Two times a year, Visa and MasterCard have the opportunity to increase credit card interchange, which is part of the fees that merchants pay to accept credit cards. This year, both Visa and MasterCard have opted to add a new type of fee classified as a network access fees. This is in addition to fairly significant interchange increases. This fee will most likely have a greater affect on businesses than the typical interchange increases that we see twice a year.

When interchange fees are increased, a business’s credit card processor can elect to absorb these increases, or pass them on to their customers. It is not uncommon for a service provider to leave their customer’s processing rates alone and completely absorb the interchange increase. This is simply good customer service, and often the interchange rates that are being changed will have a negligible affect on the overall industry. This year however, Visa is going to add a 1.95¢ per transaction fee while MasterCard is going to add a 1.85¢ per transaction fee charged directly to processors and delivered directly to Visa and MasterCard, unlike interchange which goes mainly to the issuing bank…

LINK - PracticaleCommerce.com

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