What’s changing?
Visa and Mastercard have made recent changes to their Interchange Rate structures which take into effect September / October 2018 in Australia.
What does this mean for me?
Visa changes to their Interchange Structure, which came into effect on 1 September 2018, will have the following impact to merchants:
- Insurance Category merchants will now see an Insurance Merchant Category in the interchange rate structure
- Government, Utilities or Transit merchants will see a reduction in their interchange rates
Mastercard changes to their Interchange Structure take into effect on 1 October 2018 and will see an increase to the Micropayments category for Debit and Prepaid transactions. Mastercard defines the Micropayments category as any transactions under $15 AUD.
Interchange Rate structure changes impact only Interchange Plus pricing merchants and your cost of accepting payments via these card types may change.
What do I need to do?
You won’t need to make any changes. The interchange fee will automatically be applied to Visa transactions after 1 September 2018 and Mastercard transactions after 1 October 2018.
How will this affect my Cost of Acceptance?
Depending on your card mix acceptance, you could see a reduction in your interchange rates. The new interchange rates will be applied to your merchant statements and will show your cost of acceptance based on the new rates.
How can I find out more about interchange fees?
Interchange Fees information is published by the schemes and you can find this information by clicking on the links below:
Visa
Visa interchange on Domestic Transactions in Australia
Mastercard (to be updated by 1 October 2018)
Want to know more?
Visit our interchange categories definitions page for more information.
