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Understanding Interchange Fees
What interchange is, who actually sets it, and why your "rate" is only part of the story.
Interchange is the fee a card-issuing bank charges every time one of its cards is used. It is set by the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, Interac) — not by your payment processor. Your processor passes interchange through and adds its own markup on top.
When you compare payment processors, the headline rate is rarely the whole picture. What matters is:
- How interchange is billed. Tiered ("qualified / mid-qualified / non-qualified") hides the true cost. Interchange-plus passes interchange straight through plus a fixed markup — transparent and almost always cheaper for businesses doing more than a few thousand dollars per month.
- The card mix. Premium rewards cards (think Aeroplan Visa Infinite) carry higher interchange than standard debit. Your effective rate depends on what your customers actually swipe.
- Authorization vs. settlement. A failed batch settlement can trigger downgrades that quietly raise your effective rate.
If your statement is hard to read, that is by design. We will read it with you and show you exactly where the money goes.