Pricing & Revenue Modeling
Know exactly where your payments revenue comes from
We build interchange, residual, and program economics models that show how pricing decisions move margin, so you can set rates, negotiate with processors, and forecast with confidence.
Built for every buyer we serve
ISOs, agents, PayFacs, and platforms with payments revenue.
Why this costs you money
These are the failure modes we see most often in Payments & Fintech Advisory.
Interchange plus, tiered, and flat-rate pricing produce very different margins on the same merchant, and most teams cannot show the difference.
Residual statements from processors are opaque by design.
Investors and acquirers will model your portfolio; you should get there first.
Everything included, in writing
Scope is written down before work starts, and changed only in writing. Nothing is added or dropped without a written change order.
- 01Portfolio pricing analysis by merchant, vertical, and card mix
- 02Residual and revenue share modeling
- 03Scenario modeling for pricing changes and processor moves
- 04Forecast model for fundraising or sale
- 05Training for your team on maintaining the model
All 5 are written into the scope document before work starts. What you actually need is settled on the call, after the Assess read.
From first call to live
3 phases, each ending in something written. Exact dates are set at the Assess step, once the scope is known.
- 01Phase 01
Week 1
Data collection
- 02Phase 02
Week 2 to 3
Model build
- 03Phase 03
Week 4
Review and training
What makes this different
These are specific to Payments & Fintech Advisory, and they are in the scope document rather than only on this page.
The recommendation follows the numbers
Referral, ISO, PayFac, and BaaS modelled side by side on your own volume and merchant mix, before any partner is named.
Terms read before you sign
Revenue share, interchange, reserves, liability, termination, and data ownership reviewed line by line, not summarised.
A shortlist, not one introduction
Providers matched on vertical acceptance, risk appetite, and API quality, then cut down after technical review and references.
Nothing paid by the partner
We take no fee from anyone we recommend, so the shortlist is a recommendation rather than a sales pipeline.
What clients say
We publish no client names. These describe the shape of real engagements in Payments & Fintech Advisory.
See the engagementsWe had been quoted eighteen months and seven figures to register as a PayFac. Midcore mapped the alternative in two weeks and told us plainly that our volume did not justify it yet. That conversation saved us a year.
Sponsor bank diligence had stalled us twice. Midcore rebuilt the package (policies, flow of funds, program narrative) and we were approved on the next pass.
Our agents were spending half their week on paperwork. The desk took the boarding queue, the disputes, and the residual reconciliation. Same headcount on the sales side, materially more selling.
- Written scopeAgreed before work starts, changed only in writing.
- Reporting from your dataEvery number opens to a record you can check.
- Scoped, logged accessRevocable by you at any time.
What the work looks like
Anonymised engagements from Pricing & Revenue Modeling and the wider Payments & Fintech Advisory practice.
All case studiesResidual statements had been accepted as correct since the business started, because nobody had the time or the method to check them line by line.
Sub-ISO with multiple processor relationships A vertical SaaS platform moved from referral to PayFac economicsA platform earning a thin referral share on customer processing wanted the margin that sat with its processor, without the registration, capital, and compliance headcount a full PayFac requires.
Field-services SaaS platform A stalled sponsor bank application cleared on the next passTwo diligence cycles had ended without a decision. The product was fine; the package describing it was not.
Embedded banking platformWritten by people who have done the work
Articles on Pricing & Revenue Modeling and the wider Payments & Fintech Advisory practice.
All insightsChoosing between referral, ISO, and PayFac models means hundreds of basis points of margin and years of operational commitment, decided without a sales pitch.
9 min read How to read a residual statement like an auditorProcessor residual errors are common and almost always favor the processor. Here's how to audit a statement line by line.
9 min read How to Become a Payment Processor, RealisticallyBecoming a processor connected to Visa requires bank-level membership. Almost everyone asking this actually wants one of four other paths.
9 min readStraight answers
The questions that come up on almost every Pricing & Revenue Modeling call, answered before you have to ask them.
What data do you need?
Is this a one-time project?
How does an engagement start?
What does Pricing & Revenue Modeling cost?
Can we stop after the Assess?
How long does Pricing & Revenue Modeling take?
Who actually does the work?
Still not sure Pricing & Revenue Modeling is what you need?
That is what the Assess is for. Book a 30-minute call and we will tell you which service fits, whether you need one at all, and what the first engagement would cost. We will also tell you when the answer is no.
Ready to talk about Pricing & Revenue Modeling?
Tell us what is happening. We will tell you whether this service fits, and whether you need it at all.
- 01Within 1 business dayA US-based practice lead replies and books a 30 minute call.
- 02On the callWe map the problem, the volume, the partners, and the constraints.
- 03After the callYou get a written read of one to three pages, yours to keep.
- Handled under NDA
- Written, not a slide deck
- No obligation to continue