Every time you accept a credit card at your business, you’re charged a fee. Part of that fee comes from interchange, but there are hundreds of interchange categories. Each transaction has a “target” interchange category (and associated cost) that a transaction should qualify for if basic requirements are met. However, if those requirements aren’t met […]
An interchange “downgrade” happens when a credit card transaction doesn’t meet requirements for a preferred interchange category.
SecureCode is Mastercard’s “3D Secure” technology solution. It’s designed to help prevent fraud and unauthorized purchases by adding a layer of customer authentication. Unfortunately, 3D Secure is not very common in the United States. However, properly implementing it can benefit your business not only in terms of reduced fraud, but also by lowering your interchange […]
Mastercard’s Universal Cardholder Authentication Field (UCAF) interchange categories determine the interchange fees a business pays if it uses Mastercard SecureCode.
Specifically, Mastercard does not have a restaurant-specific category for basic consumer credit cards. However, it does have restaurant-specific categories for consumer “rewards” cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards. In this article, we’ll take a look at the credit card rates for restaurants that accept Mastercard. Looking for a more general explanation of credit card processing […]
Restaurants that accept Mastercards may see specific restaurant interchange fees or general fees. That’s because Mastercard has restaurant-specific categories for some cards, but not others.
It’s Mastercard’s way of referring to common “card not present” transactions, meaning online and keyed payments. It applies to several possible card types (including credit, debit, and prepaid) and both rewards and non-rewards cards. It does not apply to “card present” transactions where you swipe a card through a terminal. This article gets into finer […]
Merit 1 (or Merit I) is a set of Mastercard interchange categories that dictate the rates for certain Mastercard payments.
Enhanced Merit 3 is a Mastercard interchange category. Interchange fees are essentially the wholesale cost of credit card processing and generate income for banks that issue credit and debit cards. The word “Enhanced” refers to the type of credit card, and “Merit 3” refers to how the card is accepted and processed. The Enhanced MasterCard […]
Enhanced Merit 3 is a Mastercard interchange category.
Merit 3 is Mastercard’s way of referring to a card-present transaction for most restaurants and retailers. It can actually apply to several different interchange categories based on card type and other details. This article explains specific Mastercard interchange categories. If you’re not already familiar with interchange, it’s a good idea to start with our piece […]
Merit 3 (or Merit III) is a Mastercard interchange category that determines credit and debit card processing fees.
Use the secrets that credit card processors don't want you to know to drastically lower your credit card processing fees.
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