What Is Interchange-Plus Pricing?

Interchange is the wholesale component of a card transaction. It varies by card type, industry, and how the payment is captured (chip, tap, keyed). Processors do not set interchange; they collect it on behalf of the networks and issuers.

What the “plus” is

The plus is your processor’s revenue: a small percentage, a per-transaction fee, or both. On a true interchange-plus statement, that markup stays steady while interchange moves up or down with each transaction. You can verify both pieces instead of guessing what sits inside a bundled tier.

Tiered plans roll interchange and markup together. A low “qualified” rate on the contract can hide higher buckets when transactions do not qualify. Interchange-plus removes most of that mystery.

Think of interchange as the weather and your markup as your jacket. You cannot control a rainy day of corporate card volume, but you can see it coming on the statement and confirm your jacket (markup) did not magically get thicker. That mindset keeps conversations with your processor factual instead of argumentative.

Who it fits

Businesses with steady or growing volume usually benefit from the transparency. You can see the effect of rewards cards, commercial cards, and downgrades immediately. Very small ticket businesses sometimes consider flat-rate products for simplicity, but once volume climbs, interchange-plus often wins on total cost.

• You can audit each fee category.
• Markup changes are obvious; no hiding inside tiers.
• It pairs well with informed staff training on card-present habits.

Croft Business Solutions offers interchange-plus structures so merchants know what they pay and why. If you are coming from tiered pricing, the first clean statement is often an eye-opener, in a good way.

Understanding interchange-plus is less about memorizing tables and more about recognizing that your processing bill has two logical parts. When both are visible, you stay in control.