Interchange-Plus Pricing — The Most Transparent Way to Pay for Card Processing

First, What Is Interchange?

Interchange is the wholesale fee paid to the bank that issued your customer's credit or debit card. It is set by the card networks — Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express — twice a year and published publicly. No payment processor (including PaySmart) can negotiate it down. It is the same cost for every processor in the country.

Interchange varies by card type and how the card was accepted. A regulated debit card runs about 0.05% + $0.22. A standard Visa credit card runs about 1.51% + $0.10. A premium rewards card such as Visa Signature Preferred runs 2.10% + $0.10. American Express OptBlue ranges from 2.30% to 3.50% + $0.10. Interchange typically accounts for 70–85% of every dollar a merchant pays in processing fees.

The pricing model your processor uses determines how much of the gap between true interchange and what you actually pay goes into the processor's pocket. The wider the gap, the worse the deal.

The Math: Same Transaction, Three Pricing Models

Imagine a $100 sale on a Visa Signature Preferred rewards card (interchange: 2.10% + $0.10 = $2.20). Here is what each pricing model would charge you:

On a single $100 transaction the savings look small. But scale that across $30,000–$50,000 in monthly volume and the difference grows to $3,000–$8,000+ per year. That is real money that stays in your business under PaySmart's interchange-plus model.