How to cancel merchant services

The steps below walk through each one.

1. Check whether you have a contract at all

Some card processing services have no long-term commitment. Others have a fixed term, a fee for leaving early, or a separate lease for the card machine. What you pay doesn't tell you which: a flat rate on every sale doesn't mean there's no contract.

Your account terms tell you. You may not have a term contract if you signed up online yourself, never signed an application with a salesperson or your bank, and the provider's own terms say there's no long-term commitment. Square, for example, says on its own site that it has no long-term contracts. If that's you, check two more things: whether you're still paying for any equipment, and whether a monthly software plan needs cancelling on its own. Then you can usually just stop.

Signs you do have a contract:

• A salesperson or your bank set it up, and you signed an application.
• Your monthly statement has a long list of fees, not one flat rate.
• A different company charges you every month for the card machine.
• Someone mentioned a term in years, or a fee for leaving early.

If any of those sound familiar, keep going.

2. Find both contracts

Most card processing setups have two sets of paperwork, and they end separately:

• The processing agreement. Usually a short application you signed, plus long terms and conditions (often called a program guide or merchant agreement) and a list of fees.
• The equipment lease, if you lease your card machine. It's often with a different company from the processor, on its own contract.

Start with your email: look for the welcome message or the signed application. Then check your bank statement. Every company taking money for card processing or the card machine each month is a contract to find.

Can't find a copy? Ask. You can send this to your processor:

And this to the company that leases you the machine:

3. Find four things in the processing agreement

1. When it started, and how long it runs. Three years is common. Not every agreement works that way: PNC's current published agreement has no set term and lets either side end it with 30 days' written notice. The start can be the day the processor accepted your account rather than the day you signed, so ask them to confirm the start date in writing.
2. What happens when the term ends. Some agreements renew for another year unless you give notice in time. Others simply keep going, with no end date, until you cancel in writing. Either way, nothing ends on its own.
3. How to give notice. How much notice (some agreements ask for 90 days before the term ends), whether it must be in writing, where to send it, and whether it counts when you send it or when they receive it.
4. What leaving early costs. Some agreements charge a flat fee; a 2022 FTC case against one processor involved a $495 fee on a three-year contract. Others charge a share of what the processor expected to earn from you for the rest of the term, which can be much more. Agreements often call this "liquidated damages."

Write the dates down. The one that matters most is the last day you can give notice.

4. Check the lease on its own

If you lease your card machine, read the lease separately, because ending your processing agreement usually doesn't end it. PNC's own pricing page, for example, says its equipment leases come from a third party, under a separate agreement that can't be cancelled.

Look for how many payments are left, whether you can buy the machine or return it, and the total either way. Leases like this often can't be cancelled, so know the number before you decide anything else. In a case brought by New York's Attorney General, a court found "persistent fraud" in one company's uncancellable card-machine leases to small businesses and ordered that company, Northern Leasing, to stop leasing and shut down.

5. Check for a way out without a fee

• A fee increase can be your exit. Some agreements let you leave without the early termination fee if the processor raises its fees, as long as you tell them before the increase starts. Keep using the service after that date and you've usually accepted the new fees. See whether yours says this, and read any notice of a fee change closely, including messages printed on your statement.
• Timing. If the end of your term is close, notice given in the window may cost nothing at all.
• Not using it doesn't end it. Some agreements say fees keep coming, even if you stop using the account, until you cancel in writing.

6. Give notice the way your agreement says

Your agreement's notice rules come first. Send notice in writing, to the address it gives, and include anything else it asks for. If it names a method, like certified mail, use exactly that: an email or a phone call may not count. If it doesn't name a method, use one that proves delivery, like certified mail with a return receipt. If notice counts when they receive it, send it well before the deadline. Don't wait for cancellation instructions before giving notice: asking for instructions may not count as notice, and the deadline keeps running. Keep a copy of everything.

Here's a starting point to adapt to what your agreement requires:

7. Before and after you switch

• Set up your new way of taking cards first, so you don't lose a day of sales.
• Keep the bank account the processor uses open until everything is settled. Refunds and chargebacks from past sales can still come through, and some agreements let the processor hold back money for months after you leave.
• Check your statements after you leave. Some agreements give you as little as 60 days to dispute a charge.
• If the machine is rented or leased, return it the way the agreement says and keep proof that you did.

8. If they charge you an exit fee

Ask for the calculation in writing and check it against your agreement. Ask whether they'll reduce or waive it; the worst they can say is no. If you were told you could cancel anytime and the paperwork says otherwise, you can report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If the amount is large, a short meeting with a business attorney can be worth it. This guide isn't legal advice.

Why this happens

Card processing is usually sold on the rate. The term, the renewal, the notice rule and the lease sit in the terms that come with it, and the date that matters arrives years later, when nobody remembers signing.

Last reviewed November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.