When you accept Discover cards at your business, you’ll pay fees to Discover, called interchange. These rates vary by card type, entry method, and other details.
An interchange “downgrade” happens when a credit card transaction doesn’t meet requirements for a preferred interchange category.
Mastercard’s Universal Cardholder Authentication Field (UCAF) interchange categories determine the interchange fees a business pays if it uses Mastercard SecureCode.
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.
Merit 1 (or Merit I) is a set of Mastercard interchange categories that dictate the rates for certain Mastercard payments.
CPS Car Rental, CPS Hotel, and CPS Passenger Transport are interchange categories that determine the interchange fees a business in one of those industries pays to accept a card online or by keying it in.
“CPS Hotel” and “CPS Car Rental” are Visa interchange categories that determine the rates and fees a hotel or car rental agency will pay to accept cards in person.
The international card not present interchange categories determine the fee a U.S.-based business will pay to accept an international Visa card online or by keying in card details.
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