The Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF) is a fee instituted by Visa. It began on April 1, 2012 as a response from Visa to deal with the losses the credit card company was set to incur through the Durbin Amendment’s hard cap on debit swipe fees. The fee affects the credit card processing industry, both brick and mortar businesses and e-commerce merchants.
What is FANF?
FANF stands for “fixed acquirer network fee.” FANF is an assessment charged by Visa determined by sales volume, number of locations, and card present vs. card not present processing. FANF is not a negotiable or discretionary fee, and if merchants cannot locate a FANF fee on their merchant statement, it is likely bundled in with other fees being charged.
FANF applies to the acceptance of all Visa-branded products and is based on both the size and the number of merchant locations. The FANF fee was initially based on volume reported in July 2012. Visa required all U.S. acquirers to provide new merchant location reporting for the tracking of this fee. The new reporting requirements included a monthly breakdown of acquired merchants, number of merchant locations, and merchant sales volume by merchant taxpayer ID.
For card present merchants, with the exception of fast food restaurants, a merchant taxpayer ID with physical locations is assessed FANF on a per-location rate basis. For example, card present merchants with one to three locations will see a pass through per location per month fee of $2. Price per location per month increases according to the number of locations – upwards of $65 month for merchants exceeding 4000 locations. Card present high volume MCC merchants with one to three locations see a pass through per location per month fee of $2.90. Price per location per month will increase according to location — upwards of $85 month for merchants exceeding 4000 locations.
Card Present Fixed Acquirer Network Fees (FANF)
Number of locations | FANF per location | FANF for high volume MCCs per location |
---|---|---|
1-2 | $2.00 | $2.90 |
4-10 | $2.90 | $4.00 |
11-50 | $4.00 | $5.00 |
101-150 | $6.00 | $8.00 |
151-200 | $10.00 | $18.00 |
201-250 | $14.00 | $25.00 |
251-500 | $24.00 | $35.00 |
1,001 – 1,500 | $40.00 | $55.00 |
1,501 – 2,000 | $50.00 | $65.00 |
1,501 – 2,000 | $50.00 | $65.00 |
2,001-4,000 | $50.00 | $65.00 |
What is a High Volume Merchant for FANF?
When calculating FANF fees, Visa considers certain businesses under certain merchant category codes (MCCs) as “High Volume Merchants.” High volume merchants have their own set of rates for FANF. High volume merchant category codes include Airlines (MCC 3000-3299, 4511), Auto Rental (MCC 3300-3499, 7512), Lodging (MCC 3500-3999, 7011), Discount Stores (MCC 5310), Warehouse Stores and Wholesale Clubs (MCC 5200, 5300), Supermarkets (MCC 5411), Department Stores (MCC 5311), Car & Truck Dealers (MCC 5511), Tire Stores (MCC 5532), Petroleum (MCC 5541, 5542), Clothing Stores (MCC 5651), Furniture Stores (MCC 5712), Drugstores (MCC 5912), Electronics Stores (MCC 5732), Theaters (MCC 7832), among others.
Customer not present, merchant aggregators and merchants primarily operating as fast food restaurants (MCC 5814) are assessed based on gross merchant sales volume originating from any Visa-branded card. Merchants that fall into this category with monthly gross sales volume ranging from less than $50 a month on the low end will see a $2 a month fee- to merchants with gross sales exceeding $400 million at a $40,000 a month fee. There are some 18 tiers, with a merchant falling into a volume tier of $8,000 to $39,999 a month seeing a new $15 per month FANF fee.
Card Not Present FANF Fees
Monthly Visa card processing volume | Monthly FANF fee |
---|---|
$1,250 – $3,999 | $7.00 |
$4,000 – $7,999 | $9.00 |
$8,000 – $39,999 | $15.00 |
$40,000 – $199,999 | $45.00 |
$200,000 – $799,999 | $8,000.00 |
$40,000,000 – $79,999,999 | $16,000.00 |
$80,000,000 – $399,999,999 | $45,000.00 |
$400,000,000 or more | $70,000.00 |
April 2015 FANF Fee Updates
In April of 2015, Visa modified FANF fees for payment facilitators (payfacs) to require them to individually report each merchant, taxpayer ID, and associated sales volume. Visa also lowered FANF fees for low sales volume merchants. Fixed acquirer network fees were reduced to 0.15% of gross sales volume for merchants processing between $200 and $1249.99 in total monthly volume. The FANF fee was waived for merchants processing less than $200 monthly.
Visa has also waived the FANF for eligible charitable and social service organizations (MCC 8398). The fixed acquirer network fee waiver for charitable and social service organizations is provided through a quarterly rebate process.
Host Merchant Services makes the fixed acquirer network fee (FANF fee) clearly visible on our statement and we do not mark up the FANF fee in any way.