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Interchange Updates

• Merchant Alert: Debit Interchange Regulation signed into law
• Merchant Card Acceptance changes under the Dodd-Frank Act

Scroll down to view the most recent Interchange announcements and the past 5 year history of Interchange changes.

October 2010 Interchange Adjustments

Please be advised that Interchange modifications have been announced that will become effective October 2010.

Visa
The following card fee rates will be adjusted as shown in the following: 

Visa Easy Payment Service to replace existing rules, requirements and restrictions for transactions less than $25. Easy Pay Program combines the No Signature Required Program and the Small Ticket Program. 

Visa had previously announced additions to the CPS/Small Ticket Interchange Program. Effective October 2010 CPS/Small Ticket has been extended to most merchant category codes (MCCs). Most merchants will be eligible to qualify for the U.S. CPS/Small Ticket Interchange program. Current CPS/Small Ticket Interchange applies to transactions less than or equal to $15. The Visa Small Ticket Credit Interchange is 1.65% + $0.04 and the Visa Small Ticket Debit Interchange is 1.55% + $0.04.

Transactions made through merchants eligible for the Visa CPS/Retail and Supermarket performance threshold Interchange programs will not be eligible for the CPS/Small Ticket Interchange program.

Discover
Discover has announced Assessment fee increases on Discover International Processing Fee from 0.30% to 0.40% and Discover International Service Fee from 0.45% to 0.55%.

Discover Assessment Fees will increase to 0.10% + $0.0185.

Discover is introducing a Premium Plus Consumer Interchange program.

August 2010

The debit network NYCE has announced several changes to their debit network pricing effective August 1, 2010.  The changed fees are as follows:

• Retail merchants will be billed at 0.90% + $0.1625 per transaction with a minimum transaction fee of $0.2525.
• Retail Premium transactions will be billed at 0.90% + $0.2225 per transaction with a minimum transaction fee of $0.3125.
• Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) merchants will be billed at 1.25% + $0.0425. Both the minimum and maximum transaction fees have been eliminated.
• Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Premium transactions will be billed at 1.25% + $0.0825.
• Supermarket merchants will be billed at 0.90% + $0.1825 per transaction with a minimum fee of $0.2525 and a maximum fee of $0.3325.
• Supermarket Premium transactions will be billed at 0.90% + $0.2425 per transaction with a minimum fee of $0.3125 and a maximum fee of $0.3925.
• Petroleum merchants will be billed at 0.85% + $0.1425 per transaction with a minimum fee of $0.2625 and a maximum fee of $0.8925.
• Petroleum Premium transactions will be billed at 0.85% + $0.2025 per transaction with a minimum fee of $0.3225 and a maximum fee of $0.9525.
• PINless Utility merchants will be billed at $0.6050 per transaction.
• PINless Utility Premium transactions will be billed at $0.6550 per transaction.
• PINless Education merchants will be billed 0.75% + $0.205 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $2.005.
• PINless Education Premium transactions will be billed 0.75% + $0.255 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $2.055.
• PINless Cable merchants will be billed at 0.70% + $0.205 per transaction and the maximum transaction fee has been eliminated.
• PINless Cable Premium transactions will be billed at 0.70% + $0.255 per transaction with no maximum fee.
• All Other PINless activity will be billed 0.60% + $0.205 per transaction and the maximum transaction fee will be increased to $1.005.
• Premium transactions on All Other PINless activity will be billed 0.60% + $0.255 per transaction and the maximum transaction fee will be increased to $1.055.

The debit networks Credit Union 24 (CU24) and Jeanie have announced several changes to their debit network pricing effective August 1, 2010.  The changed fees are as follows:

CU24

• Retail and Drugstore merchants will be billed at0.85% + $0.19 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $0.83.
• Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) merchants will be billed at 1.25% + $0.06 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $0.73.
• Supermarket merchants will be billed a total of $0.305 per transaction.
• Petroleum merchants will be billed at 0.75% + $0.21 per transaction and the maximum transaction fee has been eliminated.
• Returns will now be billed at $0.03 per transaction.
• All other fees remain the same.

Jeanie

• Retail merchants will be billed at 0.80% + $0.235 per transaction and the maximum transaction fee has been eliminated.
• Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) merchants will be billed at 1.25% + $0.19 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $0.79.
• Supermarket merchants will be billed a total of $0.40 per transaction.
• All other fees remain the same.

July 2010

Visa has announced an increase on the Visa Assessment fee. The Assessment fee will be changing from .0925% to .11% effective July 1, 2010.

Visa has announced changes to their No Signature Required (NSR) program. Effective July 2010, the NSR program has been extended to most merchant category codes (MCCs). Transactions on U.S. issued cards of $25 or less from most all MCCs will be eligible to qualify for the NSR program.

MCCs excluded from Visa's NSR program include: Wire Transfer Money Orders, Automated Fuel Dispensers, Direct Marketing - Insurance Service, Direct Marketing - Travel-Related Arrangement Services, Direct Marketing - Catalog Merchants, Direct Marketing - Combination Catalog and Retail Merchants, Direct Marketing - Outbound Telemarketing Merchants, Direct Marketing - Inbound Telemarketing Merchants, Direct Marketing - Continuity/Subscription Merchants, Direct Marketing/Direct marketers (not else classified), Financial Institutions - Manual Cash Disbursements, Financial Institutions - Automated Cash Disbursements, Intra-Government Purchases.

• Merchants are not required to provide a transaction receipt automatically.
• A cardholder may request a transaction receipt, if necessary
• Merchants must provide transaction receipts upon request

June 2010

Effective June 1, 2010, PULSE is implementing a “PULSE Pay Choice” fee.

This Premium mark-up by each Network is an additional incentive paid to Issuing Banks that commit a specific amount of card issuing volume to a network. The Premium Fee will only be passed on transactions where the card belongs to a qualifying Issuer. The volume is estimated to be between 15% and 50% for each of the three networks. This is an additional per item fee assessed on top of the regular debit network fees. The rates are as follows:

• The NYCE Premier Issuer Fee is an additional $0.011 per item, effective April 1, 2010
• The ALL-STAR Fee is an additional $0.025 per item, effective April 1, 2010
• The PULSE Pay Choice Fee is additional $0.05 per item, effective June 1, 2010

Effective April 1, 2010, NYCE is implementing a “Premier Issuer” fee and STAR is implementing an “All STAR” fee.

