Interchange plus pricing, sometimes written as interchange++ or IC+, is the payment processing model that established and high-growth merchants ask for by name. The premise is simple: show you exactly what every card transaction costs, then add one clear, agreed margin on top. Nothing averaged. Nothing hidden.

If your business is moving to interchange plus, here is what is changing and why it puts you in a stronger position.

What Is Really Inside a Card Payment Fee?

Every card payment you accept carries a fee made up of three distinct 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), the payment channel (online or in person) and your industry. These rates are published by the card networks, so they are consistent across the market and the same for every merchant.

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

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

In some cases, a third-party platform fee may also apply. Xero, for example, applies a 0.2% fee to facilitate payments processed through its API. Under interchange plus, even these charges appear as a distinct line item rather than being absorbed into a blended figure.

Interchange Plus vs Blended Pricing: The Structural Difference

On a blended or flat-rate pricing model, every component is rolled into a single 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 pricing does the opposite. The interchange and scheme fees pass straight through to you at cost, and the only thing added is your provider’s transparent margin. You always know which part of the fee is which.

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

Three Ways Your Business Comes Out Ahead

1. You see where every cent goes

Your merchant statements now show the full breakdown: what went to the issuing bank, what went to the card network, and what your provider charged. Your finance team can verify pricing, run audits quickly and detect cost movements immediately. 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 measurably lower net cost of payment acceptance.

3. It is an open model built on trust

There is a reason payment providers reserve interchange plus for their most established customers. Passing costs through at wholesale rates means there is no margin hiding 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 transparency is standard.

The Bottom Line: The Apxium Advantage

Interchange plus pricing shifts your business away from opaque, averaged rates and grounds your payment costs in genuine wholesale rates plus a transparent margin. The result is total financial clarity: a fair, cost-reflective rate on every single transaction.

Why Apxium Delivers Lower Costs

Compared against leading market blended rates, Apxium is confident you will pay less on interchange plus:

High commercial and business card mixes. Even if the majority, or all, of your clients pay with premium business cards, IC+ pricing through Apxium remains lower than traditional flat-rate alternatives.

Debit and personal cards. If your clients frequently pay via debit or standard personal cards, your cost savings will be significantly higher again.

Interchange plus gives your business the clarity, fairness and predictability standard among enterprise-tier merchants, ensuring your payment processing costs remain completely transparent as you grow.