Interchange Rates Explained
Interchange is the single largest component of your processing cost — and the one most processors hope you never understand. This guide changes that.
What Are Interchange Fees?
Every time a customer pays with a credit or debit card, the merchant pays a fee. That fee has three parts: interchange (paid to the card-issuing bank), assessment (paid to the card network like Visa or Mastercard), and the processor markup (paid to your payment processor — that is us).
Interchange is by far the largest piece, typically making up 70–80% of your total processing cost. It is set by the card networks (not your processor) and published twice a year — in April and October. Nobody can waive interchange, but the rate you pay depends on several factors.
What Determines Your Interchange Rate?
There are over 300 individual interchange categories. The rate you pay on each transaction depends on these factors:
Consumer credit, consumer debit, rewards cards, corporate cards, and government purchase cards all carry different interchange rates. Rewards and corporate cards cost more.
Card-present (swiped, dipped, or tapped) transactions have lower rates than card-not-present (keyed, online) because fraud risk is lower.
Your MCC (Merchant Category Code) affects rates. Supermarkets and gas stations get special low interchange categories. High-risk industries pay more.
Passing Level II data (tax amount, customer code) or Level III data (line-item detail) can reduce interchange by 0.40–1.00% on B2B transactions.
Visa & Mastercard Interchange Rate Tiers
Below are representative interchange rates for common transaction types. Actual rates vary by card type and MCC. These rates are set by the card networks and apply to all processors equally.
| Card Category | Visa Rate | Mastercard Rate | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Credit (Swiped) | 1.51% + $0.10 | 1.58% + $0.10 | Card-Present |
| Consumer Credit (Keyed/Online) | 1.80% + $0.10 | 1.89% + $0.10 | Card-Not-Present |
| Rewards Credit (Swiped) | 1.65% + $0.10 | 1.73% + $0.10 | Card-Present |
| Rewards Credit (Keyed/Online) | 1.95% + $0.10 | 2.04% + $0.10 | Card-Not-Present |
| Corporate / Business Card | 2.05% + $0.10 | 2.15% + $0.10 | Any |
| Corporate with Level II Data | 1.90% + $0.10 | 1.98% + $0.10 | Any |
| Corporate with Level III Data | 1.55% + $0.10 | 1.60% + $0.10 | Any |
| Regulated Debit (under Durbin) | 0.05% + $0.21 | 0.05% + $0.21 | Any |
| Non-Regulated Debit | 0.80% + $0.15 | 0.90% + $0.15 | Any |
* Rates shown are approximate and updated periodically. Exact rates depend on your MCC and specific Visa/Mastercard interchange schedule.
Qualified vs. Mid-Qualified vs. Non-Qualified
If your processor uses “tiered pricing,” they sort your transactions into three buckets. Understanding these buckets reveals why tiered pricing almost always costs more than interchange-plus.
Qualified
The lowest advertised rate. Only applies to standard consumer debit/credit cards swiped in person with a signature. This is the rate they quote you — but in practice, fewer and fewer transactions actually qualify.
Mid-Qualified
Applied to rewards cards, keyed-in transactions, or transactions that did not include all required data. Most e-commerce transactions land here. The surcharge is added on top of the qualified rate.
Non-Qualified
The most expensive tier. Corporate cards, international cards, and any transaction the processor decides does not meet “qualified” criteria. This is where tiered processors make their real margin.
How Bridge Saves You Money on Interchange
We cannot change the interchange rates — nobody can. But we can make sure you are paying the lowest possible interchange on every transaction through these strategies:
Interchange-Plus Transparency
No tiered buckets. You see the actual interchange rate on every transaction. No mid-qualified or non-qualified surcharges padding our margin.
Level II & III Optimization
We automatically pass enhanced data on B2B transactions to qualify for lower corporate card interchange rates — saving you up to 1.00% per transaction.
PIN Debit Routing
For retail merchants, we route debit transactions through the lowest-cost network using PIN-based authentication, which often costs less than signature debit interchange.
Quarterly Rate Reviews
We review your processing statements every quarter and flag any transactions downgrading to higher interchange categories — then help you fix the issue.
Want the Full Interchange Rate Schedule?
Request our complete interchange reference guide with every Visa and Mastercard rate category, updated for the current schedule period. We will also include a free analysis of your current statements.
Stop Overpaying on Interchange
Send us a recent processing statement and we will show you exactly how much you can save with interchange-plus pricing from Bridge.