Hi,

What is the best CC processing rate (discount rate) for Visa and Credit card you've ever been offered? Do you know w merchant provider who offers under 1.2% for Master card and under 1.5% for Visa and what kind of volumes do they require.

PS: We have excellent Merchant account, so I'm not in search of a new one. Just want to know if anyone benefits from rates lower than those above.

I have seen rates below the mentioned but it was for huge mainstream merchants within retail. Not much lower but lower.

It will really depend on the volume. The card associations want their fee. heck, Visa even sued First Data because First Data was able to approve / deny the transaction is First Data had a relationship with both the issuing and acquiring bank - cutting Visa out of the pie. Fortunately, that was settled (http://www.financial-insights.com/FI/research/viewelement.jsp?containerId=FIN203055&sectionId=FIN203055-S-0001&elementId=FIN203055-E-0001).

The general rates are posted on their respective sites as well. But when you are doing hundred of thousands transactions a day, you are able to negotiate a little bit from time to time. Case in point is Sam's Club. They were able to finally work out a deal with MasterCard for a low rate to accept that card at their stores (no longer requiring a PIN).