by Ben Dwyer Visa’s Base II Credit Voucher Fee is an assessment fee that Visa charges when your business refunds a customer’s money. There are separate fees for credit and debit.
Technically, there are two of these fees: the credit voucher fee and the Base II Credit Voucher Fee. The difference is that the Base II Credit Voucher Fee applies to US-based transactions. From there, the fee is split into Credit Voucher Fee (Debit), Credit Voucher Fee (Credit), Base II Credit Voucher Fee (Debit), and Base II Credit Voucher Fee (Credit.)
As of 2018, Visa sets the credit fee at $0.0195 and the debit fee at $0.0155 for both the US and non-US fees.
Visa Assessment Fees
Assessment fees are one component of credit card processing costs. Any time you accept a Visa card, Visa’s assessment fees apply. Your processor will pass the costs of the assessment fees to you, and they will show up on some monthly processing statements. Multiple assessment fees can apply to one transaction.
Many processors pass assessment fees at cost, but some have been known to inflate assessments.
Visa Base II Credit Voucher Fee
As mentioned above, the Visa Base II Credit Voucher Fee applies to US-based refund transactions. The fee applies to credit and to debit card transactions.
If you refund a customer that used a credit card, the Base II fee will cost you $0.0195. If you refund a customer that used a debit card, the Base II fee will cost you $0.0155.
However, if you’re issuing a refund, you should receive some of the initial transaction fees back. Unfortunately, not all processors return your fees. If you accept a lot of customer returns, that money can add up. Read more about credit card processing refunds.
Credit Voucher Fee on Statements
Remember, you’ll only pay the credit voucher fee if you process a refund. Even then, you may not see the fee on your statement unless your processor uses interchange plus or tiered pricing. In other words, businesses that use a “flat rate” style processor (like Square or Stripe) will not see individual assessments on statements.
If your processor does use interchange plus or tiered pricing, you should be able to see individual assessment fees, including the Base II Credit Voucher Fee. However, it may not be called that.
For example, the snippets below come from two different processors’ statements. One processor lists the fee as the “Visa Credit Vouch Fee Credit” and “Visa Credit Vouch Fee DBT/PPD.” In this example, the name is pretty close.
However, in the second example, the processor refers to the fee as “Visa APF SIG Credit Returns.” If you were scanning quickly for “Credit Voucher Fee” or “Base II Credit Voucher Fee” you would miss it.
When checking for a particular fee, remember to look for variations on the name, abbreviations, and alternate spellings.
Checking Costs
In the two statement examples above, the processor passed the fee to the business at cost. The correct amount of the fee is shown, as well as the number of transactions to which the fee applied. That allows you to calculate the costs to ensure your processor hasn’t “padded” the assessment fees.
In the first example, Visa Credit Vouch Fee Credit, the fee is $0.0195 and applied to 12 transactions. That results in a charge of $0.234, rounded to $0.23 – which we can see from the statement is what the processor charged.
If your statement shows the fee charged and the number of transactions, you can do the math to double check your costs.
Note for CardFellow clients: We check assessments for you as part of our ongoing statement audit service. If you have questions about the fees your processor charged, feel free to contact us at any point for a statement review.
Not a CardFellow client yet? You can become one and take advantage of our statement monitoring. Sign up for a free account to get started.
Lowering Visa Acceptance Costs
As the most issued card, Visa is popular with many consumers. As a business, taking cards is important for customer convenience and satisfaction. But many businesses are frustrated at the expense associated with card acceptance. So how do you lower your costs to accept Visa?
Don’t focus on assessment fees. Visa sets those costs, and they’re non-negotiable. Instead, focus on the processor’s fees. Every processor charges a markup on top of the fees that Visa and card-issuing banks charge. Processor markup is where you can lower costs.
Businesses that use CardFellow to find the best credit card processor save an average of 40% on credit card processing fees. Our free, easy-to-use comparison service lets you see real pricing and get expert advice quickly. There’s no obligation, and we don’t share your contact info. Give it a try!
