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Credit Card Processing

Mastercard Acquirer License Fee

by Ellen Cunningham

Assessment Fees Acquirer License Fee (ALF) Locating the Acquirer License Fee on Statements Lowering Credit Card Processing Costs Assessment Fees As part of credit card processing costs, the credit card company sets the pricing themselves. Assessment fees apply to all business types and your credit card processor passes those charges to you. The Acquirer License…

The “Acquirer License Fee” (ALF) is a Mastercard assessment fee that gets passed to businesses as part of the cost of credit card processing. The fee varies, but is often listed explicitly on processing statements. Let’s take a closer look at the fee and when it will be charged.

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Credit Card Processing

Kilobyte Access Fee (Visa and Mastercard)

by Ellen Cunningham

Assessment Fees Kilobyte Access Fee Locating the KB Fee on Your Processing Statement Lowering Processing Costs Assessment Fees Both Visa and Mastercard charge assessment fees as a way to make money from credit card transactions. Assessment fees are typically small (often fractions of a penny) but multiple assessment fees can apply to the same transaction….

Visa and Mastercard both charge a Kilobyte Access Fee as one of their assessment fees for credit card processing. As of 2018, Visa’s fee is set at $0.0047 while Mastercard’s is $0.0035. The fee is charged for each authorization transaction submitted to the card network for settlement. Let’s look at what that means and how to determine your costs for the Kilobyte Access Fee.

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Credit Card Processing, ecommerce

Mastercard’s AVS Fee

by Ellen Cunningham

As of 2018, Mastercard set the AVS card-present fee at $0.005 and the AVS card-not-present fee at $0.01. Mastercard Assessment Fees AVS Fee Scenarios Locating the AVS Fee on Processing Statements Lowering Your Processing Costs Mastercard Assessment Fees There are a few different types of fees for credit card processing. Assessment fees are fees that…

There are actually two ‘versions’ of the Mastercard AVS Fee: Card-present and card-not-present. The fee is charged when your business utilizes the Address Verification Service to check that the address provided by a cardholder matches the address on file with the credit card company.

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Credit Card Processing, News

All Four Major Credit Cards to Go Signature-Free

by Brian Hassan

What does it mean that all four major credit card companies are set to go signature free? The paradigm shift has been prompted by recent leaps in credit card security and fraud protection, along with consumer trends such as the rise of mobile payments technology (e.g., Apple Pay), and of course the rapidly becoming ubiquitous…

By April 2018, purchasing by signature will be a thing of the past. Like dominoes falling one after another, the four major credit cards are letting go of the requirement for cardholders to provide a signature for purchases when using a chip-enabled card.

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Credit Card Processing

Mastercard Card Validation Code (CVC2) Fee

by Ellen Cunningham

As of 2018, Mastercard charges $0.0025. Let’s take a closer look at the criteria for the fee and how to determine if you’ve been charged. Card Validation Code Fee Mastercard Assessment Fees Locating the CVC2 Fee on Your Statement How to Find More Competitive Processing Card Validation Code Fee As mentioned above, the CVC2 Fee…

Mastercard’s Card Validation Code 2 (CVC2) Fee is a charge that applies when you submit the CVC2 (three-digit code on the back of a customer’s card) with a transaction for authorization.

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Credit Card Processing

Mastercard Account Status Inquiry Fee

by Ellen Cunningham

As of 2018, Mastercard sets the Account Status Inquiry Fee at $0.025. Mastercard Processing Fees Account Status Inquiry Fee Fees on Your Processing Statement How to Lower Your Processing Costs Mastercard Processing Fees The fees that Mastercard charges for credit card processing are called assessment fees. They’re one part of the total cost to process…

As the name implies, Mastercard’s Account Status Inquiry Fee is charged when a business requests information about the status of a cardholder’s account, such as whether the card is valid, but doesn’t actually charge the customer’s card.

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Credit Card Processing

Discover Network Authorization Fee

by Ellen Cunningham

Discover implemented the Network Authorization Fee in 2013 to replace the Data Transmission Fee, which applied to fewer transactions. The Network Authorization fee is often charged in tandem with the Discover Data Usage Fee. However, some processors only list one or the other. As of 2018, Discover sets the fee at $0.0025. What are assessment fees?…

The Network Authorization Fee is an assessment charge that applies to all Discover authorization transactions.

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Credit Card Processing

Mastercard Processing Integrity Fee

by Ellen Cunningham

The amount and criteria for the fee vary depending on specific circumstances, which we’ll explain in detail below. Processing Integrity Fee Summary Mastercard Assessment Fees Processing Integrity Fee in Detail Pre-Authorization Final Authorization Undefined Authorization Other Rules Locating the Processing Integrity Fee on Statements Lowering Your Mastercard Acceptance Costs Processing Integrity Fees Summary As of…

The Mastercard Processing Integrity Fee is an “assessment fee” Mastercard charges to encourage businesses to adhere to correct authorization standards for transactions.

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Credit Card Processing exposed