by Ben Dwyer “Commercial Card Present – Business” refers to interchange categories that determine the interchange fee a business will pay when accepting a business debit or business prepaid credit card in person.
These categories do not apply to credit cards of any kind or to consumer debit or prepaid cards.
- Commercial Card Present – Business Interchange Rates
- When does Commercial Card Present – Business apply?
- Regulated vs. Unregulated Debit
- Debit and Prepaid Downgrades
- Abbreviations and Aliases
Commercial Card Present – Business Interchange Rates
There are two categories, with corresponding rates. However, one category specifically refers to “regulated” cards, which I’ll get into in detail later in this article.
| Volume Rate | Per-Transaction Fee | |
| Commercial Card Present – Business Debit Reg | 0.05% | $0.22 |
| Commercial Card Present – Business and Purchasing Prepaid |
2.15% | $0.10 |
These rates come from Visa’s published interchange schedule on its website. Rates are subject to change at Visa’s discretion.
When does Commercial Card Present – Business apply?
These categories will apply when the following conditions are met:
- Card used is a commercial debit or prepaid card
- Transaction occurs in person, with the card run through a credit card machine
- Transaction is CPS qualified
Here’s what the qualifications mean in more detail.
1. This one is self-explanatory. The card the customer uses must be a commercial debit card or a commercial prepaid card. Consumer cards don’t apply. However, the type of debit card involved affects which debit category will apply.
2. When it comes to transactions occurring “in person” any “card present” method counts: dipping a chip card, swiping a magnetic stripe card, or tapping a smartphone / smartwatch to make a contactless payment.
3. Lastly, the transaction must meet Visa’s Custom Payment Service (CPS) criteria. Visa lays out various requirements for CPS, including settlement time and other factors. There are multiple CPS “programs,” each with different requirements.
For this category, you’ll need to meet requirements for CPS / Retail, CPS / Supermarket, CPS / Small Ticket, CPS / Automated Fuel Dispenser, CPS / Restaurant, CPS / Car Rental Card Present, CPS / Hotel Card Present, or CPS / Passenger Transport Card Present.
Meeting the criteria for any of those programs counts as being “CPS qualified” for the purposes of Commercial Card Present – Business interchange.
Read more about Visa CPS qualification.
Regulated vs. Unregulated Debit
In credit card processing, “regulated” debit is a specific term that came about as a result of the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform Act. “Regulated” debit means any debit card issued by a bank with $10 billion or more in assets. Smaller banks issue “unregulated” debit cards.
Regulated debit cards are subject to an interchange cap; currently 0.05% + 22 cents per transaction. By law, regulated debit cannot cost more than that at the interchange level.
However, that does not mean that 0.05% + 22 cents will be your total cost to accept a regulated debit card. Processors can still add markup fees on top of the cap, raising the total cost of your regulated debit transaction fees.
Debit and Prepaid Downgrades
Keep in mind that these aren’t the only rates that can apply to commercial debit or prepaid transactions. For example, if your transactions don’t meet criteria for these categories, they can “downgrade” to more expensive interchange categories.
For commercial card present – business debit and prepaid, the ‘first’ downgrade is typically to the more expensive commercial card-not-present category. However, if the transaction also fails to meet criteria for that category, it can downgrade further to the catch-all “non-qualified” category, the most expensive possible category.
Most businesses should expect to see a few downgrades here and there, but too many indicates an issue. It also means you’re paying more than you have to for processing. CardFellow members that are concerned about their downgrades can contact us for assistance.
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Abbreviations and Aliases
On your monthly processing statements, you may see Commercial Card Present – Business interchange categories by that name, or by an abbreviation or alias.
That includes:
- CP BUSDB (for card present business debit)
- CP COMM PP (for card present commercial prepaid)
This is not a complete list of aliases / abbreviations. Your processor may use whatever term it wishes to list your transactions’ interchange categories.
Note: Businesses that process with a company that uses “flat rate” style pricing (such as PayPal, Square, or Stripe) will not see interchange detail on statements. That doesn’t mean your transactions are exempt from interchange, it’s just that the processor doesn’t show you which categories your transactions qualified for.
