Aggregators: fast onboarding, flat rates
Payment facilitators place you under a master merchant account. Onboarding takes minutes and pricing is simple, which is why they dominate the small end of the market.
Dedicated merchant accounts: cheaper at scale
Above roughly £10,000 a month in card turnover, a dedicated account with interchange-plus pricing typically beats a flat aggregator rate — often by half a percent or more, which is significant on that volume.
Account stability
Aggregators can suspend accounts quickly when risk models trigger, sometimes holding funds. For businesses where a payment freeze would be existential, a dedicated relationship with an underwritten account is worth the extra setup.
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