The Department of State implemented a fee for Visa-Presented Final Adjudication Transactions beginning October 1, 2012. This fee is called the Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF) and will go into effect on July 17, 2013. The FANF was created to recover some of the costs associated with operating the Visa system.
The Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF) is a minimal fee that will be charged to all transactions presented at U.S. Acquiring Banks and third party settlement entities for Final Adjudication Transactions by Visa-branded cards and third party network branded cards with statements mailed to the address printed on the card.
The Fixed Acquirer Network Fee was created to recover some of the costs associated with operating the Visa system, which includes member support, fraud prevention, and other value added services.
The fee is a flat rate of $10 per statement cycle for all transactions adjudicated under a Visa-branded debit, prepaid, and commercial card.
Example: A Visa-Presented Final Adjudication Transaction within a statement cycle is assessed one fee at the time of processing, which would include PIN-based transactions as well as Signature-based transactions.
If you are a merchant, check issuer, third party settlement entity, or acquiring bank in the U.S., this fee will apply to your Visa-branded card transactions that post to your account on either paper or electronic statements. The fee will be $10 for each statement cycle, which is defined as a rolling 52-week period. For merchants who have more than one acquirer processing the same Visa-branded card transactions over multiple merchant or entity accounts, an acquiring bank will pay one fee for all of these accounts combined during that statement cycle.
Please note that you will receive one more paper statement prior to the implementation date of July 17, 2013. After this date, all Visa-branded card transactions will be included on your electronic statements and no separate paper billing statements will be sent.
Merchants who do not wish to be assessed by the FANF can contact their acquiring bank and request that certain transactions be excluded from the final adjudication process.
You will receive one more paper statement prior to July 17, 2013 so you have time to understand how these changes will impact you. This transition allows merchants more time to make any necessary changes before the fee is charged in full on July 17, 2013.
