"paper" statements but rather general overhead. This means that a provider would not waive this fee if a merchant chose to have a "paperless" statement. Monthly minimum fee The monthly minimum fee is a way to ensure that merchants pay a minimum amount in fees each month to cover costs from the provider to maintain the account. If a merchant's fees do not equal or exceed the monthly minimum they will be charged the difference up to the monthly minimum. Example: A merchant has signed a contract with a $25.00 monthly minimum fee. If all the fees (clarity: this is only for processing costs, so it does not include monthly fees, chargeback fees, etc.) for the most recent month of processing total only $15.00, this merchant will be charged an additional $10.00 to meet their monthly minimum requirements. Sometimes there are fees that are charged that are not a part of the monthly minimum, such as statement fees. It is industry standard to charge a monthly minimum, though not all acquirers charge this, nor do all that do charge it for every agreement. Batch fee A batch fee (also known as a batch-header fee) can be charged to a merchant whenever the merchant "settles" their terminal. Settling a terminal, also known as "batching", is when a merchant sends their completed transactions for the day to their acquiring bank for payment. Some providers perform this automatically. It is important to close a batch every 24 hours or a higher rate will be assessed by Visa, Discover or MasterCard. The term "batch header" originally came from the processing pre-electronic terminal era, when each batch of credit card receipts was turned into the merchant's local bank for deposit. The batch header was a mini-report summarizing those receipts bundled within. Customer service fee The customer service fee (also known as a maintenance fee) can be charged by some providers to pay for the cost of customer service. Also referred to as a "merchant support fee", "customer support fee", or simply, "service fee" by some merchant providers. Annual fee The annual fee can be charged by some providers to pay for the costs of maintaining the merchant's account. Sometimes these fees can be quarterly. The fee can be from $79–$399. These fees in cases include a Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance fee, which may include a cyber/breach insurance policy. Early termination fee The early termination