MATCH List Explained: How to Check, Avoid, and Get Removed

If you've ever been declined by a payment processor with no explanation and no second chance, the MATCH list is probably why.

MATCH — short for Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants — is Mastercard's global database of terminated merchants and the business owners behind them. Once you're listed, you're effectively locked out of mainstream card processing for five years. Acquirers query MATCH before boarding any merchant, and the overwhelming majority will simply decline anyone with a match.

This guide explains how the list actually works, why merchants end up on it, how to know if you're on it, and what realistic paths exist to keep processing — or to clear the listing.

What MATCH is and isn't

MATCH is not a credit blacklist, a regulatory sanctions list, or a fraud registry. It's a private database operated by Mastercard, accessible only to acquiring banks and ISOs. Listings are made by acquirers when they terminate a merchant for one of 14 defined reason codes.

What's on the listing:

• Business legal name and DBA
• Federal tax ID (EIN) of the business
• Address
• The principal owners' names and (often) their personal Social Security Numbers
• The reason code
• The date of listing

That last point matters: MATCH lists people, not just businesses. Owners who shut down a MATCHed company and start a new one will still be found.

The 14 MATCH reason codes

Understanding the codes is essential because some are recoverable and others are essentially unrecoverable:

• 01 — Account data compromise
• 02 — Common point of purchase (CPP)
• 03 — Laundering
• 04 — Excessive chargebacks
• 05 — Excessive fraud
• 06 — Reserved
• 07 — Fraud conviction
• 08 — Mastercard questionable merchant audit program
• 09 — Bankruptcy / liquidation / insolvency
• 10 — Violation of standards
• 11 — Merchant collusion
• 12 — PCI-DSS non-compliance
• 13 — Illegal transactions
• 14 — Identity theft

The two reason codes you'll see most often in high-risk processing are 04 — Excessive chargebacks and 10 — Violation of standards (typically meaning the merchant processed in a prohibited category or misrepresented its business).

How merchants end up listed

The most common paths:

1. A spike in chargebacks that breached card brand thresholds. The acquirer terminated and added you under code 04. Often this happens to merchants in completely legitimate businesses who simply scaled faster than their fraud controls.
2. The acquirer discovered the actual business model was different from what was disclosed at boarding. A merchant boarded as "general retail" but actually selling Delta-8 vape, or boarded as "consulting" but actually running a coaching subscription with continuity billing. This typically lists under code 10.
3. An ISO or acquirer used MATCH as a defensive measure. Some acquirers list merchants aggressively to protect themselves from regulatory or card brand scrutiny — even where the merchant did little wrong.
4. The owners were tied to a MATCH-listed business in their past. This catches a lot of serial entrepreneurs unfairly.

How to know if you're listed

You cannot query MATCH directly. The list is acquirer-only. There are three practical ways to find out:

• Apply for a merchant account. If you're declined with no explanation and the acquirer mentions risk department review, MATCH is likely. Reputable ISOs will often tell you frankly.
• Ask your previous acquirer directly. They are required to inform you in writing when they terminate and list you, and the termination letter generally states the reason code. If you didn't receive one, request your termination file.
• Have a friendly ISO run a check on your behalf. They can confirm presence without revealing the underlying acquirer.

How long you stay on

Five years from the date of listing. There is no early-removal process for most reason codes through Mastercard directly. The listing simply ages off at the five-year mark.

However, two real paths exist to remove a listing before five years:

1. The acquirer who listed you can voluntarily remove the listing. They will do this only if they made a clear error — for example, if they listed under the wrong reason code, listed the wrong owner, or terminated the merchant without proper documentation. You contact the acquirer's risk department directly with documentation supporting removal.
2. A documented inaccuracy. If any data on the listing is factually wrong (wrong EIN, wrong owner identification, wrong reason code), you can challenge it through the listing acquirer and they're required to correct or remove it.

Third-party "MATCH removal" services that advertise removal without going through the original listing acquirer are almost always scams. There is no Mastercard-side removal process.

What to do if you're listed

If you've been MATCHed legitimately and removal isn't available, you have three realistic options:

Option 1: Offshore acquiring

MATCH is a Mastercard system used predominantly by US and Canadian acquirers. Many European, Caribbean, and Asian acquirers do not use MATCH as a primary boarding decision — they have their own internal lists. Offshore boarding through a high-risk specialist (this is what BoazPay does) is the most common path back to processing for MATCHed merchants.

Expect: higher discount rates (often 4.5–6.5%), a rolling reserve (often 5–10% for 6 months), and slower settlement (T+5 or longer). But you'll be able to process again.

Option 2: Aggregator/PSP processing

Payment facilitators like Stripe, Square, and PayPal use their own risk models and don't always query MATCH. However, they decline most high-risk verticals at the source and frequently terminate accounts that started in low-risk verticals but evolved.

Option 3: Wait it out

Five years is a long time, but if you can pause that line of business and work in a different vertical (or in cash-only / ACH-only / crypto-only payment flows), the listing will eventually age off. Most merchants choose Option 1.

How to avoid MATCH in the first place

If you're not on it yet, the playbook is straightforward:

• Be completely accurate at boarding. State exactly what you sell, the price points, the refund policy, the marketing approach. Acquirers terminate merchants who misrepresented their business much more aggressively than merchants who overshared.
• Stay below 1% chargebacks. See our guide on reducing chargebacks below 1%.
• Maintain PCI compliance. Code 12 is preventable with basic security hygiene.
• Watch your acquirer's communications. If they send you a notice of concern, treat it as urgent. Most terminations follow at least one warning that the merchant ignored.

The bigger picture

MATCH exists to protect the card payments ecosystem from genuinely fraudulent or non-compliant merchants — and it does that job. But it also catches many legitimate high-risk merchants whose only "crime" was scaling faster than their fraud infrastructure or operating in a vertical their original acquirer wasn't licensed for.

If that describes you, the path forward is not denial — it's finding a banking partner that underwrites high-risk merchants on their merits, not on a five-year-old chargeback ratio.

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BoazPay specializes in MATCHed merchant recovery. Our underwriting team reviews MATCH listings case-by-case and can typically board recoverable merchants with offshore acquiring. Apply for a Merchant Account to start.