11-2 VISA & MasterCard Interchange Qualification

VISA & MasterCard Interchange Qualification

The links below point to a couple examples of the basic Interchange Qualification Guide for primary criteria established for VISA and MasterCard Interchange levels. Believe it or not, VISA and MasterCard have many more levels than are listed in the guides that are linked below, but each guide has more than enough information needed for you to read and understand your merchant account processing statements.

As you read through each guide you will see terminology that you will recognize from your merchant account statements. These terms refer to the Interchange level of the different transactions that you had run for that month. Your statement is telling you which transactions ran through at which levels, and the percentage increase charge that each transaction was run at. You should cross-reference the information in each qualification guide with your actual statements to see exactly why your transactions are downgrading to a higher Interchange level and discount rate.

Specifically look for things that you can do differently when processing credit cards to make more transactions run at the qualified (lowest) discount rate. You should also contact your merchant service provider if after reading this section you realize that many of your transactions are running through at a higher Interchange level and discount fee to inquire why this is happening.

We would love to be able to tell you exactly how each of the Interchange levels explained in the guides below will apply to your merchant account, but unfortunately it is impossible because every merchant service provider can qualify transactions differently. Exactly which rate category each Interchange level falls into is directly dependant on your individual merchant service provider.

Cross reference the matrix provided below with your statements to determine if one particular Interchange level is causing your transactions to run through at the mid or non-qualified rate, and then contact your service provider to see if there is anything that can be done to have that particular Interchange level qualified to a lower discount rate.

We have found the following VISA and MasterCard Interchange Guides to be the easiest to read and understand. We do not endorse either of the banks that have posted these guides, nor is the Merchant Council associated with either of these banks in any way. If either of the links below cease to function please contact us to let us know.

Do not copy or redistribute this content in any way without express written permission from the Merchant Council