My Merchant Account Blog

Debit Cards on the Internet

Friday, June 08, 2007

You might have seen some discounts that are being posted 2.05% or even lower on some merchant account provider websites. This discount rate is easy to come by if you have enough volume. Some merchant account providers though are now offering merchants two rates - often times called a split rate. One rate for debit card transactions and one rate for credit card transactions.

Split Rates

Split rates might help your business if you think you have a lot of customers using a debit card. Of course, it will have to be at least half of your volume to consider making the switch.

Blended Rates

A blended rate is what most merchants have today, whether you know it or not. Merchant account providers charge you the same for debit card and credit card transactions.

For example, let's say the debit card discount rate is 2.05% and the credit card discount rate is 2.58% . And the blended rate 2.29%. The average transaction is $50.00 and there are 30 transactions. With a split rate and consider that half of your transactions are with a debit card, you would be spending about $34.73. With a blended rate, the charges would be about $34.35.

Remember, your discount rate is based on volume, not the number of transactions. As usual, do a little research before switching or signing up for a split rate. With the small monthly volume listed about ($1,500.00), your charges could be about $38.70 using a split rate and all your transactions are credit cards.