Compare Credit Card Merchant Accounts - American Merchants Brace for Higher Visa Debit Card Processing Fees

Compare Credit Card Merchant Accounts - Credit card merchant accounts are now costlier across the board due to Visa's recent increase of debit card transaction fees.

In a move that has left most businesses baffled, Visa raised debit-card processing fees for United States retailers while lowering the same fees for European retailers. Visa announced a cap on European debit card fees at 0.2 percent for the coming four years.

By contrast, American retailers now have to pay 20 cents every time they swipe a Visa debit card in addition to a 0.95% transaction fee. Many merchants were dissatisfied with interchange fees before the increase; now matters have gotten worse.

Typically, the consequence of higher interchange fees is higher prices. Merchants can't make a profit while losing money on debit-card transactions, so they pass the expenses on to customers.