Credit Card Processing Services: What's Included and What It Costs

Credit card processing costs come in layers. See what a complete offer should include and how to compare quotes using your own monthly sales.

Isabella CruzBusiness Growth & Commerce Editor

November 4, 2026 · Updated October 31, 2026 · 9 min read

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On this page 6 sections

What Credit Card Processing Services Should Include
Where Credit Card Processing Costs Come From
Worked Example: Two Quotes on the Same $40,000 Month
Network Rules and Laws That Change Your Bill
Get Funding Times and Contract Terms in Writing
Price Your Own Month Before You Sign

Key takeaways

On a $100 Visa sale, interchange runs from $0.27 on a regulated debit card to $2.40 on a Visa Infinite card used in store. Your customer picks the card.
A lower rate only wins if the saving per sale, multiplied by your monthly transaction count, is bigger than the extra fixed fees that come with it.
PCI fees, statement fees and terminal leases are a provider's own pricing, not network rules, so you can negotiate them.
The 21-cent debit cap stays in effect until the Eighth Circuit's ruling takes effect. If you're on interchange-plus pricing, any change will show up on your statement automatically.

Credit card processing is the service that carries a card payment from the customer's approval to a deposit in your business bank account. Its price comes in layers. The largest one, interchange, is set by Visa and Mastercard and paid to the bank that issued the card, so no provider can discount it. Your provider's markup and fixed fees sit on top, and that's where two quotes with similar rates drift apart.

So judge any offer on two things: what the package includes, and what your actual month of sales would cost under it. The worked example below shows how to do the second part with numbers from your own statement.

What Credit Card Processing Services Should Include

The core work is the same for every business. When a customer pays by card, the transaction travels through your processor and the card network to the issuing bank, which approves or declines it. Approved sales collect in a batch. Retailers often close the batch automatically at a set time, while restaurants usually close after tips are adjusted. The batch settles, and your processor deposits the money, with fees taken out daily or billed once a month. Timing depends on your batch cutoff and the provider's funding schedule, plus weekends and bank holidays. Our explainer on how long credit card deposits take covers the calendar.

All of this runs on an account. A traditional merchant account is opened for your business after underwriting. An aggregator places you under its own master account instead, which changes how pricing and fund holds work. Read merchant account vs. payment aggregator before you pick one.

The extras around that core are what separate a complete offer from a stripped-down one. Providers package them differently, so get each one in writing.

Feature	Often Included in a Complete Offer	Often Billed Extra or Left Out
Online reporting and statements	Yes	Paper statements may cost extra
Payment gateway for e-commerce	Sometimes bundled	Monthly gateway fee plus a per-transaction fee
Virtual terminal for keyed payments	Sometimes bundled	Separate monthly fee
PCI compliance support	Questionnaire help and scanning tools	Annual PCI fee; non-compliance fee if you don't finish
Fraud tools such as 3-D Secure	Varies	Per-transaction or monthly fee
Chargeback handling	Alerts and a response portal	A per-chargeback fee is common
Equipment programming and setup	Usually included	Reprogramming fees if you switch later
Accounting integrations	Varies	Add-on subscription

What belongs in the package depends on how you sell. A retail counter needs a reliable terminal or a POS system with inventory, plus fast replacement when a device dies in December. Restaurants and bars need tip adjustment, bar tabs and a batch cutoff that fits closing time. Contractors and professional firms that take payments by phone or invoice get more from a virtual terminal for keyed and invoiced payments and recurring billing than from countertop hardware. Online stores need a gateway that fits their cart, so compare payment gateway options and ask whether 3-D Secure authentication costs extra per transaction.

Where Credit Card Processing Costs Come From

Interchange: Set by the Networks, Chosen by Your Customer's Card

Interchange varies by card type, by how the card is accepted and by your merchant category. The networks also add their own smaller assessment fees. Our guide to how interchange fees are set explains the mechanics. The table below shows the effect on a $100 sale, using rates from Visa's published U.S. interchange reimbursement fee table.

