Fee schedules that drift after the commercial email
Promotional MDR changes often die in email while the payment gateway keeps deducting the old rate — how fee reviews catch the gap.
Commercial teams announce a promotional merchant discount rate with a clear end date. Operations updates a spreadsheet. The gateway parameter table, somehow, still carries last quarter’s rate for a slice of MIDs.
In fee structure reviews we reconcile three timelines: the contract or rate card, the change ticket (if any), and the effective-dated rows inside the payment gateway application. Variance themes usually cluster around expired promotions, misplaced tier thresholds, and rounding on micro-ticket merchants.
When you brief an auditor, bring the email that “ended” the promotion. It is often the only artefact that proves intent — and the gateway postings that prove reality.