Card network assessment fees: the smaller line next to interchange

Card network assessment fees are charges from the card brands themselves (Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express) for using their networks. They are separate from interchange, they apply the same way at every processor and they are usually a small share of your total cost.

Card network assessment fees are worth understanding because they come in many forms and many names. That variety makes them an easy place for extra charges to hide.

Where assessment fees fit

Every card payment carries three layers of cost. Assessment fees are the middle layer:

Layer	Paid to	Typical size
Interchange	The bank that issued the card	Usually the largest share
Assessments and network fees	The card brand	Usually a small share
Processor markup	Your processor	Varies by processor

Interchange pays the issuing bank for the credit, fraud risk and rewards on the card. Our guide on what is interchange covers it in detail. Assessment fees pay the card brand for running the network that moves the transaction between banks.

The forms network fees take

The card brands don’t charge one simple fee. Depending on the brand and the transaction, you may see several kinds:

• Percentage assessments: a small percentage of your sales volume on that brand, sometimes different for credit and debit.
• Per-transaction network fees: small fixed amounts charged per authorization or per sale. Names vary, and you may see labels such as network access, acquirer processing or brand usage.
• Cross-border fees: extra charges when the card was issued outside the U.S., or when the sale is processed across borders.
• Fixed or periodic fees: some brands charge fees based on your business, such as the number of locations or your business category, rather than each sale.
• Program fees: charges tied to specific services or rules, such as certain digital wallet or token programs.

The card brands update these fees from time to time, and the changes apply to every processor at once. When they change, they are one of the possible answers to why your processing fees went up.

Discover and American Express have their own fee structures, separate from Visa and Mastercard. How their fees appear on your statement depends on how your account accepts those cards, so it’s normal for those lines to look different. If you’re unsure how your Discover or American Express fees are being charged, ask your processor to walk through one month line by line with you.

Network fee names, amounts and rules change. Treat any list, including this one, as a general guide. Your statement and your processor can tell you exactly which fees apply to your account.

How assessment fees appear on statements

What you see depends on your pricing model:

• Interchange-Plus: network fees are usually listed as separate lines, passed through at cost. This is the most detailed view and the easiest to check.
• Tiered: assessments are usually bundled into the qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified rates. Some tiered statements show a few network fees separately as well.
• Flat rate: assessments are folded into the single rate. You pay them, but they don’t appear.

An example

Here is a hypothetical example with round numbers, for illustration only. Say a statement shows $50,000 in monthly Visa and Mastercard volume. Interchange on that volume comes to about $850, and the card-brand fees add another $70 or so spread across several lines. If the processor lists those lines at exactly what the brands charge, they’re pass-through. If a line shows a percentage or per-item amount that doesn’t match the brand’s published fee, or the processor’s own fee is labeled as a network fee, the difference is markup.

What to check on your own statement

1. Find the lines labeled assessment, network, brand or dues.
2. Ask your processor to confirm which of those lines are passed through at cost.
3. Look for lines with official-sounding names that the card brands don’t actually charge. A fee called a regulatory or network compliance fee may be the processor’s own.
4. Compare the network fee lines month to month. A brand change should appear at a specific date for all merchants, not as a gradual creep.
5. If you’re on bundled pricing, ask whether a recent rate increase was attributed to the card brands, and ask for the breakdown.

Our list of common merchant statement fees helps sort which lines are network fees and which belong to the processor.

Why marked-up network fees matter

Because network fees are small and numerous, a processor can add a fraction of a cent here and a few basis points there without the total looking unusual. Over a year, across thousands of transactions, those fractions add up. The fix isn’t to fight the card brands. It’s to get network fees passed through at cost on separate lines, with the processor’s margin shown on its own line.

This is also why the label on a fee matters less than who keeps the money. If you can’t tell, ask. A processor that passes network fees through at cost should be able to show you the published amount next to what you were charged.

What PayZoom does

On PayZoom’s Interchange-Plus pricing, interchange and card-network fees pass through at cost. Our margin is a separate line, as low as 0.05% + $0.22 per transaction, depending on your setup, and for Interchange-Plus merchants it never increases, in writing. No early termination fees and no non-compliance fees. Send one statement for a free statement analysis and we’ll show you which of your current network fee lines are pass-through and which are not. See our pricing for details.