Home/Compare/Broker or processor: who builds the file, and who settles
Compare
Broker or processor: who builds the file, and who settles
A processor or acquiring bank settles your card payments. Under Visa's rules, the acquiring bank is the member bank that signs the merchant and enters transactions into the network. A broker introduces you to a processor. An advisory builds the file and finds the bank. Break Free Finance is an advisory, not a broker, bank or processor, and approval is never guaranteed.
We place payment processing, business banking and crypto rails for high-growth, complex businesses with institutions that take the industry, then watch the chargeback ratios, reserves and reviews that get accounts closed, with more than one rail so one bank's no doesn't stop the business. Approval is never guaranteed.
How Break Free Finance is paid: [to be added].
| Route | What it is |
|---|---|
| Direct MID at a specialist bank | The acquiring bank underwrites you and settles the cards. |
| Payfac or aggregator | You process under the payfac's account. Reviews can come after you start. |
| Specialist ISO | A registered agent that places you into a bank's program. |
| Payments and banking advisory | Break Free Finance. We build the underwriting file. The bank decides. |
Who actually approves and settles my card payments?
The acquiring bank. Visa defines it as a member that signs a merchant or payment facilitator and enters transactions into interchange (Visa Core Rules, Apr 18, 2026). The acquiring bank is the sponsor that carries the risk. Processors, gateways and ISOs work around it.
Where do ISOs and brokers fit?
Visa calls entities that provide payment-related services to a member or its merchants Third Party Agents, and acquiring banks must register them with Visa. An advisory like us doesn't settle anything. Our job is fit and the file.
When does each route make sense?
- Direct to a specialist acquiring bank: you already know which bank takes your industry.
- Payfac or aggregator: fast setup, but you're a sub-merchant on someone else's account.
- ISO: a sales organization placing you into its bank's program.
- Advisory: you need the right bank and a file it can underwrite.
Who sees the file later?
The bank owns the underwriting file and must hand it to Visa within 7 calendar days of a request (Visa Core Rules). A broker who builds a weak file builds the evidence against you.
Where Break Free Finance fits
We're not a bank, processor, or money transmitter. We structure the deal, build the file, and place it with institutions in our network: decades of relationships with 40+ financial institutions and solution providers. The institution decides, and approval is never guaranteed. We can't release funds another provider is holding.