4. What are interchange fees?

A. Interchange fees are transaction-related fees that the card associations charge merchants to process credit card transactions. These fees are established by the credit card associations (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover) and are based upon how a transaction takes place and in what type of industry.

 

These fees are a fixed cost and are NOT dictated by any payment processing providers. Other processing companies that contract with acquiring banks to sell merchant services add their fees on top of the pre-set interchange fees. Transparent does not inflate this interchange rate; however, every payment processed with a credit card is subject to the interchange fees originating from the issuing credit card company.