Interchange for Acquirers

The Interchange Opportunity

Interchange—one of an acquirer’s largest expenses—can escalate quickly due to downgrades, rule changes, and merchant behavior shifts . Without active tracking, acquirers face avoidable pass-through costs, margin erosion, and pricing challenges.​

Substantial interchange cost savings can typically be achieved through optimization.​

Frequent interchange rate changes and shifting merchant behaviors can increase costs unpredictably.​

Manual tracking exposes acquirers to downgrade risks and missed incentive opportunities.​

Untracked interchange trends make it difficult to optimize merchant pricing and protect margins.​

Economics of Interchange Fees (Ilustrative)​

Interchange Optimization Levers​

There are multiple optimization levers we can pull for Interchange Optimization ​

01 Avoidance of Downgrade Rates
Missing required network data (e.g., IRD or Reimbursement Attribute) can trigger costly downgrade rates.
02 Qualification for Optimal Rates
Ensure correct set-up and adherence to network rules to achieve the best available interchange rates.
03 Benefitting from Incentive Rates
Provision of optional addendum data can unlock lower incentive interchange rates.
04 MCC Reclassification
Identify and validate opportunities to reclassify merchants into categories with lower fee program rates.
05 Airline Optimization
Use ‘first leg of journey’ routing optimization logic to increase share of domestic vs. cross-border volumes.
06 Merchant Pass-Through
Ensure blended and IC+/++ pricing methodologies accurately reflect and recover interchange costs.

We Support

Acquirers and Payment Processors​

Risk & Compliance Managers

Finance & Merchant Relationship Teams​

Pricing Teams​

Our interchange tracking platform is a cloud-based tool thatsits at the heart of our optimization offering, which helpsacquirers manage interchange costs, prevent downgrades, andstrengthen pricing strategies.​

The platform ingests clearing data and provides detailed visibility into merchant volume, interchange costs, and downgrade trends by network, card product, and merchant category—helping acquirers:​

  • Prevent Margin Erosion — Spot cost increases and downgrade risks early and act.​

  • Support Merchant Pricing — Provide insights to inform merchant repricing and pass-through accuracy.​

  • Enhance Reporting — Deliver actionable insights to pricing, risk, and finance teams.​

  • Maximize Incentives — Identify and manage opportunities for interchange fee savings.​

How it Works

Our cloud-based tracking platform gives teams visibility to managecosts, margins, and pricing.​

Safeguard revenue and unlock growth with detailed tracking and actionable insights.​

Our Team

CardTraq — a CRG business created in partnership with Pinnacle PaymentConsulting — is based on over 100 years of card network economic and real-world compliance experience. ​

Our experts can work alongside your team to identify and implement savings opportunities and ensure you get the maximum value from the CardTraq platforms.​