Card payments,
handled properly.

A merchant account is a type of bank account that lets a business accept card payments. Money from card sales lands there first, then settles into your normal business current account. Some providers bundle the merchant account and the technology together; others keep them separate. Either way, it's the account that sits between the card networks and your bank.

PCI DSS is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard — the set of rules for handling card data safely. In practice, most smaller merchants meet it by completing an annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and using compliant terminals and hosted checkouts, so that raw card numbers never touch your own systems. The less card data you store or see, the smaller your obligation. Providers often charge a fee if compliance lapses, so it's worth keeping the paperwork current.

Settlement timing is how long it takes cleared funds to reach your bank after a sale. T+1 means one business day after the transaction date; T+3 means three. Authorisation happens in about a second, but moving money between banks takes days — that gap is normal. Faster settlement helps cash flow; the exact timing depends on the acquirer, the scheme and your account terms.

Interchange is the fee the card networks set that goes to the cardholder's bank on every transaction — a genuine wholesale cost no provider can waive. On top sit scheme fees (paid to Visa/Mastercard) and the acquirer's own margin. Interchange++ pricing itemises all three so you can see exactly what's cost and what's markup. Blended pricing rolls them into one rate, which is simpler to read but hides where the money goes.