PRESS RELEASE
June 10, 2019
For Immediate Release 
Contact:
Lori Fulmer
805-684-8800

 
U.S. Merchants Paid $107.78 Billion in Card Processing Fees in 2018
The Nilson Report on Merchant Processing Fees 
 
CARPINTERIA, CA - June 10, 2019 - Credit, debit, and prepaid general purpose and private label cards issued in the United States generated $6.962 trillion in payments for goods and services in 2018, an increase of 10.0% over 2017. Processing fees, which include interchange, paid by U.S. merchants to handle all card payments were $107.78 billion, an increase of $11.52 billion, or 12.0%, over the prior year, according to The Nilson Report, the leading card and mobile payment trade publication.
 "For every $100 in combined credit and debit card sales, merchants paid an average of $1.55," commented David Robertson, Publisher of The Nilson Report.
General purpose Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express credit cards and store, gasoline, medical, etc. private label credit cards accounted for $3.930 trillion in purchase volume last year. Credit cards accounted for 56.46% of combined credit, debit, and prepaid card purchase volume. Merchants paid $86.30 billion in processing fees to accept credit cards, which was 80.07% of total processing fees.
The weighted average of processing fees paid as a percentage of purchase volume from all credit, debit, and prepaid general purpose and private label cards was 1.55% in 2018.   

About The Nilson Report
            For more than 48 years, The Nilson Report has been the most respected provider of news and information about the global card and mobile payment industry. Available worldwide by subscription only, The Nilson Report directly surveys over 2,000 financial institutions to produce statistics about issuers, acquirers, and technology providers not available from any other source. The twice-monthly newsletter also includes informative articles, concise updates about new products and services, listings showing investments and acquisitions among companies in the payment system, and information about executive appointments. The Nilson Report does not accept advertising of any kind. No company can pay to be featured in The Nilson Report.