UK domestic consumer interchange is fixed by law at 0.2% on debit and 0.3% on credit. Commercial cards run 1.65% to 1.90%, and post-Brexit UK–EEA consumer transactions attract 1.5%, five times the domestic credit cap. These wholesale fees set the floor under every merchant's card-acceptance cost.
The two statutory consumer caps, plus the commercial-card and cross-border rates that sit well above them.
Interchange depends on the card type and where the cardholder and merchant are based. The spread between a domestic debit card and a commercial or cross-border card is large.
| Transaction type | Interchange | Set by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic debit, consumer | 0.20% | UK IFR | Statutory cap |
| Domestic credit, consumer | 0.30% | UK IFR | Statutory cap |
| Commercial / corporate | 1.65–1.90% | Card scheme | Uncapped |
| UK–EEA cross-border, consumer | 1.50% | Card scheme | Under PSR review |
On a £100 payment with a UK consumer debit card, the statutory interchange cap is 20p. On a £100 UK consumer credit card payment, it is 30p. A commercial card or a UK–EEA cross-border card can cost much more, before scheme fees and your processor's margin are added on top.
A business that takes a lot of commercial-card or international payments pays materially more interchange than its headline rate suggests. On a blended quote, those higher-cost transactions are averaged in, which is why two merchants on the same processor can see very different effective rates. The full merchant-cost breakdown sits on the UK Card Processing Statistics hub.
Interchange is the wholesale floor, not the final price. What a merchant actually pays is the merchant service charge, which stacks three parts on top of each other.
| Component | What it is | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Interchange | Wholesale fee, mostly fixed (the caps on this page) | The customer's card issuer |
| Scheme fees | Card-network assessment and processing fees | The card network (Visa, Mastercard) |
| Acquirer margin | Your card processor's mark-up | Your processor / acquiring bank |
| Merchant service charge | The total card-processing rate you actually see | The three rows above, combined |
Two businesses on the same processor, even at the same headline rate, can pay very different real costs. The biggest reason is the mix of cards their customers use.
The domestic consumer caps have been fixed since 2015. The live regulatory question is cross-border interchange, which rose after Brexit and is now under PSR scrutiny.
| Area | Status |
|---|---|
| Domestic consumer debit and credit caps | Fixed by UK IFR since 2015 |
| Commercial card interchange | Outside the caps; scheme-set |
| UK–EEA cross-border consumer interchange | Rose post-Brexit; under PSR Market Review |
For merchants selling to or buying from the EEA, the post-Brexit rate is a direct cost increase.
The PSR has confirmed its power to cap these rates; a final decision will shape the cost of cross-border card acceptance for years.
For most UK domestic card payments, interchange is a known, capped, immovable cost. The variable, and the one to watch, is cross-border and commercial volume, where rates are several times higher and, in the cross-border case, subject to regulatory change.
Statutory caps come from the UK Interchange Fee Regulation; commercial rates from the card schemes' published schedules; cross-border rates from the Payment Systems Regulator's market review.
| Source | Publisher | Period covered | Type | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interchange Fee Regulation (UK IFR) | UK Government (statutory) | In force since 2015 | Legislation | 2 Jun 2026 |
| Domestic interchange schedule | Visa | 2026 rate card | Card scheme | 2 Jun 2026 |
| Market Review MR22/2.7 (cross-border) | Payment Systems Regulator | 2026 | Regulator | 2 Jun 2026 |
The 0.2% and 0.3% domestic consumer caps come directly from the UK Interchange Fee Regulation, the legal source.
Commercial-card interchange is taken from the card schemes' published domestic schedules and stated as a range, since it varies by product.
The cross-border consumer rate and its review status come from the PSR's market review, the authoritative source for the live regulatory position.
Statutory caps map to the UK IFR; commercial rates to the Visa domestic schedule (stated as a range); the cross-border rate to PSR Market Review MR22/2.7. Last full review: 2 Jun 2026.