May 2010

The debit networks Accel and Pulse have announced several changes to their debit network pricing effective May 1, 2010.  The changed fees are as follows:

Accel

• Retail merchants will be billed at 0.80% + $0.21 per transaction with no maximum fee per transaction.
• Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) merchants will be billed at 0.95% + $0.18 per transaction and the maximum fee for QSR transactions has been eliminated.
• Supermarket merchants will be billed a total of $0.31 per transaction.
• Petroleum merchants will be billed at 0.80% + $0.19 per transaction with no maximum transaction fee. These transactions were previously bundled with Retail and will now post separately.
• PINless Utility merchants will now post separately from regular PINless and will be billed a total of $0.660 per transaction.
• All other PINless transactions will be billed at 0.75% + $0.21 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $1.28.

Pulse

• Retail merchants will be billed at 0.86% + $0.21 per transaction with no maximum fee per transaction.
• Supermarket merchants will be billed a total of $0.345 per transaction.
• Petroleum merchants will be billed at 0.71% + $0.21 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $1.03.These transactions were previously bundled with Retail and will now post separately.
• PINless Utility merchants will be billed a total of $0.755 per transaction.
• All other PINless transactions will be billed at 0.80% + $0.27 per transaction.

April 2010

MasterCard

Currently, MasterCard's Assessment fee is 0.095%. MasterCard will increase the Assessment fee to 0.110%.

MasterCard is introducing new Interregional Interchange programs. A unique brand product classification has been defined for each of the consumer credit, debit, and commercial product families. The following brand products will qualify for the new Interregional Consumer Premium Interchange Structure.

• MasterCard World Card
• MasterCard World Elite
• World MasterCard for Business
• MasterCard Corporate World
• World Elite MasterCard Business
• MasterCard Corporate World Elite

Business Data Rate programs fees have been modified for both World and World Elite categories.

MasterCard is revising the qualification criteria for Commercial Face to Face and Commercial Data Rate II. Effective April 2010, zero will no longer be accepted as a valid tax value to qualify for these rate categories. Only non-zero tax values that fall within the specified valid range will be accepted. Therefore, if a commercial transaction has no sales tax, the transaction will downgrade to a lower Interchange level.

MasterCard is adding a new Interchange program for MasterCard Enhanced Small Business. The following card programs will be supported in the U.S. Small Business Sector:

• MasterCard BusinessCard Card
• MasterCard Professional Card
• MasterCard Executive BusinessCard Card

MasterCard Pay with Rewards Service
This service provides cardholders with the ability to redeem their loyalty points as currency to pay for purchases at any merchant where MasterCard-branded payment cards are accepted. The cardholder will use a separately issued “redemption card,” which will be a MasterCard debit product, to initiate points redemption transactions at the POS. Participating card issuers will register redemption cards into the MasterCard Pay with Rewards service. At the time of redemption, a Pay with Rewards cardholder will present his or her redemption card as any other payment card today.

New Interchange Fees for Pay with Rewards (Consumer Core, Consumer Debit, Consumer World and Commercial) will start out at 0.90% + $0.00

Visa

Visa is implementing modifications to the No Signature Required program:

• MCC 5993 (Cigar Stores/Stands) is being added as an eligible MCC
• Standardize amount to equal to or less than US $25.00 to be eligible.
• Transaction with cash back amounts will not be eligible.

Visa will adjust the following U.S. Visa Debit Interchange reimbursement fees.

Interlink PIN Debit

Visa has announced changes in the pricing for Interlink debit transactions.

NYCE PIN Debit

• NYCE will implement a Premier Issuer fee of $0.011 per transaction. This will be an addition to the existing interchange fees.

March 2010

STAR PIN Debit has announced modifications to the current rates effective March 1, 2010. The changes are as follows: 

• Retail merchants will be billed at 0.80% + $0.2125 per transaction. The maximum transaction fee is being eliminated.
• Quick Service Restaurant merchants will be billed at 01.25% + $0.1925 per transaction. The maximum transaction fee is being eliminated.
• Petroleum merchants will continue to be billed at 0.80% + $0.1725 per transaction however the maximum transaction fee is being eliminated.
• Supermarket merchants will be billed at $0.3025 per transaction
• Medical Retailer merchants will be billed at 1.20% + $0.2425 for each transaction equal to or less than $15.00. Transactions over $15.00 will be assessed the standard Retail rates.
• Small Ticket Retailer merchants will be billed at 1.25% + $0.1925 for each transaction equal to or less than $10.00. Transactions over $10.00 will be assessed the standard Retail rates.
• PINless transactions will continue to be billed at 0.65% + $0.1725 per transaction. The maximum transaction fee is being increased to $2.0425.

February 2010

NYCE PIN Debit

• The switch fee will be decreased from $0.05 to $0.0425.
• Retail merchants will be billed at 0.75% + $0.2125 per transaction. The minimum transaction fee will be decreased to $0.3025.
• Quick Service Restaurant merchants will be billed at 0.55% + $0.1075 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.5425. The minimum transaction fee will be decreased to $0.2275.
• Supermarket merchants will be decreased to $0.3025.
• Petroleum merchants will be billed at 0.85% + $0.1925 per transaction. The minimum transaction fee will be decreased to $0.3025.
• Returns will be decreased to $0.0425 per transaction.
• PINless Utility merchants will be billed at $0.6550 per transaction.
• PINless Cable merchants will continue to be assessed 1.00% + $0.125 per transaction. The maximum transaction fee will be increased to $1.055.

CU24 PIN Debit

• The switch fee will be increased from $0.025 to $0.028.
• Retail merchants will be billed at 0.75% + $0.178 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.828
• Quick Service Restaurant merchants will be billed at 1.25% + $0.058 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.478.
• Supermarket merchants will now be billed $0.258 per transaction.
• Drug Store and Pharmacy merchants will be billed at 0.75% + $0.178 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.828
• Petroleum merchants will be billed at 0.75% + $0.168 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.728
• Returns will now be billed $0.028 per transaction

November 2009

Accel, Jeanie, and Maestro have announced modifications to the current rates effective November 1, 2009. The actual changes are as follows: 

Accel

• The maximum fee for Retail transactions has been eliminated . 

Jeanie

• Retail transactions will be billed at 0.80% + $0.20 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.80.
• Supermarket merchants will now be billed a total of $0.35 per transaction.

