Credit Card Fee Calculator — Calculate Processing Fees [2026]

American Express charges higher interchange fees (averaging 2.30% vs ~1.5% for Visa/MC) because Amex positions itself as a premium card network with higher-spending cardholders. This higher fee supports Amex's rewards programs.

Interchange fees are the largest component of credit card processing costs. They are set by the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) and paid to the card-issuing bank. Rates vary by card type, merchant category, and transaction method.

In most cases, merchants who accept one Visa card must accept all Visa cards (and similarly for other networks). However, merchants can choose not to accept an entire network — for example, some businesses don't accept Amex due to higher fees.

Assessment fees are charged by the card network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) for using their network. These are much smaller than interchange fees, typically 0.13-0.15% of the transaction amount.

Merchants can reduce fees by: negotiating processor markup rates, using interchange-plus pricing, encouraging debit card use (lower interchange), implementing address verification (lower rates for card-not-present), and shopping between processors.

Yes, debit card interchange fees are significantly lower. Regulated debit cards (from banks with $10B+ in assets) are capped at 0.05% + $0.22 per transaction under the Durbin Amendment. Unregulated debit cards have slightly higher rates but still lower than credit cards.