Quick Answer: When a customer pays with a card issued outside the U.S., merchants pay standard interchange plus two additional fees on every transaction: an international service assessment (roughly 0.40%–0.55% depending on the network) and a cross-border fee (an additional 0.40%–0.80%). In total, international Visa and Mastercard credit cards typically cost merchants 2.5%–3.0% plus processor fees.

Interchange rates for international cards (cards issued outside the U.S. and processed by a U.S. based merchant) can be very confusing. Beyond the interchange rates and other processing fees charged for international cards, every network adds two fees to every international transaction. Here’s a quick guide to understanding these fees.

Interchange rates for international cards typically range from 1.10% to 1.98% for Visa, MasterCard and Discover (V/M/D) without a per item fee.¹ The specific rate within this range largely depends on card type and processing method. In addition to interchange and the routine set of fees — assessments, network dues, and acquirer fees — imposed on every V/M/D transaction (for a full breakdown, see our card network nuisance fees explained), each network also adds the following two fees to every international transaction.

So Visa’s interchange rate of 1.80% for an Interregional Premium Card is only the start…when all of the other fees are added, the cost to the merchant is 2.76% + $0.02 for this international card. And these are just the interchange pass-through fees and do not even include the acquirer/processor fees. Understanding what are card network fees and how they stack on top of interchange is essential context for any merchant processing international volume.

For interchange pass-through merchants, some processors will separate the interchange and international fees, whereas, others, will group these fees together. In the example above, some processors will show the 1.80% interchange rate, 0.45% International Acquirer fee, and 0.40% International Service Assessment fee.  And some processors will sum these fees to show 2.65%.

In either case, a good rule of thumb is that international V/M/D credit cards will cost a merchant about 2.5% to 3.0% plus processor fees.

If your international costs are running above that range, it’s worth reviewing our interchange optimization guide to identify where transactions may be qualifying at higher-than-necessary rates.

Notes:
¹With exception of Discover’s International Base Submission rate of 1.70% + $0.10, all other international interchange rates do not have a per item fee.
²MasterCard imposes an additional 0.40% fee if a transaction goes through Dynamic Currency Conversion.
³Visa imposes an additional 0.50% fee for certain high-risk MCCs, including e-commerce stores and e-commerce adult entertainment.

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