Maestro

• Retail transactions will be billed at 0.90% + $0.175 per transaction with no maximum fee.
• Quick Service Restaurant transactions will be billed at 0.75% + $0.195 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.975.
• Supermarket merchants will now be billed 1.05% + $0.175 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.375.
• Cross-Border transactions will be billed at 1.60% + $0.025 per transaction with no maximum fee.
  

October 2009

MasterCard

MasterCard will increase Cross Border fees as well as the Acquirer Support fee. Only MC International transactions will be assessed the Acquirer Program Support Fee (previous 0.45%, increasing to 0.55%), and the Cross Border fee (previous 0.30%, increasing to 0.40%), as these fees apply to US merchants settling International transactions in USD. 

MasterCard is modifying the World Elite Restaurant and the High Value Restaurant Interchange rate programs significantly.

MasterCard is slightly lowering Interregional POS Consumer interchange rates and expanding its Utilities program to Business Cards. with the addition of Interchange categories for Business Utilities, Business World Utilities, and Business World Elite Utilities.

Visa

Visa will assess an International Acquirer fee (IAF) to U.S. Acquirers. Impact is expected to be limited. Only Visa International transactions will be assessed the 0.45% IAF fee. 

Visa announced the implementation of fees for transactions that do not match authorization items to settlement items. 

• The Misuse of Authorization System fee – There will be a fee assessed for transactions in which an approval authorization is obtained, but there is no matching settled transaction or authorization reversal.

{A merchant obtains an approval code and doesn't use it, Visa will assess a $0.045 per occurrence.  This fee will be effective October 2009.}

The Misuse of Authorization System fee only refers to authorizations that do not have corresponding settled transactions.  Merchants may process an Auth Only with the forced transaction processed a few days later (the original authorization is subsequently used).  Note: The auth amounts and settled amounts do not have to match. 

Misuse of Authorization fees are assessed on approved or partially-approved authorization transactions that cannot be matched to a clearing (settled) transaction or an authorization reversal.  Clearing must occur within 10 days of authorization for all merchant categories, with the exception of T&E segments, which must clear transactions within 20 days of authorization, regardless of the transaction date. Visa implemented this penalty fee to reduce the occurrence of "ghost authorizations" (authorizations that are approved but never cleared), as these can adversely impact a cardholder's open-to-buy, leading to increased declines and confusion at the point of sale. To clarify, authorization reversals will only occur for a cancelled sale, or a timeout.  An authorization reversal cannot be manually processed by the merchant.

Visa Operating Regulations allow for $1 status check transactions for automated fuel dispenser and select lodging merchants, but other merchants must utilize the $0 account verification message.

• Zero Floor Limit Fee – There will be a fee assessed for transactions in which a settled transaction can not be matched to an approved authorization.

{A merchant settles a transaction without a valid approval code (makes up an approval code), Visa will assess a $0.10 per occurrence.  This fee will be effective October 2009.}

Visa has made a modification to the Account Verification Service (AVS) fee. Visa is now charging $0.025 on AVS only transactions. AVS only transactions are considered Zero Dollar Account Verifications as this type of transaction occurs when no authorization is requested or obtained.

Discover

Discover has introduced a new International Processing Fee and an International Service Fee.

• The International Processing Fee will be processed on all transactions, including Cash Advance, conducted at a merchant location in a country other than the country that the card was issued in.
• The International Service Fee will be assessed on transactions conducted at a merchant location in the United States where the issuer of the card is in a country other than the United States. 

Discover has also introduced International Interchange rate categories and made modifications to several categories including increasing Consumer Core, Rewards, Premium Mid and Base and Commercial Base rates by 10 basis points.

Effective in October 2009, merchants in the U.S. and designated U.S. territories that accept the Discover card will be enabled to accept JCB and Diners Club cards under the Discover network.  JCB and Diners Club transactions will be processed at your Discover rate.   

American Express

Effective October 1, 2009 the American Express Monthly Flat Fee will increase to $7.95 per month. Monthly Flat Fee is mandatory (regardless of estimated Charge Volume) for these industries: Internet-Physical Delivery merchants; Mail Order/Telephone Order; Home Based Businesses.

Shazam Debit Network

• Retail transactions will be billed at 0.75% + $0.19 per transaction which is a decrease from the current rate of 0.75% + $0.20 and there will no longer be a maximum per transaction fee. 
• Quick Service Restaurant and Small Ticket merchants will be billed at 1.25% + $0.09 per transaction and there will no longer be a maximum per transaction fee. 
• Petroleum merchants will be billed at 0.75% + $0.17 per transaction and there will no longer be a maximum per transaction fee. 
• All other fees remain the same.

August 2009

PIN Debit

The debit network NYCE has announced several changes to their debit network pricing effective August 1, 2009. The changed fees are as follows:

• There will be a new Petroleum category (MCC 5541 and 5542) with a debit rate of 0.85% + $0.20 per transaction with a minimum rate of $0.31 per transaction.
• Standard (Retail) transactions will now be assessed a minimum rate of $0.31 per transaction.
• QSR transactions (MCC 5814) will now be assessed a minimum rate of $0.235 per transaction.
• All remaining fees for NYCE transactions remain the same.

July 2009

Visa

Visa has announced the introduction of the Acquirer Processing Fee (APF) effective July 1, 2009.  The APF, in the amount of $0.0195, will be applied on all Visa branded authorizations and will replace the current VIP variable access fee.  This fee will not apply to Interlink or Plus transactions.

June 2009

Debit

Effective June 1, 2009, there will be a new category for Maestro debit card transactions processed as cross-border.  These transactions will be billed at the rate of 1.40% + $0.025 per transaction. Maestro cross-border transactions are those Maestro transactions in which the cardholder's Maestro card is issued in a country other than the country in which the merchant is located. All other Maestro transactions will remain unchanged.

Effective June 1, 2009, the generic rate for an unidentified debit card transaction will be increased to a rate of 0.75% + $0.19 per transaction with no maximum fee.

In addition, effective as of the same date, ACCEL has announced changes to their debit network pricing.  As a result of these changes, the following new fees will take effect:

• Retail merchants will now be billed at 0.75% + $0.18 per transaction with a new maximum fee of $0.73.
• Grocery merchants will now be billed at $0.28 per transaction. 
• All remaining fees for ACCEL transactions remain the same.

April 2009 Interchange Adjustments

Visa

Visa will modify several Consumer Credit and Signature Preferred Interchange fees. Visa is lowering Card Not Present, Key Entry and E-Commerce Interchange rates as well as lowering Hotel and Car Rental rate categories. Restaurants will be impacted by a 5 basis point increase on Visa Rewards cards. Visa will extend Small Ticket Interchange Rates to Service Stations when the transaction size is $15.00 or less. Visa will modify Interlink Interchange fees including the establishment a unique Interlink interchange category for Automated Fuel Dispenser (AFD) and Service Station transactions.

