Interchange rates for Visa, Mastercard, Discover & American Express
Interchange is the fee the card-issuing bank charges every time a card is used. Your processor doesn't set it — the card networks do. Interchange is the baseline cost of accepting a card, and everything on top of it is the processor's markup. If you know what you're actually paying in interchange across each network, you can tell exactly how much your processor is adding.
How to read this page
The tables below are the interchange — the part of the fee that flows from your processor straight through to the customer's issuing bank (Visa, Mastercard, Discover) or to Amex. Your total effective rate is interchange + card network assessments (~0.14%) + your processor's markup. On an interchange-plus (IC+) pricing plan, that markup is disclosed. On tiered or flat-rate pricing, it's hidden inside a single blended number.
Think of the categories below as general buckets, not the complete card-brand rate sheets. Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and Amex publish hundreds of interchange programs, and many co-branded or rewards cards — American Airlines, Chase Business, Costco, hotel and fuel loyalty cards, and others — carry their own separate rates negotiated by the issuer. Your actual statement may list more line items, at different amounts, because it is matching each transaction to the specific card program that was used.
What “interchange” actually is
Every time a customer pays with a card, three fees are stacked on top of each other:
- Interchange. Paid to the customer's issuing bank (or, for Amex, to Amex itself). This is the biggest of the three, usually 70–90% of your total processing cost. It is not negotiable and it is the same at every processor.
- Card network assessments. Paid to Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or Amex. Roughly 0.13% – 0.17% depending on the network. Also not negotiable.
- Processor markup. Paid to your processor / ISO. This is the only part that is actually negotiable, and the only part where processors differ from each other.
A processor advertising a “low rate” is almost always talking about a blended number that hides which slice is which. When you ask for interchange-plus (IC+) pricing, they have to show interchange as its own line — and their markup becomes the only number you have to negotiate.
Consumer card interchange (U.S., current published rates)
These are the categories that cover the vast majority of an average merchant's card volume. Rates below reflect the most recent published U.S. domestic schedules for each network. Visa, Mastercard, and Discover formally update their tables in April and October; Amex adjusts OptBlue rates on its own schedule. We re-check every table on this page monthly — see the “Last reviewed” timestamp above.
| Category | Visa | Mastercard | Discover | Amex (OptBlue) | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail — swipe / dip / tap (regulated debit) | 0.05% + $0.22 | 0.05% + $0.22 | 0.05% + $0.22 | n/a (credit only) | Debit cards issued by banks with $10B+ in assets. Rate capped by the Durbin Amendment across all networks. |
| Retail — swipe / dip / tap (exempt debit) | 0.80% + $0.15 | 1.05% + $0.15 | 1.02% + $0.16 | n/a (credit only) | Debit cards from smaller banks and credit unions. Higher than regulated debit. |
| Retail — consumer credit | 1.51% + $0.10 | 1.55% + $0.10 | 1.56% + $0.10 | 1.60% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | Basic consumer credit card, physically present. Amex rates shown are OptBlue (pass-through to small/mid merchants). |
| Retail — rewards credit | 1.65% + $0.10 | 1.73% + $0.10 | 1.71% + $0.10 | 1.95% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | Everyday rewards cards. The 'points and cash back' the issuer funds come from this bump. |
| Retail — signature / premium rewards | 2.10% + $0.10 | 2.20% + $0.10 | 2.15% + $0.10 | 2.60% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | Cards like Visa Signature Preferred, World Elite Mastercard, Amex Platinum. Meaningfully more expensive than basic credit. |
| Card-not-present — consumer credit | 1.80% + $0.10 | 1.89% + $0.10 | 1.87% + $0.10 | 2.30% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | Ecommerce, phone orders, or any keyed transaction. Higher than in-person for the same card. |
| Card-not-present — rewards credit | 1.95% + $0.10 | 2.05% + $0.10 | 2.00% + $0.10 | 2.60% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | Rewards card charged online. The most common category for most ecommerce merchants. |
| Card-not-present — signature / premium | 2.40% + $0.10 | 2.50% + $0.10 | 2.45% + $0.10 | 2.95% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | Premium rewards cards used online. This is what pushes ecommerce effective rates above 3%. |
Commercial and purchasing card interchange
If you sell to businesses, expect a meaningful share of your volume to hit these categories. Commercial cards carry higher interchange than consumer cards on every network. The one lever you have is transmitting Level II (tax amount, customer code) and Level III (line-item detail) data with each authorization, which qualifies the transaction for a lower purchasing-card rate.
