Welcome to InterchangeTruth.com

What is Interchange?

Interchange is established to incent banks to issue payment cards and merchants to accept those cards.

It is a small fee paid by a merchant’s bank (also known as the acquiring bank) to the cardholder’s bank (the issuing bank) and serves to compensate the issuing bank for a portion of the risks and costs it incurs to maintain cardholder accounts.

Interchange is one component of the fee a merchant pays to its acquiring bank for transaction processing. That fee (known as the Merchant Discount Rate or MDR) may include other services, including terminal rental, customer service support, etc.

Interchange fees have been in place for many years and address the value card payments deliver to merchants, including:

increased sales
customer satisfaction
improved efficiency
increased safety
access to international customers
and, most importantly, guaranteed payment





	What is Interchange? Interchange is established to incent banks to issue payment cards and merchants to accept those cards. It is a small fee paid by a merchant’s bank (also known as the acquiring bank) to the cardholder’s bank (the issuing bank) and serves to compensate the issuing bank for a portion of the risks and costs it incurs to maintain cardholder accounts. Interchange is one component of the fee a merchant pays to its acquiring bank for transaction processing. That fee (known as the Merchant Discount Rate or MDR) may include other services, including terminal rental, customer service support, etc. Interchange fees have been in place for many years and address the value card payments deliver to merchants, including: increased sales customer satisfaction improved efficiency increased safety access to international customers and, most importantly, guaranteed payment	News November 19, 2009 Backgrounder on MasterCard Maestro More News... April 1, 2009 New Report Identifies Unintended Consequences for Small Business if Government Regulates Merchant Fees
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