MasterCard

MasterCard will modify commercial Interchange rates. Some higher, some lower. The goal of these changes are unclear. MasterCard will launch the availability for issuers to enroll Consumer World accounts in the "World High Value" program to qualify for differentiated interchange. As of April 2009, Interchange rates for the new category will mirror those currently used for the Consumer World Elite cards, so there will be no immediate impact of this launch. In an upcoming April 2009 initiative, the MasterCard Acquirer Access fee that is currently in place and being billed at a pass through cost of $0.005 per authorization is being eliminated and replaced with Network Access and Brand Usage (NABU) fee which will be billed at a pass through cost of $0.0185 per item. This MasterCard change will greatly impact merchants with small transaction sales.

Debit

AFFN debit network has announced changes to their debit network pricing structure effective March 2009.

• Retail transactions will now be billed at 0.65% + $0.155 per transaction with a new maximum fee of $0 .535 per transaction.
• Major merchants will now be billed at 0.50% + $0.10 per transaction with a new maximum fee of $0.435 per transaction.
• Grocery merchants will now be billed at $0.205 per transaction.
• Returns will now be assessed at $0 .035 per transaction.

Interlink has announced an increase to their Retail per transaction rate.  As a result of these changes, Retail merchants will now be charged 0.75% + $0.205 per transaction with no maximum fee. Interlink is also creating a new category for Petroleum Fuel.  These merchants will be charged 0.70% + $0.205 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.985 per transaction. 

Pulse has announced a rate increase effective April 1, 2009. The changes are as follows:

• The Switch Fee is increasing from $.07 to $.08 Per Item for all PIN based activity and from $.06 to $.07 for all PINless activity.
• Retail & Petroleum transactions will now be billed a total of 0.75% + $0.18 per transaction.
• Grocery merchants will now be billed a total of $0.30 per transaction.
• Returns will now be billed at $.08 per transaction.
• PINless Utility will be billed at $0.665 per transaction; all other PINless activity will now be billed 0.80% + $0.16 per transaction with no maximum.

January & February 2009 Update

PIN Debit
Effective February 1, 2009, the following rates apply for STAR debit activity:

• The STAR PINless debit interchange rate will remain at 0.65% + $0.14, with an updated maximum rate of $1.01 per item.  The associated break-even amount is $133.85. 
• The STAR Petroleum interchange rate will change to 0.80% + $0.14 per item, with an updated maximum rate of $0.71 per item.  The associated break-even amount is $71.25.

Changes are scheduled  to the pricing  of the NYCE and STAR debit networks .  

NYCE – Effective January 1, 2009

• The Switch Fee is increasing from $.0375 to $.05 Per Item. This impacts the following pricing categories: 
• Retail transactions will be billed at 0.75% + $0.20 per transaction and there will no longer be a maximum per transaction fee.
• Quick Service Restaurant merchants will be billed at 0.55% + $0.115 per transaction with a maximum of $.55 per transaction.
• Grocery merchants will now be $0.31 per transaction.
• Returns will now be billed at $.05 per transaction.

STAR – Effective February 1, 2009

• Petroleum merchants will now be charged .80% + $0.1725 per transaction with a maximum transaction fee of $0.7425.
• PINless Bill Payer transactions have a new maximum fee of $1.0425 per transaction.

Fall 2008 Update

MasterCard
MasterCard has announced changes to Maestro (The MasterCard Debit Network) PIN debit rates effective November 1, 2008.

• Grocery and Warehouse merchants will be billed $0.28 per transaction.
• All other retail transactions will continue to be billed at 0.75% + $0.175 per transaction however there will no longer be a maximum per transaction fee.

MasterCard's Maestro PIN debit is eliminating the QSR and Retail Maximum rate categories. MasterCard has also announced that effective April 1, 2009 US PIN Debit POS Interchange rates will apply to the total transaction amount, including cash-back amounts.

Visa

Visa has announced a New Government-to-Government (G2G) Program
Visa's new Government-to-Government (G2G) program will be available as of October 3, 2008. With this program, Visa will implement a new Interchange rate for purchases made at qualifying governmental agencies.

This new program will be limited to government purchases on GSA Purchasing Cards. Visa will implement changes to allow qualifying GSA Purchasing Card transactions, including GSA Purchasing Fleet, from participating government merchants to receive a new GSA G2G fee program rate of 1.65% and 10 cents. As a result of this new program, the existing program GSA Large Ticket interchange rate will be adjusted to 1.20% + $39 and the minimum transaction amount of $5000 for GSA Large Ticket will be removed. There are no requirements to submit Purchasing Card Level 2 or Level 3 data.

Please note that registration is required for the new G2G program. To participate in the Visa Government-to-Government (G2G) Program, the government merchant must register and meet eligibility requirements and transactions must include an MCC (Merchant Category Code) of 9399 or 9402 (Government Services or Government Postal Services).

Visa launches the Visa Tax Payment Program
Visa has announced a new incentive program and Interchange rate for qualified tax payments to take effect October 4th 2008. The Visa Tax Payment Program allows eligible government taxing authorities, or parties acting on their behalf to assess cardholder fees on approved tax types in the card-present, card-not-present and recurring tax payment environments.

The Visa Tax Payment Program allows a fixed convenience fee—not to exceed $3.95—for Visa consumer debit products and a variable service fee solution for Visa consumer credit and commercial products. As a reminder, all fees must be clearly disclosed to the cardholder in advance of payment. The service/convenience fee charged for a Visa transaction must not be greater than any fixed or flat fee charged for a transaction with any other payment card. Please note that if a merchant chooses to discontinue accepting Visa Debit due to the $3.95 convenience fee cap, then a Limited Acceptance Registration will be required.

The program also offers an incentive Interchange rate to participants on consumer debit tax payments. To receive the consumer debit tax payment interchange rate, both the tax payment transaction and the convenience fee transaction must be CPS-qualified. Visa is not introducing new interchange rates for credit or commercial tax payments. To receive the most favorable interchange rate, all credit/commercial transactions also must be CPS-qualified. The tax payment and fee transactions must be submitted and processed as two separate transactions.

