The MATCH list, explained
The MATCH list is the card industry’s database of merchants terminated for cause, and a listing lasts five years. While it stands, most ordinary processors decline the business automatically. This page explains what the list is, how to find out if you are on it, what every reason code means, and what can honestly be done about it.
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What is the MATCH list?
MATCH stands for Mastercard Alert to Control High-risk Merchants. It is Mastercard’s database of terminated merchant files, which is why older processors still call it the TMF or the terminated merchant file. When an acquiring bank ends a merchant relationship for cause, it records the business and its principal owners in MATCH, and every other acquirer checks that database during underwriting.
A processor that terminates a qualifying merchant must add the listing within one business day of the termination, or within one business day of the account becoming eligible afterward. Mastercard does not assess whether a listing is accurate, which is why an incorrect listing can sit there doing damage until the acquirer that placed it agrees to fix it.
Sources on this page: Stripe’s published documentation on high risk merchant lists, which reproduces Mastercard’s own reason-code definitions, and the Mastercard Security Rules and Procedures, Merchant Edition.
How do you find out if you are on the MATCH list?
There is no public MATCH lookup and no consumer-style report you can pull on yourself. Merchants normally find out one of three ways, and none of them are pleasant.
- The termination letter names it. Some acquirers state plainly that the business has been reported to MATCH or the terminated merchant file.
- A new application is declined without explanation. Approvals that should be routine come back as flat declines from unrelated processors. That pattern is the classic tell.
- A placement specialist checks during pre-underwriting. Acquirers can see MATCH. When we work a file, establishing whether a listing exists, who placed it and under which reason code is the first step.
The listing itself carries more than a company name. Mastercard records the legal name and DBA, business address, phone, tax ID and URL, the principal owner’s name, address, phone and tax ID, the account opening and termination dates, and the reason code. That is why opening a new entity with the same owner rarely works the way people hope.
What are the MATCH reason codes, and what does each one mean?
The acquirer that lists a merchant must record a reason code, and that code shapes everything that happens next. Underwriters read excessive chargebacks very differently from laundering or a fraud conviction. There is no code 6.
| Code | Mastercard name | What it means for your next application |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Account Data Compromise | Card data was accessed or disclosed without authorisation through your systems. Underwriters will want to see what changed in your security since. |
| 2 | Common Point of Purchase | Card data stolen at your business turned up in fraud elsewhere. Often a breach you did not know about, and treated closer to a security problem than to dishonesty. |
| 3 | Laundering | You submitted transactions that were not genuine sales between you and a real cardholder. This is among the hardest codes to place around. |
| 4 | Excessive Chargebacks | The most common listing, and the most placeable. Purely a ratio problem, so underwriters look at what you have fixed since. |
| 5 | Excessive Fraud | Fraudulent transaction volume crossed Mastercard’s reporting threshold. Expect questions about your fraud screening. |
| 7 | Fraud Conviction | A principal owner or partner was criminally convicted of fraud. Very difficult to place. |
| 8 | Mastercard Questionable Merchant Audit Program | Mastercard’s own audit programme identified the business. Treated as a serious listing. |
| 9 | Bankruptcy/Liquidation/Insolvency | The business could not, or likely could not, meet its financial obligations. Underwriters look at the current entity’s finances. |
| 10 | Violation of Standards | The catch-all: a breach of the card-acceptance rules, such as prohibited transactions or surcharging rules. What actually happened matters more than the label. |
| 11 | Merchant Collusion | Participation in coordinated fraudulent activity. Very difficult to place. |
| 12 | PCI DSS Non-Compliance | Failure to meet card-data security requirements. This is the one code with a defined route back off the list. |
| 13 | Illegal Transactions | Transactions that were unlawful. Very difficult to place. |
| 14 | Identity Theft | The acquirer believes someone assumed your identity to open the account. Meant as a warning flag, not a mark against the real person whose details were used. |
What are the exact chargeback and fraud thresholds?
Two codes have published numeric triggers, and they are the two that catch otherwise honest businesses. These are Mastercard’s figures, not ours.
- Code 4, excessive chargebacks: Mastercard chargebacks in a single calendar month exceeded 1% of your Mastercard sales transactions that month, and those chargebacks totalled USD 5,000 or more.
- Code 5, excessive fraud: your fraud-to-sales dollar volume ratio was 8% or greater in a calendar month, and you took 10 or more fraudulent transactions totalling USD 5,000 or more that month.
Two details catch people out. A month means a calendar month, compared against that month’s transactions rather than the transactions the chargebacks came from. And code 4 counts Mastercard-card activity only, even though every major network relies on MATCH. Winning a chargeback later does not undo the count.
Visa runs its own equivalent, VMSS, with separate codes and much higher triggers: excessive disputes at 1,000 disputes and a 1.8% dispute-to-sales ratio in a single month, and excessive fraud at USD 250,000 with the same 1.8% ratio. A processor can only remove a VMSS entry if it added the business in error.
How long does a MATCH listing last?
Five years from the date the acquirer adds it. Mastercard purges records automatically once they reach five years, so the listing expires on its own with no application, no fee and no service required. Nothing shortens that clock except a correction by the acquirer that placed the listing.
That five-year window is the practical reason the rest of this site exists. Most businesses cannot wait five years to accept a card, so the real question is not how to erase the listing but how to process while it runs out.
Can you get removed from the MATCH list?
Only the acquirer that placed the listing can remove it, and only in two situations: it added the business in error, or the listing is reason code 12 for PCI DSS non-compliance and that processor has confirmed the business is now compliant. No third party can force a removal and nobody can sell you one.
Any company that offers guaranteed MATCH removal for a fee is describing something it has no power to do. We will not offer it either. What is genuinely available is disputing an incorrect listing with the acquirer that placed it, and placing your processing in the meantime. The full process is on our MATCH list removal page.
Can you get a merchant account while you are on MATCH?
Often, yes, and this is most of what we do. A listing rules out ordinary processors and aggregators almost automatically, but acquirers that specialise in hard-to-place merchants review MATCH-listed applications case by case. Stripe, for example, publishes that it generally cannot board MATCH-listed businesses absent extenuating circumstances.
What moves the decision is the reason code, how long ago the listing was placed, what the business has changed since, and how the current numbers look. Expect closer underwriting than a standard account, different pricing, and often a reserve. Read how high risk pricing and reserves work before you compare offers, and see what to do in the week after a termination if this just happened.
Questions merchants ask about this
Does a MATCH listing affect my personal credit score?
No. MATCH is a private card-industry database used by acquirers during underwriting. It is not reported to consumer or business credit bureaus and it does not appear on a credit report.
Will I be told when I am placed on MATCH?
Usually not directly. Mastercard requires the acquirer to add the listing, not to notify you in a particular way. Most merchants discover it when the next application is declined. If a termination letter mentions MATCH or the terminated merchant file, treat that as your notice.
Can I open a new company to get around a MATCH listing?
It rarely works and it creates a bigger problem. The listing records the principal owner’s name, address, phone and tax ID alongside the business details, so a new entity with the same owner surfaces during underwriting. Misrepresenting ownership on an application is its own grounds for termination.
What is the difference between MATCH and the TMF?
They are the same thing. Terminated Merchant File is the older name for the database that Mastercard now runs as MATCH, and processors use both terms interchangeably. Visa’s separate equivalent is VMSS.
If I win my chargebacks, do they still count toward MATCH?
Yes. The excessive chargebacks criteria counts the chargebacks recorded in the calendar month. Reversing or winning them later does not remove them from that count.