The short version: interchange is the fee the customer's bank takes on every card payment. In the UK it's capped at 0.2% for consumer debit and 0.3% for consumer credit. If you pay 1.5% on a debit card, most of that isn't interchange. It's your provider's margin.
Interchange in one sentence
When a customer taps their card, their bank (the "issuer") keeps a small slice of the payment. That slice is interchange, and your provider passes it on to you inside your rate.
Every card fee you pay has three parts:
- Interchange, which goes to the customer's bank.
- Scheme fees, which go to Visa or Mastercard for running the network.
- Your provider's markup, which is what they keep.
The UK caps, and what's not capped
| Card type | Interchange cap |
|---|---|
| UK consumer debit card, used in the UK | 0.2% |
| UK consumer credit card, used in the UK | 0.3% |
| Business and commercial cards | No cap |
| Cards issued outside the UK | Different rules (see below) |
The caps come from the Interchange Fee Regulation. The UK kept it after Brexit, and the Payment Systems Regulator enforces it. The debit cap is a weighted average, so a single payment can be a little higher.1
Amex works differently. When Amex is both the card issuer and the company processing the payment, the caps don't apply in the same way. In practice, Amex is often priced separately and higher.
Scheme fees: the part that keeps rising
Interchange is capped. Scheme fees are not. In March 2025 the Payment Systems Regulator found that Visa and Mastercard's scheme and processing fees had risen by at least 25% in real terms since 2017. It said the market for those services wasn't working well, and estimated the extra cost to UK businesses at no less than £170m a year.2 In July 2026 it issued final directions requiring the schemes to give clearer information about their fees and to tighten how they set prices.3
On a blended rate, you never see scheme fees directly. They're folded into your percentage, so a rise may reach you as a "rate review" letter.
Blended vs interchange-plus vs interchange++
- Blended: one rate for debit and one for credit, with interchange, scheme fees and markup mixed together. Simple to read, impossible to check.
- Interchange-plus (IC+): you pay the real interchange on each payment, plus a markup from your provider.
- Interchange++ (IC++): you pay the real interchange and the real scheme fees as separate lines, plus a markup. The most transparent model.
Worked example: £10,000 a month
Take a shop taking £9,000 on UK consumer debit and £1,000 on UK consumer credit a month, across 500 transactions. Under IC++, assume scheme fees of 0.15% and a provider markup of 0.30% plus 3p per transaction, with VAT on the 3p as most UK quotes add it. These are illustrative figures for the example, not a quote.
- Interchange: £9,000 × 0.2% + £1,000 × 0.3%
- £21.00
- Scheme fees: £10,000 × 0.15%
- £15.00
- Markup: £10,000 × 0.30%
- £30.00
- Markup: 500 × 3p = £15.00, plus VAT
- £18.00
- Total
- £84.00
The same shop on a blended 1.1% debit and 1.6% credit would pay £115.00. The real costs underneath are the same £36. The difference is how much markup sits on top, and on a blended rate you can't see it.
Interchange-plus isn't automatically cheaper. A high markup on IC++ can cost more than a well-negotiated blended rate. The test is the same either way: work out your effective rate and compare.
Which pricing suits which business
- Small takings, simple needs: a flat or blended rate is easier, and the difference is pounds, not hundreds.
- Steady takings in the thousands each month, mostly UK debit: interchange-plus can be worth asking about, because debit interchange is so low.
- Lots of business, premium or foreign cards: interchange-plus shows exactly what those cards cost, so you can decide whether to keep accepting them.
What's changing
- Cross-border fees. After Brexit, Visa and Mastercard raised interchange on online payments between the UK and the EEA. Debit went from 0.2% to 1.15%, and credit from 0.3% to 1.5%. The PSR is working towards a cap, and in January 2026 the High Court upheld its power to set one. This mostly affects online sales to European cardholders, not tourists paying in person.4
- Scheme fee remedies. The July 2026 directions are now being put in place.
- The PSR is being merged into the Financial Conduct Authority. The government announced this in March 2025. Existing rules, including the caps, stay in force.
What this means for you
If your debit rate is well above 1%, you're paying mainly for markup, and markup is negotiable. The quickest way to see how much is to compare your current fees with what the market would charge for your numbers.
See what your fees should be. Our calculator works out your estimated monthly cost against every provider that publishes its prices, in pounds.
Compare my feesFor the full list of charges you might see, read card machine fees explained. If you're wondering whether you can pass fees on to customers instead, read our guide to surcharges.
- Payment Systems Regulator, PS16/1: Application of the Interchange Fee Regulation in the UK.
- Payment Systems Regulator, card scheme and processing fees market review, final report (March 2025).
- Payment Systems Regulator, PS26/1 final decision (July 2026).
- Payment Systems Regulator, market review into cross-border interchange fees, and High Court backs PSR's powers to cap cross-border card fees (15 January 2026).