Assessments

Also called dues and assessments, network fees, brand fees, D&A

The small percentage Visa and Mastercard keep for themselves on every transaction, separate from the interchange that goes to the issuing bank.

What it is

Assessments are the card networks' own cut. Interchange goes to the issuer; assessments go to Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express for operating the network, setting the rules, and running the brand. In late 2024 Visa and Mastercard assessments ran roughly 0.13%-0.15% of volume, and that band has held into 2026. The term 'dues and assessments' is the older, fuller name, and it points at the reality: the headline percentage is only part of it. Networks also levy a stack of small per-transaction and per-authorization charges - network access and brand usage fees, acquirer processing fees, fixed acquirer network fees, transaction integrity fees, kilobyte and misuse-of-authorization charges, and various cross-border and currency assessments. Individually they run fractions of a cent to a few cents. Collectively, on a low-ticket merchant, they matter. Like interchange, assessments are true pass-through cost that no small merchant can negotiate. Unlike interchange, they are frequently the place processors hide margin, because merchants know the word 'assessments' is legitimate and stop reading. A statement line labeled 'Dues, Assessments and Regulatory Fees - 0.29%' is doing something the network never asked for.

Why it matters to your business

On $50,000 a month, the difference between a true 0.14% assessment pass-through and a padded 0.29% line is about $75 a month, $900 a year. That is small enough to ignore and large enough that padding it is worth doing at scale across ten thousand merchants. More importantly, it is a tell. A processor willing to inflate a line item everybody assumes is untouchable is a processor whose other numbers deserve a hard look. Find one padded pass-through and you will usually find three.

Where it gets contested

The honest problem is bundling. Networks charge assessments and a dozen small ancillary fees. Processors combine those real costs with invented ones - a 'network access fee,' a 'regulatory compliance charge,' a 'brand support fee' - into a single statement line, then present the whole thing as an untouchable pass-through. Because the label contains a true word, it survives scrutiny. The industry defense is that itemizing forty sub-penny network charges would make statements unreadable. There is something to that. But the fix is a summary line with a detail page behind it, not a rounded-up blend with a markup inside. A processor that genuinely passes assessments through can show you a number in the 0.13%-0.15% range plus itemized network fees. A processor showing 0.25% or 0.30% under an assessments-flavored label is charging you for the privilege of paying Visa. What processors do not say out loud: assessments are one of the few costs that scale perfectly with volume and require zero work from them. Any spread taken there is pure, effortless margin, and it is invisible unless you know the published range.

How to check it yourself

Find every line on your statement with the words assessment, dues, network, brand, or regulatory in it. Add them up. Divide by total card volume. If the result is materially above about 0.15% plus a few cents per transaction, the excess is markup wearing a network costume. Ask your processor for the itemized network fee schedule they are billing you against.

Receipts

Claims above that are checkable, with where to check them. Published so you do not have to take anyone's word for it.

Visa and Mastercard assessments ran approximately 0.13%-0.15% in late 2024
strictlyzero.com ↗
A transparency standard requires interchange and network assessments shown as true pass-through with markup stated as a discrete number
ftc.gov ↗