What are Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard?

At a glance

How it works

The customer's bank issues the card and holds the account. Visa or Mastercard carries the request between your processor and that bank.

1. The customer taps, inserts or enters the card, in store or online.
2. Your processor sends the request over the Visa or Mastercard network.
3. The customer's bank checks the account and approves or declines.
4. Your processor pays the bank interchange, and adds its own fees to your bill.

A Canadian example

A bakery in Laval takes a $30 sale with the card inserted. On Visa Debit, Visa's published interchange is $0.03. On Debit Mastercard in its electronic program, Mastercard's published rate is 0.25% plus $0.05, or 12.5¢. A Visa Classic credit card read by chip costs 1.25%, or 37.5¢. These are interchange only. Your processor's fees come on top. An example only, not a quote.

What is different in Canada and Québec

• Interac Debit is a separate service. It has its own network and flat fees, covered in the Interac Debit article. These two cards follow the network schedules.
• Both networks publish Canadian debit interchange. Visa lists $0.03 a sale for electronic sales. Mastercard lists 0.25% plus $0.05 for its electronic program. It lists lower rates for supermarkets and gas. For taps, it lists 2¢ or 3¢ a sale, by tier.
• Sales that are keyed in or online cost more. Visa's Standard debit rate is 1.15%. Mastercard's 3-D Secure debit rate is 1.00%, and its Standard rate is 1.15%.
• In Québec, a merchant cannot charge a consumer a fee for paying by credit or debit card. Visa and Mastercard also prohibit surcharges on their debit cards.
• Whether you see these rates depends on your pricing. On interchange-plus, they show on your statement. On a flat rate, you see one blended price.

What it costs and where it shows on your statement

Your cost is interchange, network fees and your processor's markup. Interchange is a small part of a debit sale. Your contract sets the markup. Debit often appears on its own line on your statement. Divide your debit fees by your debit sales to get a separate effective rate. See the interchange rates guide for the full tables.

Where CleverPays fits in this step

Visa and Mastercard set the interchange and the rules for their debit cards. The customer's bank approves or declines each sale. CleverPays does not set interchange or network fees and does not approve or decline cards. CleverPays is operated by Groupe Heo Inc., an Agent of Fiserv Canada Ltd..

We can read a recent statement with you. We can show the effective rate and each fee line. We can explain a fee or a rule and help you find the debit line. We can recommend and set up Clover and other terminals. We answer questions in English and French.

Common mistakes

• Treating all debit as Interac. A Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard sale follows a different schedule.
• Comparing your debit fee to the credit card interchange table. Debit has its own published rates, and they are much lower.
• Adding a fee for debit customers. In Québec, this is not allowed.

Related terms

• Interac Debit: Canada's own debit service, priced by flat fee.
• Debit card: a card that takes money from the customer's bank account.
• Interchange fee: the fee paid to the card's bank on each sale.
• Contactless payments: tapping a card or phone to pay.
• Effective rate: your total fees divided by your total card sales.
• Chargeback: a sale the customer's bank reverses after a dispute.

Common questions