If you accept credit cards, "interchange-plus" is the pricing model most likely to save you money — and the one processors are least eager to put you on. This guide explains what it is, why it's usually the cheapest option, and how to recognize it on your statement.
The short version
- Every card sale has a wholesale cost — interchange plus network assessments — that no processor can lower.
- Interchange-plus charges you that exact cost, then adds one markup you can actually see.
- Because the markup is separate and fixed, it's the most transparent model — and usually the cheapest for established merchants.
What "interchange-plus" actually means
Every time a customer pays with a card, part of the fee goes to the bank that issued their card. That part is called interchange, and the card networks — Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express — set it. On top of interchange, the networks charge small assessment fees. Together, interchange and assessments are the true wholesale cost of accepting a card. No processor sets these fees, and no processor can discount them. They're the same wholesale cost for everyone.
Interchange-plus pricing simply passes that wholesale cost straight through to you, then adds a clearly stated markup — for example, interchange + 0.20% + $0.10 per transaction. The "plus" is the only part your processor actually controls, and it's spelled out in plain numbers.
Why it usually costs less
Compare it to the two common alternatives:
- Flat-rate charges one blended percentage on every sale — say 2.6% + 10¢ — regardless of the real interchange. It's simple, but you overpay heavily on debit and other low-cost cards, where interchange might be well under 1%.
- Tiered pricing sorts transactions into "qualified," "mid-qualified," and "non-qualified" buckets. The processor decides which transactions land in the expensive buckets, and those decisions aren't disclosed — which is exactly where the extra cost hides.
With interchange-plus, there's nowhere for cost to hide. You pay the real interchange for each card — cheap on debit, more on premium rewards cards — plus your fixed markup. As your volume grows, that markup is the only lever, and it's negotiable.
How to spot it on your statement
On a true interchange-plus statement you'll see interchange listed as its own line (often a large number that matches published network rates), the assessments separately, and then your processor's markup as a distinct percentage and per-item fee. If your statement only shows blended "qualified/non-qualified" rates or a single all-in percentage with no interchange breakdown, you're probably on tiered or flat-rate pricing. Learning to read those lines is worth it — our guide on how to read your merchant statement walks through it.
The catch to watch for
Interchange-plus is only as good as the "plus." A processor can quote a low-sounding markup and then pile on junk fees — monthly minimums, statement fees, PCI fees, "regulatory recovery" charges — that raise your real cost. Always compare on effective rate: total fees divided by total volume. That single number cuts through every pricing model and tells you what you actually pay.
Is interchange-plus right for you?
For most established merchants doing steady volume — especially with a healthy mix of debit — interchange-plus is the model that costs the least and hides the least. The only way to know for certain is to run your own numbers against it. That's exactly what a statement review does: it reads your current fees, calculates your effective rate, and shows what interchange-plus would cost instead. Upload your last statement and you'll have the answer in a couple of minutes.