A Terminated Merchant File is a tool used by credit card processing companies to screen potential merchants before giving them a merchant account. It is also known as a TMF or the MATCH list. The Terminated Merchant File is shared among processors and acts as a blacklist, where merchants with high risk accounts or excessive chargebacks are put on the list and prevented from opening an account with a different credit card processor.
Other reasons for being put on the Terminated Merchant File include:
References
Terminated Merchant File Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA