RedHub AI
How the gate works
How the Payment Processing Effective-Rate & Fee-Padding gate works
This tool grades a processing statement's effective rate against a card-present / card-not-present target - then floors the verdict to BEING BLED the moment junk fees or unexplained downgrades cross their threshold, even when the headline rate looks fair. It scores 4 weighted controls into a 0–100 number — then a gate that can only make the verdict worse.
The 4 weighted controls
If junk fees are 15% or more of the total bill, or unexplained downgrades are 20% or more of volume, the verdict is forced to BEING BLED regardless of how fair the headline rate reads - padding hides in the fee mix, not the rate.
Why: The effective rate is 2.10% against a 2.20% card-present target - on the rate alone this statement reads FAIRLY PRICED, and the score is 76. But junk fees are 16% of the total bill ($210 of $1,302) - over the 15% ceiling - so the padding gate overrides the rate-only read and forces BEING BLED: the money isn't hiding in the rate, it's hiding in the junk-fee line a rate calculator never checks.
A high score didn’t save it. The score is context; the gate is the answer — and it names the one thing to fix first. Audits the statement and thresholds you enter - a planning aid, not financial, accounting, or legal advice; sets no rate and contacts no processor.