Reviewed by Mayer Hyman, Payments Specialist | Reviewed for accuracy July 2026
Key Takeaways
- US merchants paid a record $198.25 billion in credit and debit card swipe fees in 2025, up from $187.2 billion in 2024 (Merchants Payments Coalition, 2026).
- The average combined Visa/Mastercard swipe fee hit 2.35% in 2025, a new high (Merchants Payments Coalition, 2026).
- Fee increases are often layered in gradually through new line items rather than a single visible rate change, which is why they go unnoticed on a statement.
- Reviewing a merchant processing statement regularly, and understanding interchange-plus versus bundled pricing, is the fastest way to catch overcharges before they compound.
Your Processing Fees Went Up. You Just Didn’t Notice.
Reviewing a merchant processing statement line by line almost always turns up money that could be saved immediately — it’s the same finding in nearly every new client conversation.
There’s a reason this keeps coming up. Fee increases, pricing restructures, and processor acquisitions have made merchant statements harder to read, not easier. In many cases, fees are quietly raised on the assumption they’ll go unnoticed. Business owners are busy running their companies, and administrative reviews, especially of merchant statements, tend to get pushed aside.
That’s where the problem starts.
Why Processing Costs Keep Climbing
This isn’t just anecdotal. US merchants paid a record $198.25 billion in credit and debit card swipe fees in 2025, up from $187.2 billion the year before, and the average combined Visa and Mastercard swipe fee reached 2.35%, a new high (Merchants Payments Coalition, 2026). Those increases don’t usually show up as one obvious rate hike. They show up as new “infrastructure,” compliance, or reporting fees layered on top of an existing rate, appearing year after year with little explanation.
If a merchant isn’t reviewing processing statements regularly, there’s a real chance they’re paying significantly more than they should. What was once clean, predictable pricing from a trusted processor can quietly shift, and the impact eventually shows up clearly on monthly bills. Some longtime merchants who assumed their rates were stable are now seeing discount rates well above 4%, alongside fees that weren’t there a few statement cycles ago.
This isn’t a one-off billing error. It’s an industry-wide pattern.
What to Look For on Your Own Statement
- Processors raising transaction fees and layering in new line-item charges over time
- Merchants who don’t review statements continuing to pay more while assuming nothing has changed
- “Loyalty” or “predictable pricing” claims that don’t actually reduce costs, only the statement itself tells the real story
Getting a Clear Read on What You’re Actually Paying
At Cartis Payments, the goal is helping merchants cut through the noise and understand exactly what they’re paying for: transparent pricing options like interchange-plus or simplified cost-based models, automatic pass-through of network savings as they occur, and clear guidance so a business owner actually understands their statement instead of guessing at it.
If a processing statement hasn’t been reviewed in a while, that review is worth doing now, before another cycle of quiet increases compounds the cost.
FAQ
How do I know if my processing fees have gone up without my noticing?
Compare your discount rate and total fees line by line against a statement from several cycles ago. Look specifically for new fee categories like “infrastructure,” compliance, or reporting fees that weren’t there before, not just the headline rate.
Why do card processing fees keep rising industry-wide?
Interchange rates set by the card networks have climbed steadily, and processors have layered additional fees on top. Merchants Payments Coalition data shows the average combined Visa/Mastercard swipe fee hit a record 2.35% in 2025.
What’s the difference between interchange-plus and bundled pricing?
Interchange-plus pricing separates the actual network interchange cost from the processor’s markup, so a merchant can see exactly what they’re paying for. Bundled pricing combines everything into one rate, which makes it harder to spot when a processor quietly increases their margin.
