How to get off the MATCH list

What is the MATCH list (the "terminated merchant file")?

MATCH, now MATCH Pro, is Mastercard's shared file of merchants that acquiring banks terminated for specific reasons. Banks search it before approving a merchant. If a bank terminates a merchant for a listed reason, it must add the merchant (Mastercard Security Rules and Procedures, Merchant Edition, §7.1.1).

It isn't a credit report and you can't search it yourself. It stores the business and up to five principal owners (SPME §11.2), and matches on details like tax ID, address, URL and the owners' names, phone numbers and national IDs (SPME §11.6). So it follows the people, not just the company. Merchants often call it the terminated merchant file; one wrote, "You've been placed on the Mastercard MATCH list." (X post).

What do the MATCH reason codes mean?

Each code is a reason the bank terminated you. The main ones:

Other codes in the current list: 01 account data compromise, 06 coercion, 09 liquidation or insolvency, 13 illegal transactions and 14 identity theft (SPME §11.14.1, Feb 11, 2025).

How long does a MATCH listing last?

Five years. Records are "automatically purged" after that (SPME §11.10). Nobody can sell you a shortcut.

How do I find out if I'm on MATCH?

Ask the bank or processor that terminated you, in writing. The bank that lists you must give you its ICA number and the reason code (SPME §11.4(10)).

1. Ask the processor that closed you, in writing: "Did you add my business or any owner to MATCH? Under which reason code, and on what date?"
2. If you don't know who listed you, Stripe's docs point merchants to Mastercard at matchbusinessowner@mastercard.com (Stripe Docs).
3. Watch for late listings. MATCH sends banks retroactive matches for up to 365 days after an inquiry (SPME §11.6.4), so a listing added after you apply can still surface.

Not every closure produces a listing: it takes a MATCH reason. Stripe, for example, can simply decline to work with you again; that internal decision is separate from MATCH. → Stripe closed my account

How do I get off the MATCH list early?

Only in narrow cases: the listing bank reports an error, or, for code 12, you prove PCI compliance (SPME §11.13). In practice:

1. Get the facts. Reason code, date, and the data the bank relied on (chargeback counts, the months measured).
2. Check the math or the facts. For code 04, were chargebacks really over 1.5% and $5,000? For code 10, was the data actually inaccurate? Errors in the bank's numbers are the strongest removal case.
3. Send a written removal request to the listing bank with your evidence. The bank must respond within 30 calendar days (SPME §11.4(1)), and SPME §11.5.1 lists what the request should contain; you don't need a lawyer to send it.
4. For PCI listings (code 12), get compliant and get a letter from a forensic examiner. If the listing bank won't submit the removal, the merchant can submit the code 12 request itself (SPME §11.13).
5. Keep copies of everything. If the bank won't remove a listing that's clearly wrong, a payments lawyer can push it.

Companies that promise to "erase" a MATCH listing for a fee can't do it: removal runs through the listing bank and Mastercard. Mastercard also says MATCH can't be used as a collection tool, so a bank can't hold a listing over you to collect a debt (SPME §11.4(8)).

Can I get a merchant account while I'm on MATCH?

Yes, but on tougher terms. Mastercard's rules state it plainly: "an Acquirer may onboard a MATCH Merchant listed in MATCH Pro" (SPME §11.6.4). What changes is the price. The FTC described banks taking MATCH-listed merchants on "more onerous terms, such as higher fees and heightened monitoring" (FTC v. 5967 Ventures (Humboldt) complaint, ¶30).

What helps:

• Disclose the listing up front with the reason code and what's changed since. Mastercard requires banks to collect your history with prior processors anyway (SPME §7.1.2).
• Show the fix. New fulfillment, refund policy, dispute tools, 3-D Secure, clean recent months.
• Expect a reserve. → Rolling reserves explained
• Apply to banks that underwrite your vertical. → High-risk merchant account requirements

What makes a MATCH listing worse?

Anything that looks like hiding it.

• New entity, same owners. MATCH matches on principal owners, and the FTC's Paddle order bans using shell companies to apply for additional merchant accounts (FTC v. Paddle order).
• Leaving the listing off an application. The bank will find it, and now it has a disclosure problem too.
• Running sales through someone else's account. That's transaction laundering, code 03. A second listing on top of the first.
• Ignoring chargebacks while listed. → Chargeback ratio thresholds

How Break Free Finance helps

We can't remove a MATCH listing. What we can do is tell you honestly whether we know a bank that will review a listed merchant in your vertical, and help you build the disclosure and remediation file it will want. Tell us your reason code. Every account is subject to the bank's underwriting; no approval is guaranteed.

Sources (last checked October 10, 2026)

• Mastercard Security Rules and Procedures, Merchant Edition (Feb 11, 2025): §§7.1.1, 7.1.2, 11.2, 11.4, 11.5.1, 11.6, 11.6.4, 11.10, 11.13, 11.14.1
• Stripe Docs, Terminated merchant files
• FTC v. 5967 Ventures (Humboldt), complaint (Sep 2026)
• FTC v. Paddle, stipulated order
• Merchant quote (language only): X post linked inline

General information, not legal or compliance advice.