Upcoming Changes From VISA

Upcoming Changes From VISA

Earlier this year Visa postponed the largest overhaul of its interchange structure in a decade.

Most of the changes we expected in April will take effect CPD October 17, 2020.

Here is a quick summary of the October changes:

Authorization Response Messages

Starting CPD October 16, 2020, the Field 44.1 (Response Source/Reason Code) of authorization

response message will be replaced with a “V”. The “V” indicates that the transaction was authorized online.

New Consumer Credit Merchant Segment Incentive

Visa is eliminating its “Retail 2” Program which means it will be introducing new interchange rates

for Insurance, Services, Education, Healthcare, Real Estate and Advertising.

The new segment will have minimum ticket size qualification of $100 for services.

The ticket size qualification for Education, Healthcare, and Real Estate transactions will be $500.

Transactions below the ticket size qualification are eligible for the Product 1 and Product 2 interchange rates

are listed below:

Visa is also eliminating the Business to Business interchange rate on Visa Signature Preferred and Infinite (Spend qualified)

Consumer Card-Not-Present (CNP) Rate Changes

In addition to interchange rates changes, detailed in the chart below, Visa will rename CNP CPS-qualified transactions as

Product -1. The interchange rates below affect the segment-based transactions listed earlier. Effective with this change,

Visa is replacing all CPS qualified e-commerce and CNP interchange rates with those in the table.

CPS-Qualified Recurring Program

Effective CPD October 17, 2020 Visa is expanding the CPS/Recurring program to Visa Signature Preferred transactions with

an interchange of 2.20% +$0.05. The CPS/Recurring interchange rate remains the same for other Visa consumer products.

Consumer Card Present (CP) Interchange Rate Changes

Starting CPD October 17, CPS-qualified card present transactions will be known as “Product 2” with the following Interchange rates:

Changes to Retail Credit Performance Threshold Interchange Rates

Effective CPD October 17, 2020, Visa is creating new retail credit tier interchange rates for Visa Signature and

Visa Signature Preferred transactions. Current performance threshold standards will remain unchanged with

adjustments coming after a year-end review. Tier Interchange rates for Visa Traditional and Visa Traditional

Rewards will change as outlined below.

Small Ticket Qualifying Merchant Categories Refined, Small Ticket Interchange Rate Created for Visa Signature Preferred

As merchant segments continue to shift, Visa is updating its list of Small Ticket eligible merchant categories effective

CPD October 17, 2020. Visa will also extend the Small Ticket program qualification to Visa Signature transactions.

Only transactions from the 16 MCCs below will be eligible for Small Ticket exchange rates.

Service stations and government transactions in the merchant categories listed below will remain eligible for the

Small Ticket program at their existing interchange rates of 1.65%+$0.04 for Visa Traditional, Visa Traditional Rewards,

and Visa Signature. The small ticket interchange rate for the MCCs below will not be available on Visa Signature Preferred

or Infinite (spend qualified) products.

Qualifying MCCs include:

MCC 5411 – Service Stations (with or without Ancillary Services)

MCC 9211—Court Costs, Including Alimony and Child Support

MCC 9222—Fines

MCC 9311—Tax Payments

MCC 9399—Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)

All other merchant categories will no longer qualify for the Small Ticket interchange rate and will default to the

Product interchange rates previously described above, regardless of ticket size.