Upcoming Changes to Major Card Brand Interchange Rates 2021

After a short delay due to Covid-19, it’s been officially announced that there are upcoming changes to card brand association fees. These changes will be taking effect on April 17, 2021, so make sure you catch yourself up on changes that may affect your monthly processing statements!

Typically, the major card brand associations, like Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express, stick to a routine of updating their rates in April and October. Due to the impact of Covid-19, however, they delayed their 2020 fee adjustments and are now returning to their April 2021 schedule.

Take a look below to see how each card brand is updating their association fees and how it may affect your business:

2021 Card Brand Association Rate Changes

Visa Interchange Rates 2021

• Visa is introducing a new consumer credit, segment-based interchange program. This will be available to a few industries, including; advertising, education, healthcare, insurance, limousines and taxicabs, and real estate.
• If a transaction is not eligible for the new segment-based rate structure, it will be classified as one of two transaction tiers; “Product 1” – will be used for card-not-present transaction and “Product 2” will be used for card-present transactions (previously called Retail).
• Visa is also limiting it’s criteria for what qualifies as a “small ticket” transaction to only service stations and certain government MCC’s like court costs, fines, tax payments, and other unspecified government services.

Mastercard Interchange Rates 2021

• Several interchange rates are being modified for consumer credit. In general, rates for convenience purchases are lower, while transactions on high value, keyed and elite transactions are higher.
• Mastercard is introducing new, lower transaction rates for daycare providers.
• Mastercard is also introducing a new small ticket program to support acceptance of small-ticket purchases. The program is broken into 10 new interchange rates to help lower costs of transactions 5$ and under.

American Express Interchange Rates 2021

• For restaurants, services and professional services, any transactions $5 and under will see an added Micro Payments rate.
• Adding to their existing line of prepaid and credit products, American Express is a new line of debit products and associated pricing.

Discover Interchange Rates 2021

• Select MCC’s will see an added Micro Ticket Interchange Program for transactions 5$ and under on consumer credit, debit and prepaid cards.
• Discover is adding a Program Integrity Fee of $0.05 to all qualifying Mid and Base Submission Level transactions.
• Discover is raising costs on transactions that previously qualified for the Mid Submission Level interchange programs by eliminating the program entirely and requalifying them at the higher cost Base Submission Level instead.

How Do These Interchange Rate Changes Affect My Business?

If you’re wondering how this affects your business specifically, don’t worry, Leap Payments is here you guide you through all the changes. Simply give us a call and a dedicated account representative will answer any and all questions you may have regarding the card brand interchange rate changes.

For new merchants, we offer a completely free statement review, no obligations or strings attached. You’ll be assigned an account reviewer who will look over any monthly statements from your current payment processor. We’ll show you exactly where you are overpaying, highlight any erroneous fees, and tell you exactly how much you can save by switching to Leap Payments. If we can’t beat your current rates or save you money, no harm no foul, at least you’ll know you have the best rates in town!

Why Are Merchants Making The Switching to Leap Payments?

If you’re tired of price hikes and your processor slowly increasing your rates, you need to join the thousands of other merchants across the US that have made the switch to Leap Payments. Card brand interchange rates are unavoidable and out of the control of processors. However, at Leap Payments, you can be at ease knowing your account is secured with our Lifetime Rate Lock. The rates you set when you apply will always stay the same and never increase for the lifetime of your account with us. That’s the Leap Payments guarantee!

Your dedicated account representative will always be in contact with you to assist with any statement, rate fee or support questions you may have. We offer a wide range of pricing structures, giving you the flexibility to have the most cost effective and customized payment processing solution to fit your business’ unique needs. Merchants that switched to Leap also enjoy these other benefits: