Small merchants in Canada face some of the highest credit card fees in the world. The good news for those businesses accepting Visa and Mastercard is that fee reductions are coming as of October 19, 2024. Both credit card companies have committed to this implementation date.
Small businesses with up to $300,000 in annual Visa sales and up to $175,000 in annual Mastercard sales will qualify for a 0.95% average interchange rate for in-store sales and a 0.1% cut in ecommerce fees. This will provide fee reductions of up to 27% for the majority of small businesses.
This is a big win for small businesses and for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). For over a decade, CFIB has served as the watchdog on costs and changes in Canada’s payments industry. We have been urging the government and the credit card industry to level the playing field and provide more fairness for small businesses. We were pleased when in spring 2023, the federal government announced the new agreement with Visa and Mastercard to lower credit card processing fees for smaller merchants.
In the meantime, CFIB continues to put pressure on the government to expand the agreement to additional credit card providers and to review size thresholds so that more small- and medium-sized businesses can benefit from lower rates.
For more on CFIB’s work to reduce credit card fees for small businesses, visit cfib.ca/credit-cards.