Registration in the Visa Tax Payment Program is required for all participants. Vantage clients will be automatically enrolled. Tax payment transactions must include an MCC of 9311 (Merchant Category Code). Only federal and state income, federal and state small business, and personal real estate and other property tax payments are eligible for the program. Licenses, fees, registrations and other government payments are not eligible. For clarification of any issue related to eligibility status of a particular merchant, please contact us.

Healthcare Auto-Substantiation
Effective January 1, 2009, the IRS requirement for an IIAS will be extended to include merchants with a pharmacy or drug store merchant category code (MCC). An IIAS is an inventory system that identifies at the point of sale over the counter (OTC) healthcare products that under IRS guidelines are eligible for purchases made with FSA and HRA funds. The eligible medical expenses are totaled and inserted in a designated field in the authorization request message and sent to the card issuer's system. The issuer can then approve the eligible healthcare amount in the purchase, subject to coverage under the cardholder's health plan, such as the type of coverage provided, and whether the cardholder is a covered participant. Merchants of OTC healthcare products have the option of developing their own IIAS, or using a third-party solution.

Discover
Discover Network has announced new pricing to take effect in October and November 2008. They have broken their changes into two distinct effective dates.

Effective October 3, 2008, three new interchange programs will be introduced: Real Estate, Insurance, and Commercial Utilities.

Effective November 1, 2008, pricing changes will take place to some existing programs for both the Discover Core and Rewards product offerings including Retail, Restaurants, Hotel, and Card-Not-Present merchants.

PIN Debit
Credit Union 24 (CU24) and Jeanie debit networks effective October 1, 2008.

CU24

• Quick Service Restaurant merchants will continue to be billed 1.25% + $0.045 per transaction with a new maximum fee of $0.475 per transaction.
• Drug store and Pharmacy retailers will be billed 0.75% + $0.145 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.775.
• Petroleum merchants will be billed 0.65% + $0.145 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.525.
• Grocery merchants will be billed $0.23 per transaction.
• All other retail transactions will be billed 0.75% + $0.145 per transaction with a maximum fee of $0.775.

Jeanie

• Quick Service Restaurant merchants will be billed 1.25% + $0.07 per transaction and a maximum fee of $0.54 per transaction will now apply.
• Grocery and Warehouse merchants will be billed $0.29 per transaction.
• All other retail transactions will continue to be billed at 0.75% + $0.20 per transaction with a new maximum fee of $0.75 per transaction.

July 2008 Update

Visa's fuel transaction qualification and maximum Interchange enhancements where announced in the Visa Business Enhancements News dated June 27, 2008.  Visa is changing the maximum allowed transaction amount for the CPS/Automated Fuel Dispenser (AFD) Interchange program for consumer credit and debit transactions from $75.00 to $125.00.  Visa is also implementing a new maximum Interchange amount of $0.95 for debit fuel transactions from MCCs 5541 and 5542 that qualify for the EIRF, CPS/AFD, or CPS/Retail Service Station interchange programs.

May 2008 Update

Effective May 1, 2008, the Pulse Debit Network will implement several changes to its pricing structure including the addition of a new Network Security Fee of 0.01% and establish a new category for Petroleum merchants.

April 2008 Interchange Overview

Visa and MasterCard have announced Interchange modifications to become effective April 2008.

Visa
Visa is implementing an International Service Assessment (ISA) fee on U.S. acquired transactions when the issuer country is foreign for both international purchase and cash advance transactions except on a U.S. military base, embassy or consulate.

Visa will modify Visa Signature Preferred card Interchange for Card Not Present (CNP), Retail and Corporate Electronic charge types as well are certain credit voucher rates.

Changes to the No Signature Required Program (US issued card transactions less than $25), which provides chargeback protection on eligible transactions for fraudulent transactions in a card present environment, is being expanded to include Supermarket Credit and Debit plus:

• hardware stores
• dairy product stores
• gift, card novelty and souvenir shops
• variety stores
• candy, nut and confection stores
• bakeries
• book stores

PIN Debit
Visa will implement changes to Interlink Supermarket and Interlink Standard rates.

Effective April 1, 2008, the following debit networks will modify their price structures as follows:

• Alaska Option will increase their transaction fee to $0.26 per transaction.
• Jeanie Debit Network will increase retail transactions to $0.20 + 0.75% per transaction, Quick Service Restaurant transactions to $0.17 per transaction, and Supermarket transactions to $0.28 per transaction.

MasterCard
MasterCard is enhancing systems to recognize Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories so transactions between merchants and cardholders will not longer be subject to cross border fees.

In an effort to penetrate growing market segments, MasterCard is introducing new incentive Interchange rates, including Core, Enhanced, World, World Elite and Debit Interchange, to apply to Insurance and Real Estate merchant categories.

To further growth in the Bill Payment market segment, MasterCard is reducing the Interchange rates associated with most consumer credit Utility transactions. Core, Enhanced and World Utilities Interchange will decrease by $0.10 and Debit Utilities will drop by $0.30.

MasterCard is requiring that Vehicle Rental transactions being submitted for Commercial T&E Rate III must include the Rental Rate with their current addendum detail.

MasterCard is requiring that transactions qualifying for Commercial Data Rate II and Commercial Face-to-Face Interchange programs include a non-zero tax amount that is within a range of 1% to 30% of the transaction amount, unless the transaction is presented as 'tax exempt' or as 'tax not collected'. Vantage will populate a 'tax exempt' indictor when tax amount is equal to zero to safe guard against potential downgrades.

Discover
Effective April 4th, Discover is reducing the timeliness for all Prime Submission Level programs by 1 day. Timeliness refers to the number of days from when a transaction is processed until it is submitted through Interchange to Discover (most industries set at 2 days). Your best practice is to settle daily.

Also effective April 4th, Discover is increasing Supermarket rates by +0.05%, decreasing Debit Express Services Interchange by -0.05%, increasing Debit Petroleum by +0.02% and Commercial Electronic by +0.04%.

January & February 2008 Overview

MasterCard
MasterCard has announced increases to their cross border assessment for each transaction acquired in the US for non-US issued cards processed. Effective January 2008, this fee will increase to 0.30% (30 basis points) for transactions settled in U.S. dollars.

Also effective January 1, 2008, MasterCard will increase its Acquirer Program Support Fee which is assessed on International Interchange categories. Merchants accepting International cards may notice a slight increase in the effective costs of Interchange of 0.15% (15 basis points), however, these categories will continue to be price lower than domestic card Interchange.

