Rates and Fees

When deciding to accept credit cards at the pont of sale, merchants are concerned with rates and fees. The first base cost of pricing is known as Interchange.

According to the Visa.com website, "Visa uses interchange reimbursement fees as transfer fees between financial institutions to balance and grow the payment system for the benefit of all participants. Merchants do not pay interchange reimbursement fees; merchants pay "merchant discount" to their financial institution. This is an important distinction, because merchants buy a variety of processing services from financial institutions; all of these services may be included in their merchant discount rate, which is typically a percentage rate per transaction."

Visa USA October 2007 Interchange Rates are available at http://usa.visa.com/merchants/operations/interchange_rates.html

"According to the MasterCard.com website, "Financial institutions that provide card acceptance services to merchants are typically referred to as “acquirers.” Although MasterCard has no involvement in acquirer and merchant pricing policies or agreements, it is generally understood that interchange fees are one component of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) established by acquirers, which is paid by merchants to acquirers in consideration for card acceptance services."

"MasterCard interchange rates are established by MasterCard, and are generally paid by acquirers to card issuers on purchase transactions conducted on MasterCard® cards. Interchange rates are only one of many cost components included in a MDR, and are a necessary and efficient method by which MasterCard maintains a strong and vibrant payments network. Setting interchange rates is a challenging proposition that involves an extremely delicate balance. If interchange rates are set too high, such that they lead to disproportionately high MDRs, merchants’ desire and demand for MasterCard acceptance will drop. If interchange rates are set too low, card issuers’ willingness to issue and promote MasterCard cards will drop, as will consumer demand for such cards. In response to these competitive forces, MasterCard strives to maximize the value of the MasterCard system, including the dollar volume spent on MasterCard cards, the number and types of MasterCard cards in circulation, and the number and types of merchants accepting MasterCard cards, by setting default interchange rates at levels that balance the benefits and costs to both cardholders and merchants.

MasterCard believes that providing easy access to our interchange rates will provide additional transparency to merchants. Accordingly, MasterCard is publishing interchange rates that apply to U.S.-merchants’ transactions, which include U.S. interchange rates (that is, the interchange rates that apply to transactions conducted on a U.S.-issued card at a U.S. merchant) and Interregional interchange rates (that is, the interchange rates that apply to transactions conducted on a non–U.S.-issued card at a U.S. merchant).

MasterCard has included a Merchant Category Guide, as well as the key criteria associated with each interchange rate and a Glossary of Terms, to help merchants determine which of the many interchange rates may apply to their transactions. The interchange rate tables are organized by product type. Each interchange rate has a series of requirements, all of which must be satisfied in order for a transaction to qualify for that rate. The requirements include such factors as: merchant category; the time between authorization and clearing; the presence or absence of magnetic stripe data; the submission of enhanced transaction data; and a merchant’s MasterCard sales and transaction volume. MasterCard systems ensure that all requirements are met when a transaction is submitted for a particular interchange rate. Merchants and acquirers should strive to meet all of the criteria necessary to qualify transactions for the rate(s) that are most advantageous to them.

MasterCard interchange rates are typically updated semiannually, and MasterCard will publish its interchange rates generally concurrent with each rate update.


MasterCard Interchange Rates are available at http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchant/how_works/interchange_rates.html