Acquiring
Scheme fee
Fees charged by Visa and Mastercard (or another scheme) to acquirers and issuers on every transaction.
Scheme fees are separate from interchange and are charged by the card networks themselves. They include assessment fees, cross-border fees, currency-conversion fees, authorisation fees, and various behavioural fees (e.g. high-decline, high-fraud, integrity). Acquirers pass these through in interchange-plus pricing or absorb them in a blended rate.
Related terms
The fee paid by the acquirer to the issuer on every card transaction, set by the schemes.
Transparent acquirer pricing model that passes interchange and scheme fees through at cost with a fixed processor markup on top.
A single flat rate (e.g. 2.9% + 30¢) charged on all card transactions regardless of underlying interchange.
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