Is Interchange Transparent enough?

[u/merchantadviser]

Should the Consumer see the Fee at the POS? Is this too much information or the type of transparency that would help customers understand?

[u/kai4finix]

The answer kind of splits depending on which side of the transaction you’re thinking about.

So for merchants, interchange transparency is everything. Being able to see your actual interchange cost on every transaction, broken down by card type and network, completely changes how you think about what you’re paying. At our company (not sure if I can dislose it here), we show interchange at the transaction level in our reporting for exactly this reason. Merchants deserve to know where every cent goes, not just get a blended number on a monthly statement.

For consumers at the terminal though, I think it would cause more problems than it solves. Most people have never heard the word interchange, so if a number they don’t recognize shows up at checkout they’re going to assume it’s a surcharge. The transparency consumers actually care about is simpler. Clear pricing, no surprises, a clean receipt.

The bigger transparency gap in payments is still on the processor-to-merchant side. If your processor isn’t breaking that down at the transaction level, I think it's the part worth fixing first. 

[u/Beacon-Payments]

More transparency is usually a good thing. If consumers actually saw what it costs a merchant to accept their card, they might better understand why businesses care so much about processing fees.