🌐 Language versions: DE | EN | FR | ES | IT

Reading time: approx. 6 minutes | Last reviewed: May 2026

FeeCheck Methodology — How We Collect and Compare Payment Fees

FeeCheck bases its payment fee comparisons on publicly available fee structures, authoritative regulatory publications (EBA, ECB, card networks) and direct provider disclosures. All data is verified and regularly reviewed. We compare — we do not evaluate.

Overview: Our Data Principles

FeeCheck's methodology is built on four principles that are non-negotiable:

1. Authoritative sources first. Regulatory data always supersedes market estimates.
2. Public data only. FeeCheck does not publish data that cannot be independently verified.
3. Transparency about limitations. Where data is incomplete, we say so.
4. Independence from commercial influence. No provider can affect how their data is presented by paying FeeCheck.

Data Source Hierarchy

FeeCheck uses a four-tier source hierarchy. Higher-tier sources always take precedence:

Interchange fees fall under Tier 1: they are legally capped by EU Regulation 2015/751 (IFR) and are therefore precisely known for EEA consumer cards. Scheme fees and acquiring margins typically fall under Tiers 2–3.

What FeeCheck Compares

FeeCheck's comparisons focus on the three primary components of merchant payment costs:

1. Interchange Fee

• EEA consumer debit cards: capped at 0.20% of transaction value
• EEA consumer credit cards: capped at 0.30% of transaction value
• Commercial cards: not capped — often 1.2–1.9%
• Non-EEA cards (e.g., US Visa, UK Mastercard post-Brexit): not capped — typically 1.5–2.5%
• Three-party systems (e.g., American Express direct): exempt from IFR caps

FeeCheck uses IFR-published cap values as the baseline for EEA consumer cards and verified market data for non-regulated card types.

2. Scheme Fee

• Publicly available portions of Visa and Mastercard fee schedules
• Industry research where publicly verified ranges are available
• All scheme fee data is clearly marked as approximate (typical range: 0.02–0.15%)

3. Acquiring Margin

• Published tariff pages of major EU PSPs
• Publicly stated pricing for standard merchant tiers
• Ranges rather than point estimates where variation is high

FeeCheck does not speculate on individually negotiated rates. Published standard tariffs only.

Update Cycle

Every page on FeeCheck displays a visible Last reviewed date. This date reflects the last substantive editorial review of that page's data, not just a metadata timestamp.

Independence Declaration

FeeCheck operates under a strict editorial independence policy:

• No payment for placement: No provider can pay to be included, excluded, or ranked in any comparison.
• No affiliate commissions: FeeCheck does not receive referral fees or lead-generation revenue from compared providers.
• No sponsored content disguised as editorial: Any commercial content (if any future form is introduced) must be clearly and unambiguously labelled as such and kept strictly separate from comparison data.
• Conflict of interest disclosure: If any FeeCheck team member holds a financial interest in a compared provider, that data point is recused from their editorial control.

What FeeCheck Does Not Compare

FeeCheck explicitly excludes certain data points where reliable public data is unavailable:

Where these exclusions are relevant for a specific comparison context, FeeCheck notes them explicitly.

EU Geographic Coverage

FeeCheck currently provides comparison data for:

Limitations of FeeCheck's Methodology

Transparency requires acknowledging what FeeCheck cannot do:

1. Negotiated pricing: Large merchants with individually negotiated rates will not see their actual costs reflected in FeeCheck's standard tariff data.
2. Real-time data: FeeCheck is not a live feed. There may be a lag between a provider changing their tariff and FeeCheck reflecting that change.
3. Non-public scheme fees: Scheme fees are not fully disclosed publicly. FeeCheck's scheme fee data represents the best available approximation, not certified figures.
4. Blended rate opacity: When providers publish only blended rates, FeeCheck cannot decompose these into interchange/scheme/margin components for comparison.
5. Emerging products: New payment products (BNPL, account-to-account payments) may not yet be covered if reliable public fee data is unavailable.

Data Quality Feedback

If you believe FeeCheck data is inaccurate, you can submit a correction request through our data quality feedback form. All submissions are reviewed by our editorial team. We do not accept correction requests from providers seeking to alter their competitive position — only factual errors with supporting documentation are reviewed.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Where does FeeCheck's fee data come from? FeeCheck's data hierarchy prioritises: (1) EU regulatory publications (EBA, ECB), (2) card network fee schedules (Visa, Mastercard publicly filed data), (3) direct provider tariff publications, and (4) verified market research. Regulatory sources always take precedence.

How often is FeeCheck data updated? Regulatory changes (IFR, PSD2 updates) are reflected immediately. Card network fee changes are updated within two weeks of publication. Provider tariff changes are reviewed monthly. All pages display a 'Last reviewed' date.

Why might a provider's published prices differ from FeeCheck data? Providers may offer negotiated rates that differ from published tariffs. FeeCheck only uses publicly available data. Individually negotiated pricing is not reflected. Additionally, blended pricing may make direct comparisons with interchange++ data appear inconsistent.

Does FeeCheck cover all card networks? FeeCheck covers Visa, Mastercard, and major domestic networks (Girocard/DE, Carte Bancaire/FR, Bancomat/IT, Bancontact/BE). American Express operates as a three-party system and is covered separately with appropriate caveats.

How does FeeCheck handle non-public tariffs? If a provider's tariff is not publicly available, FeeCheck marks that data point as 'not publicly available' rather than estimating or omitting it. Merchants can submit their own tariff documents for verification through our data contribution process.

Sources & Regulatory Basis

• EU Regulation 2015/751 (Interchange Fee Regulation — IFR)
• EU Directive 2015/2366 (PSD2)
• European Banking Authority (EBA) — Regulatory Technical Standards
• European Central Bank — Payment Statistics

Related Topics

• What is FeeCheck?
• How FeeCheck Calculates Payment Costs
• Comparison Logic and Neutrality
• Payment Fees Explained