Can someone tell me what merchant bank or institution related to merchant banks (whether it's some part of MC/Visa or payment gateway) makes their ACH debit description as "MERCHANT BANKCD FEE" ?

That's the description in my checking account for the same amount each month for the past 4 months AFTER I have terminated my merchant account. Even after contacting my merchant bank, they are saying it is not them that is making this ACH debit request. It's not Amex or Discover as those service fees are no longer being deducted (and are described clearly to indicate Amex and Discover). It's not ETI (who have said their fees are deducted upfront as setup fees with no monthly fees). At this point, my bank has set up a stop payment for future ACH debit attempts but as of today, those attempts are still being made. It's a small sum, just $70 or so, and the bulk of my funds are protected (being regularly swept/transferred into non-ACH linked accounts) but it's rather annoying knowing that someone is taking a poke at one of my bank accounts.

Basically I'm trying to get to the bottom of WHO IS the institution who describes their fees as "MERCHANT BANKCD FEE" ?

thanks guys.

Can your bank provide more information on the ACH? Have you told them that the ACH is not authorized?

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Corey
Merchant Accounts | Toll Free Virtual Solutions | My Merchant Account Blog

Thanks for the reply Corey.

My bank is simply saying that it is an electronic origin ACH with the above description (merchant bankcd fee...) and the only thing they can do is set up a stop payment, which they have. My concern is why my merchant bank is saying they are not the origin of the attempted ACH debit and why these ACH debit attempts are still coming. What happens with the stop payment is that I see the ACH debit attempt show up as pending and then the next business day it bounces back, rejecting it. Fine, no funds lost and the amount of funds isn't a scary amount or anything (I'd be more concerned if ACH debit attempts for a few thousand $ were showing up daily). I just don't want this cycle to go on, and would like to try to find out for sure who describes their ACH debits as: MERCHANT BANKCD FEE, so I can contact them and get to the bottom on if.

So, I wonder if any other merchants' accounts out there use that description (and whether it's a bank, gateway, V/MC international, etc.).

I did a google search and it seems that that is a generic term for most of the processors.

If you have a good relationship with the bank, see if they will give you more information. Chances are pretty good it is the merchant account processor and they might not be seeing it or just denying it. A lot of time with the larger processors, they have so many customer service programs that it is difficult to maintain them all and the customer service rep might not be seeing it

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Corey
Merchant Accounts | Toll Free Virtual Solutions | My Merchant Account Blog

As an ACH processor ourselves I can confirm that the term MERCHANT BANKCD FEE is a standard message type. It sounds like to me that a bill is being taken and either another merchant or your last processor is submitting an ACH message for processing for an outstanding bill or payment. You bank will have record of where it has originated from but the lower end call center customer service reps might not have access. I suggest that you write a letter to your account manager with all support in information and ask them to trace it completely. Copy to the letter to your branch manager and request a written response. This will be slower than a phone call but the letter should eventually get to the right people.

Hope that helps