I'm Al — and I've spent years in the payment processing industry.
I got into payments the way most people do: by accident. What started as a job turned into something I genuinely cared about, because I kept seeing the same thing over and over — business owners getting charged more than they should, with no idea it was happening.
Merchant statements are confusing on purpose. Processors bury fees in fine print, mark up interchange rates without telling you, and tack on charges most people don't know to question. I've seen businesses paying hundreds — sometimes thousands — more per month than they needed to, simply because nobody ever showed them what to look for.
That's why I built Payments With Al.
What this site is
Plain-English guides to how payment processing actually works. Real numbers, real examples, no jargon.
How interchange is actually calculated. What those mystery line items on your statement mean. Why your online sales cost more than your in-store ones. What a chargeback really costs you. How to negotiate an agreement, and when to walk away from one.
All of it free, all of it written so that you can spot the problem yourself — whether or not you ever talk to me.
Something on this page used to say more than it should
For most of this site's life, this page ended with a line I meant sincerely at the time:
"I'm not here to be your processor. I'm here to make sure you're not getting taken advantage of by the one you have."
That's no longer completely true, and I'd rather retire it in public than quietly delete it and hope nobody noticed.
Here's what changed: I now place merchant accounts. If a business owner reads something here, asks me to look at their rate, and decides on their own that moving makes sense, I can handle that — and I earn a residual when they do.
So let me replace that old promise with a more honest one.
I'm not a neutral party, and I won't pretend to be. I place merchant accounts and I earn from them.
What I promise instead:
- Every number on this site is one you can verify on your own statement. Not a claim you have to take on faith — a calculation you can run yourself, on your own paperwork, tonight.
- I'll tell you when your current processor is already a good deal. That answer pays me nothing. It's still the answer you'll get when it's the right one.
- I'll never quote you a rate I can't show you the math on. Interchange, my markup, and nothing hidden in between.
- You won't get pitched unless you ask. No follow-up sequences, no pressure, no calls you didn't invite.
I've written the whole arrangement out — including exactly how I'm paid and why you should factor that in when you read me — on the How I Get Paid page. It took longer to write than this one.
Why keep giving the information away?
Because the information was never the product.
Most people who read this site will never contact me, and that's fine — genuinely. If a restaurant owner in another state reads the hidden fees guide, finds a $40 monthly charge nobody explained, calls their processor and gets it removed, that's the site doing its job. I earned nothing and I'd write it again.
The payments industry has a reputation problem, and it earned that reputation honestly. Being the person who explains it clearly is a better long-term position than being the person who exploits the confusion. That's not altruism — it's just a bet that transparency compounds faster than a hard sell.
If you want a second set of eyes
Send me your merchant statement and I'll read it and tell you what I see: what you're paying, what's normal, what isn't, and what I'd do about it. Free, no obligation, and no obligation is not a figure of speech — plenty of these end with you're fine, don't change anything.
And if you'd rather just read and never talk to me, the guides are all right here.