Tool 38 · Card Economics

ClearCost Card & A2A Payment Cost Analyzer

Merchant View for SMB owners. Professional View for payments engineers. Both modes share the same math engine and embedded Visa/Mastercard 2025–2026 interchange tables. Client-side only: zero PII transmitted.

Scope & reliance — 🔒 All inputs are processed locally in your browser. No data is transmitted. Do not enter real personal data — use synthetic or anonymised inputs only. Embedded rates, thresholds, and regulatory citations are static reference values that may age — verify against current primary sources and your own data before relying on any output for commercial, legal, or compliance decisions. Deterministic logic · no inference · zero PII · CC BY 4.0.

v1.0 Visa & Mastercard ISO 18245 MCC Durbin Context A2A Comparison Client-Side · Zero PII Rates: April 2026 · Next update: October 2026

Shared Inputs

MCC (Merchant Category Code)

Transaction Method

Regional Context

Merchant Inputs

Monthly Volume $250,000

Average Ticket Size $65

Card Mix (must sum to 100%)

Consumer Debit (regulated) 35%

Consumer Credit 40%

High-Reward Credit 15%

Corporate / Commercial 10%

Sum: 100 ✓

Flat-Rate: % 2.90%

Flat-Rate Fixed Fee

I-Plus Markup (bps)

I-Plus Fixed Fee

Surcharge Rate %

Professional Inputs

Card Type

Transaction Amount $150

Settlement Timing

Processor Markup (bps)

Per-Txn Fee ($)

✓ Zero data transmitted

Summary

Interchange-Plus saves you an estimated $- annually.

Based on your volume and card mix. Switch to drag the sliders and see live updates.

Annual Cost by Pricing Model

Flat Rate

-% effective

Interchange-Plus

-% effective

Surcharge / Cash Discount

-% effective

Surcharge Compliance Notice Surcharging rules vary by jurisdiction. Visa and Mastercard cap surcharges at 4% of the transaction amount. Some US states prohibit surcharging entirely (CT, MA, OK). Consult legal counsel before implementing a surcharge program.

Model Comparison

	Flat Rate	Interchange-Plus	Cash Discount
Monthly cost	-	-	-
Annual cost	-	-	-
Effective rate	-	-	-
Transaction count/mo	-
I-Plus breakeven volume	-

A2A Comparison

About A2A costs A2A rails (FedNow, RTP, ACH) carry flat per-transaction fees rather than percentage-based interchange. FedNow: $0.045/transaction (Fed pricing). RTP: ~$0.045/transaction. Same-Day ACH: ~$0.25/batch plus per-item. Next-Day ACH: ~$0.18/batch. Costs shown are indicative: actual pricing depends on your bank or processor.