Who put me on the MATCH list?

Mastercard runs MATCH, but PSPs populate it

MATCH (Mastercard Alert to Control High-risk Merchants) is a database maintained by Mastercard. However, Mastercard itself does not decide which merchants are added. Under Mastercard's rules, acquiring banks and payment service providers are required to submit a merchant file when they terminate an account for qualifying reasons such as excessive chargebacks, fraud, or a compliance violation.

In practice this means: the last PSP or acquirer that closed your account is almost certainly the one that listed you. If you have had only one merchant account, that answer is straightforward. If you have had multiple accounts, start with the one that ended in termination rather than a voluntary closure.

Common reasons a PSP adds a merchant to MATCH

• Chargeback rate above Mastercard's threshold (typically 1% or above)
• Excessive fraud or disputed transactions
• Violation of the PSP's acceptable-use policy
• Suspected or confirmed money laundering or illegal activity
• Identity theft or misrepresentation during onboarding
• PCI DSS non-compliance following a breach
• Account termination at the PSP's discretion for risk management

The reason code assigned at the time of listing is visible to any acquirer or PSP that checks MATCH when you apply for a new merchant account. You are not directly notified by Mastercard—many merchants only discover the listing when a new application is declined.

How to find out which PSP listed you

There is no public merchant-facing portal where you can look up your own MATCH record. Your options are:

1. Ask the PSP that terminated you. Request written confirmation of whether they filed a MATCH entry and under which reason code.
2. Check your termination notice. Some PSPs include MATCH filing information in the account-closure letter or email.
3. Contact a new acquirer. When a merchant account application is declined due to a MATCH hit, the declining acquirer can often tell you that a record exists, though they may not share the full detail.

Only the listing PSP can request your removal

Mastercard does not accept removal requests from merchants directly. The PSP or acquirer that filed the listing must submit a removal request on your behalf, and they will only do so if they are satisfied that the circumstances that led to the listing have been properly addressed.

This is why a well-structured removal request matters. Your submission to the PSP needs to clearly explain what caused the listing, what has changed since, and what evidence you can provide—so their risk team has a clear basis for approving removal.

We email your PSP on your behalf

Fill in the details of your situation in our guided form—including which PSP you believe listed you—and we draft a structured, professional removal request addressed directly to that PSP's risk team. Once you complete the process, we send it to them and copy you on the email, so the entire thread goes through you from that point on.

The PSP's decision is theirs to make. What we give you is the best-structured case you can present, so their review starts from the strongest possible position. Start your removal request →