PIN Debit
Debit networks, Shazam and ACCEL, have announced changes. Effective January 1, 2008, Shazam will add Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), Small Ticket Retailer, Petroleum, Retail Max, QSR Max charge types and increase Retail and Grocery transactions. Effective February 29, 2008, ACCEL debit network will increase their Retail Max, Grocery, QSR and QSR max fees.

Fall 2007 Overview

Visa and MasterCard have announced several Interchange, and compliance changes including expansion of existing products, new Interchange programs, rate changes to existing Interchange programs and modifications to qualification logic.

Visa
Visa is expanding its CPS Small Ticket program to include transactions processed from unattended terminals. Visa is also expanding their Utility program to include Business Card transactions. Visa is updating MCC 7841 from Video Tape Rental stores to DVD/Video Rental. Visa will begin to enforce the Card-Level value is included with transactions.

MasterCard
MasterCard is breaking out Level II and Face-to-Face commercial transactions for Business Card, Purchasing Card, Fleet & Petroleum categories. Corporate Standard, Data Rate II and Face-to-Face rates will increase for Commercial, World, World Elite, World Corporate, and World Elite Corporate. Data Rate III Interchange for these categories will decrease.

MasterCard Cross Border Assessment Fee Changes effective January 1, 2008, the cross border transaction assessments are being increased from .10% to .30%. This card type / charge type accommodates transactions where the acquirer settles the transaction using the merchant’s currency code. For US merchants settling in US$, then we expect this to be the impact to your pricing.

Spring 2007 Overview

The following is a recap of the modifications to the Card Association Interchange programs for spring 2007.

Visa
Visa will introduce three additional interchange rates within the commercial card products structure: Business-to-Business (B2B), Retail and Card Not Present (CNP). While all three are within the commercial card rate structure, these rates will vary dependant upon they type of card (Purchasing, Business or Corporate). Interchange qualification for transactions from T&E merchants remains unchanged and T&E merchants are not eligible for any of the new rates; transactions from T&E merchants remain eligible for Commercial Electronic and Commercial Standard rates. Visa is also adjusting existing commercial card rates and introducing Visa Commercial Signature Preferred Interchange. All transactions must comply with applicable qualification and processing requirements.

Business-to-Business: Transactions eligible for the B2B rate must be CPS qualified (not qualifying for Level 2 rates) and be processed by merchants operating in qualified Merchant Category Codes (MCCs). Transactions with the qualifying MCCs can be face-to-face or accepted in a card not present environment. Visa considered many factors when selecting the eligible MCCs including, but not limited to, fostering growth in under-penetrated market segments and providing a lower rate for merchants in these categories as they tend to have higher degrees of commercial spending versus consumer spending. Visa will review MCC eligibility periodically to ensure that the appropriate categories are targeted and aligned with the goals of increasing Visa acceptance and fostering growth in Visa volume. The eligible MCCs are:

780 Landscaping and Horticultural Services
1799 Special Trade Contractors – Not Elsewhere Classified
2741 Miscellaneous Publishing and Printing
2791 Type Setting, Plate Making and Related Services
2842 Specialty Cleaning, Polishing and Sanitation Preparations
4214 Motor Freight Carriers and Trucking – Local & Long Distance, Moving & Storage Companies & Local Delivery Services
5021 Office and Commercial Furniture
5039 Construction Materials – Not Elsewhere Classified
5044 Photographic, Photocopy, Microfilm Equipment and Supplies
5046 Commercial Equipment – Not Elsewhere Classified
5047 Medical, Dental, Ophthalmic and Hospital Equipment & Supplies
5051 Metal Service Centers and Offices
5065 Electrical Parts and Equipment
5074 Plumbing and Heating Equipment and Supplies
5085 Industrial Supplies – Not Elsewhere Classified
5099 Durable Goods – Default – Not Elsewhere Classified
5131 Piece Goods, Notions and Other Dry Goods
5137 Men's, Women's and Children's Uniforms & Commercial Clothing
5139 Commercial Footwear
5169 Chemicals and Allied Products – Not Elsewhere Classified
5192 Books, Periodicals and Newspapers
5193 Florist Supplies, Nursery Stock and Flowers
5198 Paints, Varnishes and Supplies
5199 Non durable Goods – Not Elsewhere Classified
6300 Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums
7311 Advertising Services
7333 Commercial Photography, Art and Graphics
7349 Cleaning, Maintenance and Janitorial Services
7361 Employment Agencies and Temporary Help Services
7372 Computer Programming, Data Processing and Integrated Systems Design Services
7375 Information Retrieval Services
7379 Computer Maintenance, Repair and Services – Not Elsewhere Classified
7392 Management, Consulting and Public Relations Services
7399 Business Services – Not Elsewhere Classified
7829 Motion Picture and Video Tape Production and Distribution
8734 Testing Laboratories (Non-Medical Testing)
8931 Accounting, Auditing and Bookkeeping Services
8999 Professional Services – Not Elsewhere Classified

Retail: Transactions eligible for the Retail rate must be CPS qualified (not qualifying for Level 2 rates), from merchants operating in Non-T&E MCCs and occur in a face-to-face swiped card environment.

Card Not Present (CNP): Transactions eligible for the Card Not Present rate must be CPS qualified (not qualifying for Level 2 rates), from merchants operating in non-T&E MCCs and occur in a non face-to-face keyed card environment.

Please note that if transactions eligible for the new B2B, Retail or CNP fail CPS qualification, the best rate they can qualify for is Commercial Electronic. Interchange qualification for transactions from T&E merchants remains unchanged and T&E merchants are not eligible for any of the new rates; transactions from T&E merchants remain eligible for Commercial Electronic and Commercial Standard rates. Visa Purchasing Large Ticket and GSA Large Ticket interchange rates remain unchanged as a result of these enhancements.

Visa Purchasing, Corporate and Business Interchange qualification best to worst:

Visa Purchasing Cards
•  Level 3 (CPS, Level 2, Level 3 data)
•  Level 2 (CPS, Level 2 data)
•  CNP, Retail, B2B (CPS data)
•  Purchasing Electronic (failed CPS)
•  Commercial Standard (exceeds timeliness)

Visa Corporate Cards
•  Level 3 (not eligible)
•  Level 2 (CPS, Level 2 data)
•  CNP, Retail, B2B (CPS data)
•  Corporate Electronic (failed CPS)
•  Commercial Standard (exceeds timeliness)

Visa Business Cards
•  Level 3 (not eligible)
•  Level 2 (CPS, Level 2 data)
•  CNP, Retail, B2B (CPS data)
•  Business Electronic (failed CPS)
•  Commercial Standard (exceeds timeliness)

MasterCard
In addition to pricing changes that will take effect in April 2007 and in June 2007, MasterCard is also introducing additional segmentation of its product suite in both the Consumer and Commercial card arenas.

