Visa Making Big Changes to U.S. Swipe Fees

Visa is planning the biggest changes in a decade to the rates U.S. merchants pay to accept its cards, Bloomberg reports. The move is aimed at attracting more people to use credit cards for purchases.

Visa’s interchange rates will go up or down depending on the merchant and the way a consumer pays for their purchases. Interchange fees are what merchants pay to banks when consumers use a credit or a debit card to make a purchase from their store. The information comes from a document Visa sent to banks that outlines the changes. Transactions on e-commerce sites for example will see higher fees, while retailers in certain services categories, such as real estate and education, will see fees decline.

The changes amount to just a few cents on every transaction. But depending on volume, that can add up quickly to sizable amounts.

The news about the new fee system comes soon after Amex announced that it had reached “virtual parity” coverage with Visa and Mastercard.