Interchange-plus (IC+) pricing is a card-acceptance model where you pay the wholesale cost of each transaction at cost, plus a separate, fixed markup that is disclosed up front. The wholesale cost has two parts set by the networks, not your provider: interchange (paid to the card-issuing bank) and assessments (paid to Visa, Mastercard, and the other networks). Your provider's only earnings are the stated markup.
How it works
The pricing reduces to one formula:
| Component | Who sets it | Who keeps it |
|---|---|---|
| Interchange | Card networks | Issuing bank |
| Assessments | Card networks | Card network |
| Fixed markup (the "plus") | Your provider | Your provider |
So your effective rate per transaction is interchange + assessments + fixed markup. The first two pass through at cost and move with the card type a customer presents; only the markup stays constant. A statement quotes the markup as a small percentage plus a per-item fee, for example 0.25% + $0.10.
This is the key contrast with tiered pricing, which buckets every transaction into "qualified," "mid-qualified," or "non-qualified" rates. Tiered pricing hides interchange inside each bucket and lets the provider decide which bucket a card lands in, so the same card can be priced differently month to month. IC+ removes that discretion: because interchange and assessments are itemized at cost, you can see exactly what the networks charged and exactly what your provider earned. That line-by-line visibility is why IC+ is widely considered the most transparent of the common models.
Why it matters to you
IC+ suits merchants and agents who want an audit trail behind every basis point and a markup that does not drift. It is especially clear for businesses with a varied card mix, where pass-through pricing reflects real cost instead of averaging it into opaque tiers. The trade-off is that your total rate moves with interchange, so two months can differ even when the markup is identical.
IC+ is one of six pricing models Relyon presents -- alongside tiered, flat, surcharge, dual pricing, and IC optimization. We do not treat any model as the default. The right choice depends on your card mix, ticket size, and margin goals, and we lay out each option neutrally so the decision is yours.
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