A terminated merchant file (TMF) is a tool used by credit card processing companies to screen potential merchants before giving them a merchant account.
[1] In the case of Mastercard and American Express it is known as the MATCH list.
[2] The terminated merchant files are shared among processors and act as blacklists, where merchants with high-risk accounts or excessive chargebacks are put on the list and prevented from opening an account with a different credit card processor.
Other reasons for being put on a terminated merchant file include: This finance-related article is a stub.
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