As a result of changes to bank policies and plays dying lately, we’ve seen a lot of folks diving into new ways to continue squeezing those extra drops of juice out of MS transactions.
I’m glad that people are thinking outside the box (and outside the usual suspects) because that skill is only going to become more important as time goes on in 2026.
However, for as much deserved grief as we give the classic MS institutions, there is one big advantage they have over more traditional financial institutions.
That is of course the fact that they understand what MS is and what our goals are. To profit on a loop, you need to send your float in a circle as quickly as possible, and that isn’t the kind of behavior that a normal bank loves to see.
Additionally, they aren’t as cagey when they see traditionally higher risk MCCs like 4829 or 6051, because again, they understand what’s happening (and that they’re getting an ever increasing cut of the interchange).
But the whole reason we’re looking for new avenues is saturation on said classic institutions, so the community is digging deeper into other options with varying levels of success.
One of the first ones that popped up as a viable option has already crashed and burned a few weeks in, but not without some hilarity ensuing. Getting shutdown before getting your first earnings sucks, but you have to admit that getting shutdown after one transaction is objectively hilarious.
Anyway, the takeaway here is that this new world is going to require a different modus operandi. If your new method is being talked about in a relatively large group and it’s not a FI known for being MS-friendly, you can assume that the timeline is going to be relatively short.
Nothing sets off alarm bells quite like a 0-100 explosion of transactions on a merchant category they see as risky, even if what you’re doing is actually completely innocuous.
It’s very possible to stay alive for awhile at FIs that aren’t primarily set up for MSers (sans the above example which was chalked from the beginning), but it requires some patience.
Become comfortable with the idea of (actually fully controllable) float and that it may be difficult at times to tabulate your liquid cash due to all your accounts. I promise it ends up being worth it in the end.
I imagine that the humongous appetite for the next big thing to replace all that we’ve lost lately is going to make the share vs. obscure argument rage on even more intensely, especially as we see potential alternatives crash out before the juice is even squeezed.
For the time being, my advice would be to keep on probing while thinking about what your account activity looks like from the eyes of a compliance analyst. If you look like a customer that isn’t worth the headache to keep around, consider what you could be doing differently.
Iechyd da!
Pictured: The marketing team at a certain bank walking in to celebrate new user acquisition numbers and seeing an 8am “Interchange discussion” meeting on their calendar
One response to “Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious”
“my advice would be to keep on probing while thinking about what your account activity looks like from the eyes of a compliance analyst.”
Could not agree more. My last talk at Chicago Seminars focused on exactly this topic.
I also think it’s important not to jump into the very play that “all the cool kids” are doing. For example, I used the very institution you alluded to as an actual bank, because its business deposit accounts in particular cannot be beat. But now, lots of folks in are community are boxed out of that option forever, because it offered an MS play only slightly better than others known to be MS friendly. Missed opportunity, IMO.