The MATCH list functions as an industry-wide alert system within the Mastercard network. When a payment processor terminates a merchant account for a qualifying reason, it is required to file a MATCH report with Mastercard within a defined timeframe. Mastercard adds the merchant and its principals to the database, and from that point forward, any acquiring bank that performs a standard merchant account review will see the MATCH listing. The acquiring bank is not required to refuse the application based on the listing alone, but in practice the vast majority do. The MATCH list was designed specifically to prevent merchants who have violated card network rules from simply moving to a new processor and repeating the behavior that generated the original termination.
The result is that a single processor termination for a qualifying reason effectively converts into a market-wide refusal. A merchant whose account was terminated by one processor for excessive chargebacks cannot simply apply to another conventional processor and expect a different outcome. The MATCH list entry will appear in every standard merchant account review, and the acquiring banks that power those processors will decline the application on that basis. The merchant is not dealing with one processor's decision. It is dealing with a system-wide flag that the conventional processor market has already agreed to honor. MATCH list payment processing through a non-conventional infrastructure is the only solution that genuinely bypasses this system rather than attempting to work within it.
