Interchange is the base fee that the customer’s card‑issuing bank charges the merchant’s acquiring bank every time a card is swiped, tapped, or keyed. Set by the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express), these rates help fund cardholder rewards, fraud protection, and the global payments infrastructure.
Each transaction is routed through hundreds of potential “buckets”— consumer vs. business cards, debit vs. credit, card‑present vs. online, small‑ticket, high‑risk, and more. That’s why the fee can range from 0.05 % + $0.21 for regulated debit all the way to 2.50 % + $0.10 for premium rewards cards.
Interchange is the largest component of your total discount rate; processors (like us) simply add a small markup to cover gateway, funding, and support costs. The lower the interchange category your transactions qualify for, the lower your final cost of acceptance.
Curious where your business falls? See the full network‑published grid:
View the 2025 Interchange Rate Table