Bank of America Merchant Services Raised My Rates: What's Happening in 2026

You pulled your Bank of America Merchant Services statement and your effective rate is up. Not by a rounding error. By enough that you noticed. You never got a phone call. You may have gotten a form letter buried in an envelope you threw out. And now you are sitting there wondering if this is legal and what you are supposed to do about it.

Here is exactly what is happening with Bank of America Merchant Services rate increases in 2026, what triggered the increase on your account, and the three moves that either reverse the increase or put you on a different processor at a lower rate.

Related: For the broader pattern across processors, see My processor raised rates: what to do about it.

What actually changed

Bank of America Merchant Services is run by FIS (the acquirer formerly known as Worldpay, which BofA partnered with after they exited the merchant services joint venture with First Data in 2020). In early 2026, FIS pushed through a portfolio-wide pricing adjustment that affected most BofA merchant accounts on tiered pricing. The changes I have seen on actual statements fall into three buckets.

Bucket 1: Non-qualified tier rate increase

If you are on a tiered pricing plan (qualified, mid-qualified, non-qualified), the non-qualified rate went up by 20 to 40 basis points. Because non-qualified is where most of your business cards, corporate cards, and rewards cards land, this hits harder than it looks. A merchant processing $40,000 a month where 60 percent of volume is non-qualified just absorbed a $48 to $96 per month increase.

Bucket 2: PCI compliance and monthly fees

Flat fees like the monthly statement fee, PCI compliance fee, and minimum discount fee all got bumped in the 2026 adjustment. Typical increases are $5 to $10 per fee per month. Add up all the flat fees and most accounts saw $20 to $40 per month in new fixed costs.

Bucket 3: Assessment pass-throughs

The card networks also raised their own assessment fees in 2026, and BofA is passing those through. The network-level increases are small (3 to 6 basis points) but they compound on top of the BofA-specific increases above.

Combined, most BofA accounts I have audited in 2026 are paying 35 to 75 basis points more than they were at the end of 2025. On a $30,000 per month merchant, that is $105 to $225 per month, or $1,260 to $2,700 per year of new cost.

Whether the rate increase is legal

Yes. And this is the frustrating part. Merchant services agreements almost always include a clause that says the processor can change the rates with written notice, typically 30 days. The written notice requirement is what that envelope you threw out was. Most merchants never read the rate change notices, and most rate change notices are drafted to bury the actual rate numbers under legal language. By the time the change hits your statement, the 30-day notice period has already expired.

There is exactly one exception. If the rate change notice did not actually reach you because BofA has a stale mailing address on file, you can sometimes argue that notice was not properly given and demand a reversal of the increase. This works less than a quarter of the time, but it is the only pure cancellation-of-the-increase path available.

The three moves that fix this

Here is what actually works. In order of how long each one takes to execute.

Move 1: Call and ask for the rate rollback (same day, works about 40 percent of the time)

The retention team at BofA Merchant Services has standing authority to reverse most of the 2026 rate adjustments on request. Call the number on the back of your statement (not the general BofA banking line; the merchant services number) and say this:

"I am calling about the recent rate adjustment on my account. I am shopping the account with other processors right now. Before I move the account, can you roll back the 2026 rate changes?"

In about 4 of 10 calls, they will roll back the non-qualified tier increase and waive the new flat fee bumps for 12 months. This alone recovers most of the increase. If they say no, escalate once. If they still say no, move to move 2.

Move 2: Switch to interchange-plus with BofA (2 to 4 weeks, works about 70 percent of the time)

BofA Merchant Services offers interchange-plus pricing on request, but they rarely suggest it because tiered pricing is more profitable for them. Ask for it by name: "I want to switch my account to interchange-plus pricing." They will reprice the account at interchange plus a fixed markup, typically 30 to 50 basis points. On almost every account I have audited, interchange-plus lands at a lower effective rate than the new tiered pricing after the 2026 increase, even without a rollback of the increase itself.

Move 3: Switch to a different processor (2 to 4 weeks, always works)

If moves 1 and 2 do not get you to a rate you are satisfied with, switch. Most small merchants on BofA Merchant Services can switch to a dedicated interchange-plus processor in 2 to 4 weeks with no gap in processing. The steps are:

1. Get a rate quote in writing from the new processor, including every fee line (not just the headline rate).
2. Confirm the new processor will re-program your existing terminal or ship you a replacement terminal.
3. Check your BofA Merchant Services agreement for an early termination fee. If it is there, negotiate the new processor to cover it (most will, up to $495).
4. Activate the new account, process a test transaction, then call BofA to close the old account.
5. Cancel any recurring card-on-file transactions at the old processor and re-enter them at the new one.

Total downtime is usually zero. The biggest operational lift is re-entering recurring card-on-file customers, which is the single task most merchants put off the longest.

What to watch for in the 2027 rate notice

If you stay on BofA Merchant Services after this increase, keep your eyes on your mailbox (physical and email) between November 2026 and January 2027. The next rate adjustment cycle almost always lands in that window, and the notice will not stand out. Read it carefully when it arrives and, if there is a new increase, use move 1 immediately rather than waiting for the change to hit your statement.

Better yet, move to a processor that does not raise rates unilaterally. Month-to-month agreements with interchange-plus pricing are rate-stable because the markup over interchange is fixed. If interchange itself goes up (which it does, annually), your effective rate goes up by exactly that amount and no more. No surprise bumps, no portfolio-wide adjustments, no buried notices.

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