Visa Card and How It's Accepted	Interchange Rate	Interchange on $100
Basic consumer credit, chip or tap in store (CPS/Retail)	1.51% + $0.10	$1.61
Basic consumer credit, online	1.89% + $0.10	$1.99
Visa Infinite rewards credit, in store	2.30% + $0.10	$2.40
Regulated debit (issuer with $10 billion or more in assets)	0.05% + $0.21, plus a $0.01 fraud adjustment if the issuer qualifies	$0.27

The table teaches two things. First, the card in your customer's hand affects your cost more than most things you control. The same $100 sale costs $0.27 or $2.40 in interchange depending on whether it's paid with a big-bank debit card or a premium rewards card. Second, online sales cost more because they carry more fraud risk, which matters if much of your volume is online or keyed. See card-present vs. card-not-present fees for the full comparison. Visa revises its table each April and October, so check the current PDF before relying on any single rate.

The debit line is set by law, not by Visa. The Federal Reserve's Regulation II caps what large issuers can collect on a debit transaction at $0.21 plus 0.05% of the sale, plus the one-cent fraud adjustment for issuers that qualify.

The Markup Is the Only Rate You Negotiate

Everything above interchange and network fees is the provider's price, and the pricing model decides how much of it you can see. Interchange-plus passes through the actual interchange and network costs and adds a fixed, stated markup, which makes it the easiest to audit. Flat-rate pricing blends everything into one percentage, often with a per-transaction fee. It's simple to read, but you can't see the provider's margin. Tiered pricing sorts sales into "qualified," "mid-qualified" and "non-qualified" groups that the provider defines, which makes statements hard to check. Subscription pricing charges a monthly membership plus a small per-transaction markup over interchange. For a side-by-side view, see interchange-plus vs. flat-rate vs. tiered pricing.

Fixed Fees Decide Whether a Low Rate Is Really Low

Ask every provider to list these fees in writing:

Monthly account or statement fee
Gateway and virtual terminal fees
Per-authorization and batch fees
Annual PCI fee and any non-compliance penalty
Monthly minimums
Chargeback and retrieval fees
Early termination fee or liquidated damages
Equipment costs

None of these is a network rule. They're the provider's own pricing, so you can negotiate them or ask for waivers.

Equipment Terms Can Outlast the Processing Contract

Buying a terminal costs more upfront, so confirm it isn't locked to one provider. Rentals should spell out return terms. "Free" equipment usually depends on contract length or volume. Look hardest at leases, because they can be separate contracts you can't cancel. An illustrative $49-a-month lease over 48 months comes to $2,352, and it keeps billing even if you change processors.

Worked Example: Two Quotes on the Same $40,000 Month

The numbers below are illustrative, not quoted rates. Assumptions: $40,000 in monthly card sales across 800 transactions, a $50 average ticket, and interchange plus network fees that average 1.90% + $0.10 per transaction for this business's card mix. Quote A is a flat 2.60% + $0.10 with no monthly fees. Quote B is interchange-plus with a 0.30% + $0.10 markup, a $15 statement fee, a $10 gateway fee, a $99 annual PCI fee ($8.25 a month) and a $49 monthly terminal lease.

Monthly Cost	Quote A: Flat Rate	Quote B: Interchange-Plus
Interchange and network fees	Included in rate	$840.00
Provider rate or markup	$1,120.00 (all-in)	$200.00
Other monthly fees	$0.00	$33.25
Terminal lease	$0.00	$49.00
Total	$1,120.00	$1,122.25
Effective rate (total fees ÷ card sales)	2.80%	2.81%

Quote B has the better rate on every sale. A $50 sale costs $1.40 under Quote A and $1.30 under Quote B once you add interchange and markup. That's $0.10 saved per sale, or $80 a month at 800 sales. But Quote B's fixed fees add up to $82.25, which is more than the $80 saving. Without the $49 lease, Quote B would come out ahead. Buy a terminal outright instead of leasing and Quote B drops to $1,073.25 a month. That's an effective rate of 2.68%, $46.75 a month less than Quote A, or $561 a year.

