Glossary
What is an interchange fee? Meaning and EU caps
An interchange fee is the fee the merchant's acquirer pays the cardholder's issuing bank on each card payment, set by the card schemes. The acquirer passes it on to the merchant inside its pricing. In the EU, Regulation (EU) 2015/751 caps interchange for consumer cards at 0.2% of the transaction value for debit and 0.3% for credit, with exceptions such as commercial cards.
- Interchange fee
- A fee paid by the acquirer to the issuer for each card-based payment transaction, as defined in Regulation (EU) 2015/751.
How does interchange fit into card fees?
A merchant's card cost usually has three layers: interchange to the issuer, scheme fees to the card network, and the acquirer's margin. Interchange++ pricing shows all three separately; blended pricing combines them into one rate.
What affects the interchange fee?
Rates differ by card and transaction.
- Card type: consumer debit, consumer credit, commercial or prepaid.
- Region: domestic, intra-EEA or cross-border with non-EEA cards, which are not covered by the EU caps.
- How the payment is made: card present or card not present, and authentication.
- Merchant category under scheme rules.
What can merchants do about interchange?
Merchants cannot negotiate interchange itself, but they can compare acquirer margins, route by card type and region, and ask for Interchange++ reporting. OrsunPay is a payment orchestration platform: you keep your own contracts with licensed providers (for example Stripe, Adyen or Worldpay), and OrsunPay is not a payment institution, acquirer or merchant of record and does not hold or transmit funds. OrsunPay helps you compare providers and route by card and country. For OrsunPay pricing, see the pricing page at /pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Who sets interchange fees?
The card schemes, such as Visa and Mastercard, within limits set by regulation where it applies.
Do EU caps apply to all cards?
No. They cover consumer debit and credit cards; commercial cards and some cross-border transactions are excluded.
What is Interchange++?
A pricing model that shows interchange, scheme fees and the acquirer margin separately.