Core Value and Enhanced Value Interchange
The MasterCard Enhanced Value platform applies to consumer credit cards that meet minimum rewards value requirements for cardholders. Consumer credit cards that do not meet minimum rewards value requirements will be recognized as consumer credit Core Value products and will be eligible to qualify for reduced interchange rates.

Each of the previously existing consumer credit card categories will now have rates associated with both a Core Value and Enhanced Value card. In April 2007, the interchange rates will be identical for these two products with few changes to the current pricing structure. You will also note that both Core Value and Enhanced Value pricing will change in June 2007 for eight of the categories listed. In addition, a Petroleum rate program is being introduced for both segments.

Consumer Credit World Interchange
MasterCard will be modifying interchange in April 2007 for several categories that fall under the Consumer Credit World Interchange programs as well as adding a Petroleum rate program in the Consumer Credit World Interchange Program.

Consumer Credit World Elite Interchange
This category was introduced by MasterCard in October 2006 with a rate structure identical to the existing World MasterCard rates. Effective in April 2007, changes will be made to eleven of the categories and a Petroleum rate program will be added to this segment.

Consumer Debit Interchange
MasterCard has elected to maintain all existing U.S. region Debit MasterCard interchange rate levels. Both of the existing Petroleum rate programs will now also have a maximum fee of $.95 in keeping with the newly introduced Petroleum rate programs in other segments. PIN Debit interchange will also remain unchanged at this time.

Commercial Interchange
MasterCard has also elected to maintain all existing commercial card interchange rates. In order to expand acceptance of Large Ticket transactions, two new Commercial Large Ticket rates will be introduced in April 2007.

In addition to the above mentioned changes to Commercial Interchange, MasterCard is also introducing the following commercial card programs: World MasterCard for Business, Corporate World MasterCard, and World Elite MasterCard for Business and MasterCard Corporate World Elite. Corporate World and Corporate World Elite rate programs will mirror Commercial Card rates but Business World and Business World Elite will have a separate rate structure.

Taxi and Petroleum Interchange
Also effective in April 2007, MasterCard is adding MCC 4121 (Limousines and Taxicabs) to the Consumer Credit Core Value, Enhanced Value, World and World Elite Convenience Purchases interchange rate programs for transactions that are less than or equal to $25.00.

MCC 5541 (Service Stations with or without ancillary services) and MCC 5542 (Fuel Dispenser, Automated) are being removed from the Consumer Credit, World and World Elite Convenience Purchases and Merit 3 interchange purchases but can now qualify for the new Consumer Credit Core Value, Enhanced Value, World and World Elite Petroleum interchange rates.

Please contact your Relationship Manager if you have any questions regarding these updates.

Fall 2006 Overview

MasterCard and Visa have announced several changes that will go into effect on October 13th, 2006. While most of these changes will not impact our merchants directly, they include new interchange programs and updates to existing interchange programs.

Visa
Visa recently announced that they would provide access to Interchange rates for merchants. Visa Interchange rates are now publicly available on their web site at www.visa.com/merchant. As discussed on this site, Interchange is a major component of your discount rate pricing.

MasterCard
MasterCard has defined a Zero Interchange Program under MasterCard's Business Service Arrangement. We would anticipate the need to use the zero interchange logic in the event of an exceptional circumstance that would warrant an immediate adjustment to merchant level fees, such as a natural disaster. To support this program, we will be adding a Zero Interchange Program Flag and will house a Zero Interchange Start Date and a Zero Interchange End Date. These dates will define the period of time for which interchange fees would not be applied to the eligible merchant.

MasterCard will be implementing Interchange fee programs and rates to support the launch of their new World Elite MasterCard program, which offers affluent cardholders enhanced services and rewards. While Interchange rates on the new World Elite programs currently mirror the existing MasterCard World Card programs.

MasterCard is introducing three new Interchange programs specifically for Utility merchants: Consumer Credit, World Utilities and World Elite Utilities. Eligible merchants must register with MasterCard to participate in this program. Transactions that meet qualification requirements will be assessed at a reduced Interchange fee.

MasterCard is changing how they recognize Puerto Rico, specifically when assigning the Cross-Border fee (established in April 2006). Puerto Rico is currently recognized as part of the U.S. region. Effective October, 2006, MasterCard will recognize Puerto Rico as part of the Latin America and Caribbean region. This change affects U.S. merchants accepting Puerto Rico-issued MasterCard credit cards.

MasterCard will require that U.S. merchants processing mail order / telephone order or recurring billing transaction include a customer service telephone number.

MasterCard is expanding its Small Ticket Interchange program to include seven additional merchant categories: Bus Lines, Tolls & Bridge Fees, News Stands, Laundries, Dry Cleaners, Quick Copy / Reproduction Services and Car Washes. This update will align the MasterCard Small Ticket program eligibility with Visa's Small Ticket program.

Spring 2006 Overview

Visa
Visa is making several modifications to Small Ticket programs. The changes include expansion of MCCs eligible for Visa CPS Small Ticket Interchange rates, reduction on the CPS Small Ticket Debit Interchange rate and introduction of a No Signature Required program.

Visa is extending the existing CPS small Ticket Interchange, also known as Small Ticket Payment Service, to seven additional merchant category codes (MCCs). New additional eligible MCCs include Bus Lines, Tolls & Bridge Fees, Newsstands, Laundries, Dry Cleaners, Quick Copy & Reproduction Service and Car Washes. Transaction qualification criteria have not been modified and requirements to meet the category are the same as today (current eligible MCCs include Local Commuter Transport, Taxicabs & Limousines, Restaurants, Fast Food, Auto Parking Lots & Garages, Motion Picture Theaters and Video Tape Rental Stores.

Visa is introducing a new Visa No Signature Required program, which eliminates the signature requirement on qualified transactions under $25 to seventeen merchant categories. The program applies to face-to-face, swiped transactions and intends to provide protections from “No Signature” chargebacks on consumer and commercial cards. No specific Interchange rate category is associated with the program and registration is not required. Eligible MCCs include all 14 small ticket MCCs listed above plus Misc Food Stores, Service Stations and Drug Stores & Pharmacies.

