Interchange plus pricing (you might also see it written as interchange++ or IC+) is the model that established and high-growth merchants ask for by name. It’s built on a simple idea: show merchants exactly what each transaction costs, then charge a clear, agreed margin on top. Nothing averaged, nothing hidden.

If your business is moving to this model, here’s what’s changing and why it puts you in a stronger position.

A quick look under the hood

Every card payment you accept carries a fee made up of three parts.

The interchange fee goes to the bank that issued your customer’s card. It varies with the card type (debit or credit, standard or premium), how the payment was made (online or in person) and your industry. These rates are published by the card networks, so they’re consistent across the market and the same for everyone.

The scheme fee goes to the card network itself, such as Visa or Mastercard, and covers the cost of running the network. It’s linked to your transaction volume.

The processor markup is the “plus”. It’s the only part your payment provider keeps, and it’s set out in your contract as a small percentage, a fixed amount per transaction, or a combination of both.

How the model works

On a blended or flat rate, all three parts are rolled into one averaged figure. You pay the same rate whether your customer taps a domestic debit card or a premium international credit card, and you never see the split.

Interchange plus does the opposite. The interchange and scheme fees pass straight through to you at cost, and the only thing added is your provider’s margin. You always know which part of the fee is which.

That one change in structure is where all the value sits.

Six ways your business comes out ahead

1. You see where every cent goes

Your statements now show the full breakdown: what went to the issuing bank, what went to the network, and what your provider charged. Your finance team can verify pricing, run audits quickly and pick up cost movements straight away. Your payment statement stops being a black box and starts being a management tool.

2. You pay what the transaction actually costs

Blended rates have to be set high enough to cover the most expensive transactions in the mix. That means padding on the cheaper ones, and that padding stays with the provider. On interchange plus, when a customer pays with a low-cost card, the saving lands with you. Every fee reflects the real transaction behind it, and at volume that adds up to a lower net cost.

3. You get real levers to pull

Once you can see each component, you can act on it. You can encourage lower-cost payment methods, submit richer transaction data to qualify for better interchange categories, and fine-tune how payments are routed. Small gains compound quickly. At scale, even 10 basis points off your effective rate is real money. On a flat rate those same efforts save you nothing, because the rate never moves.

4. Your pricing grows with you

The provider margin is the negotiable part, and it now sits cleanly apart from the network costs nobody controls. As your volume climbs, you can renegotiate that margin or benchmark it against the market with complete clarity about what you’re comparing. Your rate improves as your business does.

5. Your finance team gets better data

Interchange plus statements show your card mix, your effective rates by card type and the exact makeup of your costs. Forecasts get sharper over time, audits get simpler, and optimisation opportunities that a blended rate would bury become easy to spot. When fees move across the month, you can see exactly why, and use that insight.

6. It’s the model built on trust

There’s a reason providers offer interchange plus to their most established customers. Passing costs through at wholesale rates means there’s no margin sitting inside an averaged number, and enterprise merchants choose this structure for exactly that reason. Moving to interchange plus is a sign your business has reached the tier where this level of openness is standard.

The bottom line

Interchange plus pricing is a shift from paying an averaged, opaque rate to paying the genuine cost of each transaction plus a clearly defined, negotiable margin. You see more, you control more, and you’re positioned to pay less as you grow. Engage with your new statements early, understand your card mix, and use your new visibility to capture every optimisation available. This is a model that rewards the merchants who make it work for them.