Interac Fees for Merchants in Canada, Explained

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This page summarizes Interac Corp's own published business fee schedule as of November 3, 2026. Interac sets and periodically changes these fees; your acquirer's contract, not this page, is the final word on what you pay. CELER Merchants is an independent merchant services agent, not Interac, a bank or a processor.

The three layers of an Interac Debit fee

Every Interac Debit transaction a Canadian merchant accepts passes through three charges, stacked on top of each other.

The switch fee and chip-and-PIN interchange

Interac Corp's published fee schedule lists the switch fee for a chip-and-PIN or tap-to-pay Interac Debit purchase at $0.014438 per transaction, and a separate $0.015881 switch fee for an ABM (bank machine) withdrawal. Interac Corp's own description of interchange on standard chip-and-PIN Interac Debit is that it is currently set at zero: the cardholder's bank receives no interchange on a normal dip-or-tap-with-PIN purchase. That is the main reason Interac Debit has stayed cheaper than credit cards for Canadian merchants.

Contactless (tap) interchange is not zero

Interac's fee schedule sets a separate, tiered interchange specifically for contactless Interac Debit taps, which did not exist under the original chip-and-PIN-only design. Published tiers run from $0.02 to $0.055 per transaction depending on merchant category and ticket size, with the lowest tier applying to small tickets at defined merchant categories and the highest tier reserved for a $100.01 to $250 ticket band. A tap under a PIN prompt and a dip-and-PIN transaction can therefore carry different interchange even though both are "Interac Debit" to the customer.

Interac Debit through Apple Pay, Google Pay and online

An Interac Debit transaction made through a mobile wallet or e-commerce checkout is priced differently again: Interac Corp's schedule lists basis-point interchange (ranging from about 55 to 60 basis points depending on merchant tier) capped at a dollar maximum per transaction, plus a flat $0.35 fee for the broadest merchant tier. This sits closer to a scaled-down version of credit card interchange than the flat cents charged on an in-person chip-and-PIN tap, because an online transaction carries different fraud and authentication costs for the network.

How this compares to credit card interchange

Why your statement may not show $0.014438

Interac Corp has a role in setting the interchange rate but says it does not keep any of it; your acquirer sets your final price in your merchant agreement, and that price is built on top of the switch fee and interchange, not instead of them. A processor can bundle Interac Debit into a flat per-transaction rate, a percentage, or a blended rate with credit cards, and may round or mark up the underlying cost. The only way to know your real Interac Debit cost is to find the Interac Debit line, or the debit line generally, on your actual statement and compare it to your total debit volume and transaction count for the period.

Que demander à votre processeur

1. Do you price Interac Debit as a flat per-transaction fee, a percentage, or blended with credit cards? 2. Does my rate change between a chip-and-PIN dip and a contactless tap? 3. Do you pass through Interac's actual switch fee and interchange, or charge your own flat rate regardless of the underlying cost? 4. If I take Interac Debit online or through a mobile wallet, is that priced the same as in-person? 5. Can I see Interac Debit broken out as its own line on my statement, separate from credit cards?