Visa has announced modifications to the Commercial Card Interchange structure. Those changes include an increase to Business and Purchasing Level II Interchange rate; additional eligible MCCs for Visa's Purchasing Large Ticket Interchange rate and changes to Level II and Level III qualification requirements.

Visa is separating the Commercial Product Level II rate into two categories. Business Card and Purchasing Card will increase while Corporate Card will remain the same. Large Ticket Interchange program will now include all non-travel services MCCs. The Interchange rate and registration requirements remain the same.

Visa tax exempt transactions will no longer be able to qualify for Level II Interchange. There is a concern that Level 2 merchants may not have been trained properly to enter tax amount.  A qualifying Level 2 transaction should pass AVS, invoice/order number, customer code and tax amount.  Previously a transaction would qualify as Level 2 if $0 was entered for the tax amount; however, “tax exempt” transactions will no longer qualify for Level 2.  Transactions containing a $0 tax amount will qualify as Visa Commercial Electronic, which is a downgrade resulting in a surcharge. Please make sure enter a correct tax amount (between 0.1% and 22% of the base amount) in order to qualify for the best rate. 

Level III qualification requirements will also be modified. Visa will expand the minimum Level III requirements to include additional data for Level III. Currently all of our Level 3 merchants use 3DSI to process their credit cards.  3DSI is aware of Visa's requirements for Level 3 transactions and is currently reviewing the documentation to determine if any action or modification needs to be made to the 3DSI products. If any action or modification will be necessary, 3DSI will make sure to expedite this to accommodate the April due date.

MasterCard
MasterCard has announced changes effective April, 2006. Rate changes to MasterCard Consumer Credit & World MasterCard including Merit III, Supermarket, Warehouse and Standard plus changes to Small Ticket Debit Interchange. New MCCs that can qualify for Small Ticket Debit Interchange include Bus Lines, Tolls, Bridge and Road fees, News Dealers and Newsstands, Laundry Services, Dry Cleaners, Quick Copy and Care Washes. MasterCard will increase rates on MasterCard Face-to-Face and Corporate Data Rate II.

MasterCard has also announced the addition of the MasterCard Cross-Border Assessment Fee to be billed on any transaction in which the country code of the merchant differs from the country code of the cardholder. An example of Cross-Border would be a U.S. merchant who is processing a foreign card. The assessment fee will change depending on using local currency or currency other than that of the merchants location. US merchants settling in US currency will incur a 10 basis point assessment from MasterCard when accepting a foreign card/currency.

We will keep you posted with additional information as it becomes available.

Fall 2005 Overview

Effective October 2005
Visa will allow credit card issuers to move consumers between different card products, including rewards programs, at the card level, without the need to issue a new card. This is part of Visa's effort to eliminate the need for Issuers to re-issue a new card number whenever a cardholder is approved for a new card product. Visa will implement processing that will allow Issuers the flexibility to define product attributes at the card level, for each transaction. This enhancement also prevents the need for cardholders and merchants to make changes to a recurring payment account number when the cardholder is approved for a new card product, and is currently limited to U.S. Consumer Credit programs, and applies to Visa Traditional and Visa Traditional Rewards products.

To support this enhancement, Visa has redefined the last position of the Authorization Code using the following values:

A= Visa Traditional
B= Visa Traditional Rewards
C= Visa Signature
D= Visa Infinite

Client Impact
Clients should be aware of these new processing rules involving the identification of the card product for Interchange qualification purposes as this will potentially increase the costs to merchants to process credit card transactions. It may be difficult to predict the impact of these changes on your business, because the price you will pay depends in large part on the types of cards your customers use when they pay you.

The Bottom Line
If you currently have a tiered rate structure with a qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified bucket pricing, then you will find that many of the transactions that once were consider qualified will move to the mid or non qualified rate bucket. Traditionally, most merchants only paid attention to the qualified rate, so providers have build huge margins into their mid and non-qualified pricing. Merchants today must pay even closer attention to MC and Visa downgrades when analyzing statements for savings. Contact Vantage Card Services to speak with one of our payment consultants who can help you evaluate the impact this latest round of card association Interchange changes.

Additional savings analysis should be considered if on your current rate structure you pay the same rate for both MasterCard and Visa. MasterCard will increase the base rate for retail swipe card transactions by 0.09%. Visa’s base retail rate will remain unchanged. If you currently pay the same rate for both MasterCard and Visa transactions, you will want to consider changing to a custom price structure.

Spring 2005 Overview

MasterCard and Visa are competing card associations and have different Interchange pricing and qualification schedules. Effective April 1, 2005, both organizations will institute changes to their Interchange programs. MasterCard and Visa Interchange is the single largest component of your merchant discount rate pricing. All banks and merchant processing companies operate from the exact same Interchange, Dues and Assessment costs. Card Association Interchange is the fee paid by the merchant to the cardholder's issuing bank for processing a transaction through the system. Interchange is priced at the transaction level and depends on the combination of your industry category code, the method by which you accept the card, the card product you accept and sometimes even varies by transaction size. You will likely have card transactions throughout any given day all qualifying at different Interchange levels.

Rewards Card Interchange Rate Categories
In April 2005, both Visa and MasterCard established new Rewards Card Interchange rate categories. World MasterCard is an elite program that provides card members with premiere services and benefits including a dollar-for-dollar rewards program and an unlimited spending limit. Visa has two card programs:

Visa Traditional Rewards – Consumer CREDIT card programs that meet the minimum rewards standards (example: point accruals for merchandise, travel, etc). These cards may not have markings for merchants to know they are considered a Traditional Rewards card.

Visa Signature – These cards are clearly marked with the Visa Signature brand mark, have no pre-set spending limit and typically feature more extensive card member rewards and benefits that a Traditional Rewards card.

Both World MasterCard and Visa Rewards & Signature transactions incur a higher Interchange.

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Collecting payment can be complex in terms of pricing, regulations and technology. As credit and debit card acceptance has become increasingly widespread, the need for a professional consultative approach to help merchants evaluate payment processing costs and solutions has never been greater.

Vantage Card Services, Inc. offers professional consultation with a focus on bottom line savings, technology, risk and compliance education. In this complex and ever-changing industry, where new regulations and new fees are announced regularly, the seasoned professionals at Vantage understand the value in helping clients stay in compliance to qualify for the best pricing.

Please contact us for personal consultation at 800-397-2380.