You can use the same test on any two quotes. Multiply the saving per sale by your monthly transaction count, then compare it with the difference in fixed monthly fees. If the saving is bigger, the lower rate wins. If it isn't, the "cheaper" quote costs more. A shop running many small sales feels per-transaction fees most, while a business with a few large sales feels the percentage. Our guides to comparing merchant processing quotes side by side and reading a merchant statement line by line show where to find each number.

Network Rules and Laws That Change Your Bill

PCI DSS is a contract requirement, not a federal law. The standard is owned by the PCI Security Standards Council, which the major card brands founded. The card brands and acquiring banks make compliance a condition of accepting cards. The current version is PCI DSS v4.0.1. The requirements that v4.0 introduced with later deadlines became mandatory on March 31, 2025. A complete offer helps you identify which PCI SAQ your business needs and run any required scans. The annual PCI fee and the non-compliance fee on your statement are your provider's charges, so ask what each one pays for.

Surcharging is limited by network rules and by state law. Visa lowered its U.S. credit card surcharge cap from 4% to 3% on April 15, 2023, and a surcharge also can't be higher than your average merchant discount rate on Visa credit cards. Mastercard applies the same cost limit with a 4% ceiling. Both networks require 30 days' notice before you start. Surcharges apply to credit cards only, never debit. Some states restrict or ban the practice. Read our credit card surcharge rules before you weigh MannyPay's compliant surcharging program against cash discount, dual pricing or zero cost processing for eligible merchants.

Two pending changes could move interchange itself. On November 10, 2025, Visa and Mastercard announced a proposed settlement with merchants. It would cut the combined average effective credit interchange rate by 10 basis points (0.10 percentage point) for five years and cap posted U.S. credit interchange rates over that period. It would also let merchants choose whether to accept card categories such as commercial and premium cards. The settlement needs court approval, and our coverage of the swipe fee settlement's road to final approval tracks it.

Separately, on October 26, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a lower-court ruling that struck down Regulation II's 21-cent debit cap, in Corner Post v. Board of Governors. The court held that the Fed can count a bank's added cost of processing each transaction but not fixed costs the bank pays either way. The ruling isn't in effect yet and could face further review. Until it takes effect, the current cap still applies, and after that the Federal Reserve must write a new standard. On interchange-plus pricing, any change in interchange reaches your statement automatically. On a flat rate, your price moves only if your provider decides to move it.

Get Funding Times and Contract Terms in Writing

Ask for the batch cutoff time and whether it can be set later for evening businesses. Ask how many business days funds take after settlement and what faster funding costs. Find out when funds can be held or a reserve required, since new accounts and sudden jumps in volume are common triggers. Then confirm who answers when a terminal dies during the lunch rush, and whether support covers nights and weekends.

Read the contract slowly. Check the term and any auto-renewal, the early termination fee or liquidated damages clause, the notice period for rate changes, and whether equipment is under a separate agreement. Describe your business accurately on the application, including what you sell and how you sell it. Underwriting checks this, and mismatches lead to held funds later. Once your first deposit lands, start reconciling credit card deposits to sales every month.

Price Your Own Month Before You Sign

Pull last month's statement and divide total fees by total card sales to get your current effective rate. Then send that statement to each provider and ask them to price that exact month, with every fixed fee and equipment cost included. The lowest total wins, whatever the headline rate says.

MannyPay provides merchant accounts, POS systems and terminals, and online gateways. It also offers cost programs: cash discount, dual pricing, surcharging where permitted, and zero cost processing for eligible merchants. You can review MannyPay's payment processing solutions or request a free processing quote, and a MannyPay specialist will respond within one business day. Pricing and approval depend on your business and underwriting, so confirm current terms in your quote.

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Confirm surcharging and contract questions with a qualified professional.

Sources

About the author

Isabella Cruz

Isabella Cruz is Business Growth & Commerce Editor for Beyond the Swipe, writing for small businesses, restaurants, retailers, entertainment venues and e-commerce sellers.

This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Card network rules and state laws change; confirm current requirements for your business.