Free Merchant Account

Mar 20, 2026 | Payments

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A free merchant account means zero payment processing fees. Signature Payments helps you get as close to this as possible by offering zero BIN and Authorization Fees. We take away two common fees that merchants and agents confront when opening a merchant account and lower the cost substantially on your payment processing.

Save money on your bottom line by understanding the different fees in a merchant account and which you can lower or eliminate completely.

If you’re ready to move forward with opening a discount merchant account, then contact our sales team who can show you next steps toward saving. Our representatives will walk you through the fee breakdown over the phone and educate you on the application process.

How To Get A Discount Merchant Account

Your payment processing provider has the ability to lower your rates to a certain extent. If you want to save money on fees, then ask for a copy of your merchant statement and walk through the line items you’re being billed for. You’ll note that there are many different fees that add up. Some of them are mandatory, while others are optional.

What Are BIN Fees?

BIN stands for Bank Identification Number. BINs are associated with all types of payment cards from credit cards to gift cards. The first four to six numbers on your card denote the financial institution. Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX all have a BIN designation which helps online companies automatically recognize the card type.

BIN fees can run up your overall processing costs and should be addressed by your merchant account provider. If you’ve been using your current provider for a long time, consider negotiating this fee. Also, the larger you are the more leverage you have to reduce costs because your account obtains a lower risk status as time goes on.

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What Are Authorization Fees?

Authorization fees are charged per transaction and are usually a flat fee. Authorization helps ensure card information is correct and secure. This process happens instantly when a card is swiped or tapped. Merchant accounts such as PayPal, Square, and Stripe charge around $0.30 per transaction. Therefore, if you have multiple small transactions, then the costs can add up fast. If you’re selling items for under a dollar, nearly a third will go to this fee.

On the other hand, if you can eliminate these fees altogether and only pay a percentage of your transaction cost, then you’ll save. The percentage per transaction usually ranges from one percent with a low risk account to four percent with high risk. If you have more transactions at lower ticket prices, be sure to speak with your payment processor about realigning your fees to eliminate authorization fees altogether.

Pass Through Processing

Although eliminating all fees associated with the service is ideal, there are some fees that are mandatory. These fees are imposed by the card networks, and any who wants to accept credit cards has to pay them.

The lowest you can get your fees is called “pass through” processing. This is when your merchant provider bundles your interchange fees and passes them to you directly without taking any margins whatsoever.

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