Cord Payments fees

How much Cord charges to process a payment, how it’s calculated, and the rules that apply to refunds and disputes.

The fee by method

Cord Payments charges a per-transaction fee that already includes the cost of processing — there’s no second, hidden fee from a third party added on top later. The fee depends on the collection method.

Method	Fee	Example on $10,000 MXN
Card (credit/debit)	4% + $3.00 MXN + VAT	$46.40
SPEI (automatic bank transfer)	1% + $7.00 MXN + VAT, capped at $588.12 MXN per payment	$11.60
Retainers (monthly recurring charge)	4% + $3.00 MXN + VAT per monthly charge	—
Manual transfer	$0.00 — doesn’t go through Cord Payments	$0.00

Why SPEI has a cap and cards don’t

The real cost of processing a SPEI transfer is nearly the same regardless of the amount — moving $1,000 or $500,000 costs about the same underneath. That’s why, starting at cotizaciones of $50,000 MXN and up, Cord’s fee on a SPEI payment stops growing and freezes at $588.12 MXN (VAT included), no matter how large the payment gets:

Payment amount	Card fee	SPEI fee
$50,000	$2,320.00 (4.64%)	$580.00 → $588.12 with VAT
$100,000	$4,640.00 (4.64%)	$588.12 (0.59% effective)
$500,000	$23,200.00 (4.64%)	$588.12 (0.12% effective)

For large B2B quotes, this makes SPEI by far the cheapest way to collect online, whether compared to card or to nothing at all.

Retainers and recurring charges

A retainer (monthly recurring quote) is always charged by card — it’s the only way for the charge to go out automatically each month without the customer having to do anything. The fee is the same as a regular card payment: 4% + $3.00 MXN + VAT, applied to each individual monthly charge. There is no special reduced rate for retainers: the cost of processing a card is the same whether it’s charged once or twelve times.

Manual transfer — still free

If you’d rather share your CLABE directly and have the customer transfer outside Cord Payments (uploading proof of payment for you to mark the charge by hand), that option still costs $0.00. It doesn’t go through Cord Payments, so it doesn’t generate any fee — but it also doesn’t have automatic reconciliation or chargeback protection.

How your fee schedule gets activated

Cord Payments requires you to explicitly accept the current fee schedule before you can start charging. This happens in Settings › Payments:

• New account: acceptance is the last step of the connection wizard (see Connect your account, the “Terms” step) — you can’t finish connecting your account without checking the box that accepts the current fee schedule.
• Already-connected account, or if the schedule changes: go to Settings › Payments (you need the Configure payments permission), review the current fee schedule and check the acceptance box.

Until you accept, your account can stay connected and keep receiving manual payments, but it cannot process card or SPEI through Cord Payments.

If we ever change the fee schedule, it does not apply retroactively to an already-given acceptance — you’ll need to accept the new version again before it charges you differently. The full legal text lives in Terms and Conditions, Cord Payments section.

What happens to the fee if you refund a payment

If you refund a customer from My Payments › Refund, the refunded amount is deducted from your net revenue in the reports — but the processing fee on the original payment is not refunded. It’s a cost already incurred at the moment the card or SPEI transfer was processed, whether the payment stays or you refund it later.

What happens to the fee in a dispute (chargeback)

If a customer disputes a charge with their bank (a chargeback), you’ll see the case in My Payments › Disputes. While the dispute is open, the amount is held; if you lose it, that money (plus a dispute fee) comes out of your balance — the original Cord Payments fee is not refunded in this case either. See Disputes and chargebacks for the full defense process.

Advantages of collecting with Cord Payments

1. 100% automatic reconciliation. Every payment gets tied to its cotización and the status flips to paid in real time — no more chasing bank deposits.
2. The money is yours, straight to your account. Cord Payments never holds your funds or acts as a middleman for the money — you’re the merchant of record for every payment.
3. Checkout with your brand. Your customer pays on a screen embedded in the document, with your name and colors — no redirects to external sites, no third-party logos.
4. Deposits, balances, and retainers. The same system collects a deposit today and the balance later (Net 30/60), or a monthly retainer automatically, without you having to chase the payment by hand.

Things to consider before activating

1. Deposit timing. Money doesn’t land in your bank instantly — deposits follow a schedule that usually takes between 2 and 7 business days after each payment.
2. Identity verification (KYC). Activating Cord Payments requires you to pass a verification — official ID, RFC, and information about your business. It’s a regulatory requirement, not a Cord decision.
3. Chargebacks. If a customer disputes a charge, the money can be held while the dispute is resolved. Cord gives you the tools to defend yourself with evidence, but responsibility for the chargeback belongs to the business that collected the payment.