Mastercard allows issuance of two distinct card types – Consumer and Business. Depending on your customer demographics, most card-present or “retail” merchants will receive predominantly Consumer cards. Read on to see how different cards qualify for different interchange rates.
Visa allows issuance of two distinct card types – Consumer and Business. Depending on your customer demographics, most card-present or “retail” merchants will receive predominantly Consumer cards. Read on to see how different cards qualify for different interchange rates.
CPS stands for “Custom Payment Service”. The CPS classification is typically known as the best rate structure offered by Visa, and CPS requirements are often the “minimum” qualification requirements for more advanced interchange rates. Read all about CPS here. In a nutshell – you have to first qualify for CPS rates before other more advantageous rate structures will apply. The “CPS Retail” category encompasses traditional consumer credit cards, as opposed to rewards/business/purchasing cards. Barring a few exceptions (below), most merchants are able to receive this interchange rate. Read on to see how different types of CPS Retail cards are assessed.
Almost all merchants are eligible for the Visa CPS Small Ticket program. Click through for the full qualifications – but typically, if you accept a sale that’s under $15, it will qualify for lower interchange rates from Visa.
Supermarkets and grocery stores get heavily discounted interchange rates, since these types of sales are rarely disputed by cardholders. See the full qualification requirements for CPS Supermarket rates, and what other card types supermarkets/groceries can expect to see.
Chip+PIN is the “strongest” encryption method since it’s much harder to steal a PIN than fake a signature. Currently, most US banks issue Chip+Signature cards. As time moves on, they’ll migrate towards Chip+PIN.
