When accepting a credit card, there will be a “target” interchange category for each transaction. But if the transaction doesn’t meet the requirements for that category, it will “downgrade” to a more expensive category. For commercial credit cards, “Standard” is that downgrade. The Commercial Standard downgrade category applies to all commercial cards, including business, corporate, […]

You may also see these categories referred to as “interregional” debit. These rates do not apply to international credit cards, which have their own categories. They also do not apply to “card-not-present” transactions of any kind – debit or credit. International Card Present Debit Rates What is regulated debit? International Card Present Debit Criteria Interregional […]

These categories do not apply to credit cards of any kind or to consumer debit or prepaid cards. Commercial Card Present – Business Interchange Rates When does Commercial Card Present – Business apply? Regulated vs. Unregulated Debit Debit and Prepaid Downgrades Abbreviations and Aliases Commercial Card Present – Business Interchange Rates There are three categories, […]

These categories do not apply to commercial debit or prepaid cards, nor to “card not present” transactions. (Including online commercial card use and keyed commercial cards.) Commercial Card Definition Visa Commercial Card Retail Rates Rates for Purchasing and Corporate – Travel Commercial Card Retail Interchange Qualification Card Present Commercial Credit Card Meets CPS Criteria Does […]

Standard is the most expensive possible interchange category for consumer cards. It means that you paid the maximum to process that transaction. Seeing a lot of “Standard” or abbreviations like “CONS STND” on your monthly processing statements? That indicates a problem with your transaction process. If you’re a CardFellow member, give us a call for […]

The “CNP” stands for “card not present,” which tells you that these categories do not apply to transactions where you swipe a customer’s card. (It also does not apply to digital wallet payments – like Apple Pay – where a customer “taps” a phone or smart watch to a compatible credit card machine. Those payments […]

Contrary to popular belief, debit cards do not incur flat fees. You’ll be charged a percentage of the total and a per-transaction fee, just like with credit cards. However, card-not-present (CNP) debit has more possible interchange categories. There are technically ten interchange categories for Visa CNP debit, but five of them are simply the “regulated […]

The CPS Retail Debit and Prepaid interchange categories are largely the same as CPS Retail. The difference is the card type. CPS Retail applies to consumer non-rewards credit cards, while CPS Retail Debit and CPS Retail Prepaid apply to debit and prepaid cards, respectively. Furthermore, the debit categories only apply to signature debit. (Sometimes called […]