The UK Card Payments Handbook

The UK Card Payments Handbook is a plain-English guide for UK business owners and finance teams choosing how to take card payments. It explains how card acquiring works, how interchange and processing fees are built, the difference between interchange-plus and blended pricing, and how settlement schedules and reserves affect cash flow. Further chapters cover compliance and risk (Strong Customer Authentication and 3D Secure 2, chargebacks and friendly fraud, the MATCH list and TMFs), recent UK regulatory changes, and how to compare processors and terminal types before you commit. The book is compiled from MerchantHQ’s independent editorial and comparison research and is written by Oliver Mackman, Director of Best Business Loans Ltd. It is general information about UK card payments and merchant services, not financial or legal advice.