly, negotiate it back down with a competing quote in hand, or leave, where the sums often work better than expected because Dojo currently pays up to £3,000 towards exit fees for switchers.
Nobody rings you up to say your rate is going up. The increase arrives quietly: a line in a “service update” email, a revised fee schedule attached to a statement, or nothing you can find at all, just a bill that is £40 heavier than it used to be. The pattern is common enough that we ranked renewal repricing the single most likely cause in our high-bill diagnostic. This page is about what to do once it has happened to you.
Why fees go up without you agreeing to anything
Renewal repricing.Many acquirer agreements let the provider revisit pricing at the anniversary of your contract. The initial rate that won your business was set competitively; the renewal rate is set on the assumption you are not looking. Over two or three renewals the gap between your rate and a new customer’s rate can grow substantially.
Fee-schedule updates. Separately from your headline percentage, the schedule of fixed and per-item fees (authorisation pence, PCI fees, statement fees, minimum monthly service charges) can be updated, with the change announced in a notice. These notices are legally doing a lot of work and are formatted to be skimmed past, which is precisely why the increase feels sudden when it lands on the bill.
Changes in your own mix. Before blaming the provider, rule this out: if more of your customers are paying on business or premium cards, or more sales are keyed rather than tapped, your blended cost rises with no change to the price list at all. Two statements side by side settle the question.
Step one: work out exactly what changed
Take your most recent statement and one from before the increase and compare them line by line: the merchant service charge percentage for each card type, the authorisation pence, every fixed line, and anything new. Our statement-reading walkthrough shows where each of these lives. You are looking for the one or two lines that moved, because “my bill went up” is unarguable-with, while “my debit rate moved from 0.65% to 0.85% on the June statement” is a negotiating position.
The stakes scale with your turnover, and the arithmetic is worth doing precisely. A 0.2 percentage point rise on £8,000 a month of card sales is £8,000 × 0.2% = £16 a month, £192 a year. On £20,000 a month it is £40 a month, £480 a year. A new £25 minimum service charge or a £10 rise in terminal rental is another £120 to £300 a year on top. Small lines, real money.
Step two: were they allowed to do that?
Dig out your contract, or ask the provider to send you the current terms, and find the variation clause: the section that says how and when pricing can be changed. Notice requirements and your rights when prices change are contract-specific, so we will not pretend there is one universal rule; the things to establish from your own paperwork are what notice the clause requires, whether the notice they sent met it, and whether the clause gives you any right to exit without penalty when prices rise. If the increase was not applied in line with the clause, say so in writing and ask for it to be reversed and refunded. If you cannot find any notice at all, ask them to evidence when and how it was sent; providers keep records of this, and the request signals that you are paying attention.
Step three: challenge, negotiate, or leave
Challengewhen the paperwork is on your side: increase applied without proper notice, or charges that do not match the schedule you were sent. Put it in writing, cite the statement lines, and escalate through the provider’s complaints process if the first answer is a shrug.
Negotiate when the increase was technically proper but commercially cheeky, which is most cases. Phone, quote your previous rate, and ask for it back. Repriced rates are among the most negotiable numbers in the industry, and a written competing quote transforms the conversation: you stop being a complaint and become a retention case, and retention teams have discretion that front-line support does not.
Leavewhen the numbers say so. Check your notice period and early termination fee, then compare the one-off exit cost against the monthly saving at a competitor’s pricing, using the current rates table as your benchmark. A fee increase shifts this arithmetic in your favour, because the saving is measured against the new, higher price. And the exit fee itself may not be your problem. Up to £3,000 towards your exit fees when you switch to Dojo(Dojo’s switcher offer; eligibility confirmed at quote). Our guide to getting out of a card machine contract covers the mechanics, and the provider-specific cancellation guides, such as Worldpay, Lloyds Cardnet and Global Payments, cover notice addresses and terminal returns.
Rates gone up without warning?
Send us the statement and we will show you what the providers we track would charge at your volume. Free Dojo terminal with no monthly rental, and up to £3,000 towards your exit fees. We respond in under 5 minutes.
The pattern worth noticing
A provider that repriced you once will reprice you again, because it worked. Whatever you decide this time, put a repeating reminder in your calendar for a month before each contract anniversary: pull a statement, check the rates against your contract, and get one competing quote. Fifteen minutes a year is the entire cost of never being quietly repriced again.
Frequently asked questions
Can my card machine provider increase fees mid-contract?
Often, yes, if the contract says so. Most acquirer agreements contain a variation clause allowing the provider to change pricing, usually with some form of notice, and many allow repricing at the contract anniversary. Whether your increase was done properly depends on the exact wording of your variation clause and the notice you were given, so the first step is always to read those two things: the clause, and the notice they claim to have sent.
How do I find out exactly what changed on my bill?
Put your latest statement next to one from before the increase and compare line by line: the merchant service charge percentage by card type, the per-transaction authorisation pence, the fixed monthly items (rental, PCI, minimum service charge, statement fees), and any new lines that did not exist before. The change is usually one or two lines, not everything at once. Our statement-reading guide walks through every line with a worked example.
Is it worth challenging a fee increase?
Yes, and the phone call is free. If the increase was not notified in line with your variation clause, say so and ask for it to be reversed. Even when it was done properly, repriced rates are among the most negotiable numbers in the industry: providers reprice expecting most customers not to notice, and a customer who has noticed, has a competing quote, and sounds ready to leave is exactly who they make exceptions for.
What if they will not budge and I want to leave?
Check your notice period and early termination fee, then do the arithmetic: monthly saving from switching versus one-off exit cost. A fee increase can shorten the payback dramatically because you are comparing against the new, higher price. Dojo currently pays up to £3,000 towards your existing provider’s exit fees when you switch (Dojo’s switcher offer; eligibility confirmed at quote), which can remove the exit cost from the equation entirely.
Related reading
Want the increase checked properly?
Send us a statement from before and after, and we will tell you exactly what moved, what it costs you a year, and what the same volume would cost elsewhere. Free, no obligation.