What is Interchange and how can Continuum reduce my Interchange exposure?
Interchange is the fee applied by the issuing bank to the acquiring bank for processing credit card transactions. Interchange fees vary depending on whether transactions are local or international: at the lowest end, transactions where the issuer and acquirer are in the same country are deemed Domestic Interchange, where they are in the same region they are deemed Intra-regional (or Cross-border), and where they are outside of the region they are deemed Inter-regional. Rates also vary according to whether they are paper based, magnetic stripe, or electronic chip. Variations also come in to play depending on the merchant category code (MCC). The cards themselves also attract different rates depending on whether they are debit, credit, or commercial cards: in total there are over 125 different categories of Interchange. There is also significant difference between the Interchange fees that acquirers in some countries pay to issuers, when compared to other countries: it is not untypical t
