Focused assessment
Core Audit
From $5,000
Typically appropriate for $1M to under $10M in annual volume and a straightforward payment environment.
Xcel Payments Audit & Optimization Roadmap
A clear view of your payments.
A practical plan for what comes next.
Review your processing economics, technology, business needs, operational frustrations, and provider agreements in one structured engagement.
Receive prioritized recommendations and defined support for your next provider conversation—whether you stay, renegotiate, or explore alternatives.
Discuss a Payments AuditYour introductory conversation is complimentary and separate from the paid, documented audit engagement. Scope and a fixed fee are agreed before work begins.
One engagement.
A clearer next move.
- Understand the current state
The economics, systems and relationships behind your payments.
- Weigh the options
Stay, reprice or replace—with the trade-offs in view.
- Prioritize the next steps
A roadmap grounded in your needs and constraints.
A defined engagement
The right depth for your business.
Four starting points. Each engagement is shaped around the work your payment environment needs.
Flagship service
Comprehensive Audit
From $7,500
Typically appropriate for $10M to under $50M in annual volume and a more involved assessment.
Greater complexity
Advanced Audit
From $15,000
Typically appropriate for $50M to under $250M in annual volume or a more complex multi-provider/multi-entity environment.
Individually scoped
Enterprise Assessment
Custom proposal, from $25,000
Typically appropriate for $250M+ annual volume, including $1B+, or materially complex requirements.
Volume is a guide, not an eligibility limit.
The right audit is based on the work, not just the volume. A focused engagement may involve one provider and a relatively simple payment environment. More extensive engagements can involve multiple providers, systems, entities, and stakeholders. Every proposal defines the analysis, deliverables, and negotiation support before work begins.
Annual volume means the payment transaction volume being assessed, not company revenue. Complexity and the agreed work determine the final tier and fee. A lower-volume complex business may require a higher tier. A higher-volume straightforward business may fit a narrower engagement. There is no automatic volume-based quote or surcharge.
All tiers consider the assessment areas below within their agreed scope. Review depth and the number of environments differ by engagement. Enterprise scope, staffing, deliverables and milestones are individually defined; the starting price does not imply unlimited work.
The whole payment environment
Start with what your business needs.
Your needs, preferences, frustrations, growth plans and operational constraints shape the review.
Every tier considers these areas within the agreed scope, using the records and context available.
- Pricing and processing economics
- Understand the cost structure and the assumptions behind a meaningful comparison.
- Payment technology and integration requirements
- Identify business requirements, primary systems and dependencies that affect fit.
- Chargeback, fraud and payment-acceptance concerns
- Examine reported concerns, current practices and questions to take to providers.
- Funding, reporting and operational workflows
- Consider settlement visibility, reconciliation and the practical work of running payments.
- Commercial agreement provisions
- Review agreed contract sets for commercial terms, obligations and issues needing further advice.
- Provider relationships and support
- Assess how the existing relationship serves your priorities and where clearer expectations may help.
Your decision package
Useful findings.
Practical next steps.
The recommendations remain useful even when you keep your existing provider.
A change of processor is one possible consideration, not a required outcome.
Current-state payment assessment
A view of the agreed payment environments, provider relationships and operating priorities.
Cost and requirements analysis
Processing economics considered alongside technology, operational needs and constraints.
Findings and evidence limitations
What the available information supports, what remains uncertain and what needs validation.
Stay / reprice / replace considerations
Options and trade-offs, including the case for retaining your current provider.
Prioritized optimization roadmap
Recommended actions, dependencies and a sequence for making the next decisions.
Executive findings discussion
A discussion of the assessment, recommendations and open questions.
Defined current-provider negotiation support
Preparation and support for the agreed provider conversation, within the hours and window set in your proposal.
Clear expectations
Agree the work before it begins.
The initial conversation explores fit. The paid audit begins only after scope and fee are agreed.
A defined advisory review
The engagement is not a forensic review of every transaction, technical testing of every integration, or compliance certification. Xcel does not provide legal, accounting or PCI assurance services.
Formal procurement, extensive negotiations, implementation, migrations, specialist investigations, ongoing monitoring and managed dispute operations require separate scope.
Fees and provider relationships
The audit fee pays for the agreed advisory work. Xcel may also receive provider compensation, with applicable arrangements disclosed before engagement.
Xcel provides processor-agnostic advisory and referral services. Third-party providers perform processing, underwriting and settlement and provide any related technology under their own terms and capabilities. Savings, outcomes and the availability of particular technology are not guaranteed.
Start with a conversation
Bring your priorities.
We’ll discuss the scope.
Tell us what is working, what is frustrating and what needs to change. We can discuss whether a structured audit fits your needs.