| Category | Visa | Mastercard | Discover | Amex (OptBlue) | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial / corporate card — retail | 2.50% + $0.10 | 2.65% + $0.10 | 2.55% + $0.10 | 2.90% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | Business-issued credit cards used in person. Almost always the highest interchange in a batch. |
| Commercial / corporate card — card-not-present | 2.70% + $0.10 | 2.85% + $0.10 | 2.75% + $0.10 | 3.05% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | B2B merchants see a large share of these. Level II / Level III data can reduce the rate. |
| Purchasing card (Level II / Level III data) | 2.05% + $0.10 | 2.15% + $0.10 | 2.10% + $0.10 | 2.50% + $0.10 (OptBlue) | B2B rate available if you transmit tax amount, invoice number, line-item detail with each auth. |
How each network prices differently
Visa
Largest U.S. network by volume. Publishes a public interchange schedule every April and October. Uses hundreds of sub-categories by merchant type (grocery, fuel, utilities, restaurant, etc.) — some meaningfully lower than the general categories above.
Mastercard
Second-largest network. Nearly identical structure to Visa, but rates typically run a few basis points higher on the same category. Also updates in April and October.
Discover
Third network. Rates historically tracked Visa/MC closely and today are structurally almost identical. Discover also acquires JCB, UnionPay, and Diners Club transactions in the U.S. — those all run at Discover-equivalent rates.
American Express (OptBlue)
Amex used to be its own acceptance contract at 3%+. Under the OptBlue program, small and mid-sized merchants now get Amex on their normal processor statement with interchange-style pricing — still slightly higher than Visa/MC, but no longer the 100+ basis-point premium of the past.
JCB, UnionPay, Diners, and PIN debit
Beyond the big four, a handful of smaller networks show up on U.S. merchant statements. Most are routed through Discover's acquiring rails, so the rates track Discover closely. PIN debit is the exception — a different fee model entirely, often cheaper than credit for higher-ticket sales.
| Network | Model | Typical rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| JCB | Pass-through via Discover network in the U.S. | 1.65% – 2.45% + $0.10 | Japan-issued cards processed through Discover's U.S. acquiring rails. Rates track Discover's schedule closely. |
| UnionPay | Pass-through via Discover network in the U.S. | 1.65% – 2.45% + $0.10 | China-issued cards accepted in the U.S. via Discover. Same acquiring path, same fee band. |
| Diners Club | Pass-through via Discover network | 1.65% – 2.45% + $0.10 | Diners is owned by Discover — for U.S. merchants it functions as another Discover-branded product. |
| PIN debit networks (STAR, NYCE, Pulse, Accel, Interlink, Maestro) | Per-transaction flat fee, network-set | $0.15 – $0.65 flat + optional % | When a customer enters a PIN, the transaction can route on a debit network instead of Visa/Mastercard credit rails — often cheaper for higher tickets. |
How to tell what your processor is really charging you
Pull your last full-month merchant statement. You want three numbers from it:
- Total card volume processed for the month (before fees).
- Total fees deducted from your deposits — everything: percentage fees, transaction fees, monthly fees, PCI, statement, network access, gateway, batch.
- Effective rate = total fees ÷ total volume. If your statement doesn't print this, compute it yourself.
Now compare. A typical in-person merchant on healthy IC+ pricing lands around 2.0% – 2.4% effective. A typical ecommerce merchant lands around 2.6% – 3.0% effective. If you are meaningfully above that — and especially above 3.2% in-person or 3.5% online — the extra is almost entirely processor markup, not interchange.
The single line item to hunt for: “non-qualified surcharge” or “downgrade”. On tiered pricing, that's the bucket where rewards cards, commercial cards, and keyed transactions get dumped at 3%+. On IC+ pricing, there is no such line — the true interchange is passed through and the markup is one visible number.
Three things about interchange that surprise most merchants
Every processor pays the same interchange
Interchange is set by the card networks, not by your processor. Any processor claiming a lower interchange rate than a competitor is either quoting their markup instead, or misusing the word.
Rewards cards cost YOU, not the customer
The airline miles and cash back on that Visa Signature or Amex Platinum card come out of a higher interchange category — which you pay every time it's swiped. Consumer 'free rewards' are merchant-funded.
Online is structurally more expensive
Card-not-present interchange sits 0.20% – 0.35% above the equivalent in-person rate for the same card, because of fraud risk. That's not the processor overcharging — it's a network rule.
Want us to run these numbers on your statement?
Send a recent merchant statement to our analyst desk and we'll tell you exactly how much of your effective rate is interchange versus your processor's markup — and whether the markup is in line with the market.