Is blended pricing allowed in Europe?
Yes, but it is not the default. Under the Interchange Fee Regulation, acquirers must offer merchant service charges unblended by card category and brand, and show interchange and the MSC separately on statements. A merchant can still request a blended rate in writing, and many small ones do.
In detail
Yes, but it is not the default. Under the Interchange Fee Regulation, acquirers must offer merchant service charges unblended by card category and brand, and show interchange and the MSC separately on statements. A merchant can still request a blended rate in writing, and many small ones do.
What are the three layers of a card fee?
Interchange is paid by the acquirer to the card issuer on every transaction. The schemes publish the tables; the rate depends on card type, region, channel and merchant category.
IC++, IC+ and blended: how do the models differ?
In the EEA, the IFR makes unblended pricing the default: acquirers must offer merchant service charges broken down by card category and brand, unless the merchant asks in writing for a blended rate. Article 12 adds that each transaction statement shows the merchant service charge and the interchange fee separately, with aggregation only on the merchant’s explicit consent.
More detail in our #PayDecoding episode on Interchange++.