4 ms·

Does anyone in the payments industry know if it is possible to get the interchange rate prior to processing a transaction? I assume only the issuing bank has t

Does anyone in the payments industry know if it is possible to get the interchange rate prior to processing a transaction? I assume only the issuing bank has the information, and there is no way to get it from the number alone. Do issuing banks include the interchange category with the response when transactions happen, or is that figured out during the batch processing? My point is, I think this judge can rule whatever he wants, but as far as I know, there is no way to technically implement these fees.

eli 13y ago
I'm pretty sure it's possible to get the fee before running a charge. You definitely get it back in the response.
rahimnathwani 13y ago
From the linked article: "...permit merchants to surcharge credit cards at both the brand level (i.e., Visa or MasterCard) and at the product level (i.e., different kinds of cards, such as consumer cards, commercial cards, premium cards, etc.)" The last time I dealt with a bank for a merchant account (in the UK), there were only two tariffs: one for debit cards, and another for credit cards. (We accepted only Visa/MC.) The sentence above suggests that the fee structure differs among credit cards. Can anyone share their experience of paying different rates for Visa vs. MC and, in particular, different rates for different credit cards from a single network?
- jcampbell1 13y ago
  Our merchant bank gives us interchange plus pricing, so we see all the rates. We see about 30 different categories on our monthly statements. It is not until we get the statement that we know what is going on. I don't think it is possible to know the rate before doing the transaction. Here is a link to the interchange rates for Visa (10 pages of rates): http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-reimbursement-fees-april2013.pdf http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-...
  - rahimnathwani 13y ago
    Thank you. Page 4 of that doc makes it much clearer. It seems like the fees paid to the issuer of a Visa credit card can vary by up to ~1% dependent on the scheme. One more question: when you say 'interchange plus pricing', is the 'plus' uniform across all transactions (i.e. the same $ or the same % or the same %+$)?

eli 13y ago

I'm pretty sure it's possible to get the fee before running a charge. You definitely get it back in the response.

rahimnathwani 13y ago

From the linked article: "...permit merchants to surcharge credit cards at both the brand level (i.e., Visa or MasterCard) and at the product level (i.e., different kinds of cards, such as consumer cards, commercial cards, premium cards, etc.)" The last time I dealt with a bank for a merchant account (in the UK), there were only two tariffs: one for debit cards, and another for credit cards. (We accepted only Visa/MC.) The sentence above suggests that the fee structure differs among credit cards. Can anyone share their experience of paying different rates for Visa vs. MC and, in particular, different rates for different credit cards from a single network?

jcampbell1 13y ago
Our merchant bank gives us interchange plus pricing, so we see all the rates. We see about 30 different categories on our monthly statements. It is not until we get the statement that we know what is going on. I don't think it is possible to know the rate before doing the transaction. Here is a link to the interchange rates for Visa (10 pages of rates): http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-reimbursement-fees-april2013.pdf http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-...
- rahimnathwani 13y ago
  Thank you. Page 4 of that doc makes it much clearer. It seems like the fees paid to the issuer of a Visa credit card can vary by up to ~1% dependent on the scheme. One more question: when you say 'interchange plus pricing', is the 'plus' uniform across all transactions (i.e. the same $ or the same % or the same %+$)?