The 2025 Interchange Shift: What's Up, Why It Happened, and What You Should Do

Heads up! Interchange is changing again. After a bunch of back-and-forth, Visa and Mastercard have decided to lower and limit some U.S. credit interchange fees for a few years. They've also updated their U.S. interchange programs and network fees.

For you, the business owner, here's the deal: you might see some savings, but the specifics are super important. What you actually save depends on what you sell, how much people usually spend at your store, and how well your payment processing is set up.

Why the Change?

Basically, they were getting heat from lawsuits, so they made a deal. In 2024, Visa and Mastercard reached an agreement that should reduce average credit interchange a bit, put a lid on some fees for five years, and make it a little easier to offer discounts.

This is the first time in ages they've actually made things easier, and it's because businesses have been complaining about rising swipe fees forever.

Also, they're just cleaning things up and tweaking fees. The brands are updating their program tables and network fees, like making small changes to transmission fees. These little things can add up, especially if you do a lot of transactions.

What's Actually Different?

There's now a multi-year limit and small price drops. The agreement aims to lower average credit interchange across the board and puts a cap on it for several years. Most of these changes should roll out after everything's approved and then continue over the next five years.

They've also updated U.S. interchange programs. Mastercard has released its new 2025–2026 U.S. Region Interchange Programs, which include stuff like how they handle very small purchases. Visa’s U.S. interchange reimbursement tables will still be used to decide prices for categories.

Plus, select network fee changes are happening. Keep an eye out for tiny changes (like fractions of a cent) that could change your overall cost, especially if you have lots of small transactions.

What to Expect

Don't expect credit interchange to change a lot, but programs will get more specific. The cap should slow down the increase in average credit interchange. But they can still mess with categories, rewards, and rules, which can affect your final cost.

Focus on small purchases and authorization. Program updates about small purchases and how authorizations are handled suggest they're cracking down on how approvals are done. If you sell a lot of stuff for under $10 or have lots of authorizations that don't go through, pay attention to these details.

How you run things matters more than the rates. Since they're limiting big rate changes, you'll save money by making sure your interchange info is correct, avoiding errors, and routing payments smartly. Expect people to focus more on good info, tokenization, and making sure the final sale matches the initial authorization.

What This Means for You

You might see a small decrease in average credit costs. But mistakes, extra fees, or network fee changes could eat away at those savings if your payment setup isn't working well. Check your statements and interchange reports before and after the changes take effect.

What you sell and how much it costs still matters most. Restaurants with lots of small orders, online stores that are fraud risks, or businesses that sell to other businesses will all see different results, even with the same cap.

It's a bit easier to steer people toward certain payment methods or offer discounts. Since the rules around steering are relaxing, you might have a little more freedom to guide customers to cheaper payment options or give discounts, depending on your state's rules and what your customers want.

What You Should Do

Know your real costs. Get three months of statements and separate out interchange fees, network fees, and your processor's cut. See what your rate is for each channel and card type. Keep doing this every three months while the cap is in place.

Clean up your payment info. Make sure AVS, CVV, and other required details are correct, settle payments on time, and that your POS/gateway is set up right. This helps you avoid errors.

Check your small-ticket and authorization habits. If you have lots of transactions under $10 or authorizations that never go through, adjust your settings and batch timing to avoid extra fees.

Think about debit routing and steering again. If legally allowed, try to use the best routing options for debit cards and use any permitted steering or discount.

Don't just negotiate interchange, negotiate your markup. The networks set interchange rates, but you can negotiate your markup. Use this time to talk to your processor about authorization, gateway, PCI, and support fees.

The Main Point

The next few years should bring a small decrease and a cap on average credit interchange. But whether you actually save money depends on how well you manage your business.

Good data, correct routing, and solid reconciliation will always be better than just waiting for rate announcements.

Need help understanding all this, setting things up, and making sure you see the reductions in your bank account?