Interchange
Pricing
The fee paid by the merchant's acquirer to the cardholder's issuer on every settled transaction, set by the card scheme. Typically the largest component of the merchant's effective rate. Capped in the EU at 0.2% (debit) and 0.3% (credit) for regulated consumer cards; uncapped for commercial and cross-border transactions.
In practice.
Interchange is the floor of your processing cost, set by the schemes and paid to the issuer, and no acquirer controls it. What varies is everything stacked on top. Understanding your interchange mix, by card type and by region, is what lets you judge whether an IC++ markup is actually competitive.
Related terms: Regulated interchange · Cross-border interchange · IC++ · Scheme fee
Pricing