Meta description: Every Visa and Mastercard network fee on your merchant statement explained — FANF, APF, NABU, DCSF, and more. Exact 2026 rates, what changed, and how to spot processor markup.
TL;DR: Visa FANF is a fixed monthly fee Visa charges based on your number of locations or card-not-present volume. It's not a processor fee. Your processor cannot waive it. What they can do is inflate it and present it as a non-negotiable Visa charge. The rates are published. Here's what each fee actually is, what changed in 2025 and 2026, and how to check your statement.
You open your merchant statement and there it is: a line called "Visa Network Fee" for $45.00 with no breakdown, no rate, no explanation of what triggered it. That's the Visa FANF fee. Most merchants either ignore it or get told by their processor it's "just a Visa charge." Both responses cost money.
FANF, APF, NABU, and DCSF are all Visa and Mastercard network fees. They show up on every interchange-plus statement. They changed significantly in 2025 and 2026. And they're the part of your statement where the gap between what Visa actually charges and what your processor bills you is hardest to spot.
For a complete glossary covering every fee category — from interchange to assessments to processor-only fees — merchant services fees explained has the full breakdown. Understanding why credit card processing fees are so high starts here: with the layer most processors never bother to explain.
What is the Visa FANF fee?
The Visa FANF fee (Fixed Acquirer Network Fee) is a monthly charge Visa assesses through processors based on how a merchant accepts cards. Card-present merchants pay per location per month. Card-not-present merchants pay based on monthly Visa processing volume. Merchants under $200/month in Visa sales are exempt. Introduced April 2012. Tier amounts unchanged through 2026. Source: CardFellow, PaymentCloud, SwipeSum.
For card-present merchants, it's a flat fee per location, not a percentage of volume. A single-location restaurant pays $2.00/month. A 200-location chain pays $10.00/location, $2,000/month total. The fee is typically billed monthly or rolled into a quarterly charge.
Card-not-present merchants pay on volume. Key tiers: $8,000–$39,999/month in Visa volume = $15.00/month; $200,000–$799,999/month = $160.00/month; $2,000,000–$3,999,999/month = $1,000.00/month.
Card-present FANF rates (per location per month):
| Locations | Monthly Fee |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | $2.00 |
| 4–10 | $2.90 |
| 11–50 | $4.00 |
| 51–100 | $6.00 |
| 101–150 | $8.00 |
| 151–200 | $10.00 |
| 201–250 | $14.00 |
| 251–500 | $24.00 |
| 501–1,000 | $32.00 |
| 1,001–1,500 | $40.00 |
| 1,501–2,000 | $50.00 |
| 2,001–4,000 | $60.00 |
| 4,001+ | $65.00 |
Card-not-present FANF rates (by monthly Visa volume):
| Monthly Visa Volume | Monthly Fee |
|---|---|
| $200–$1,249 | 0.15% of volume |
| $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 | $160.00 |
| $800,000–$1,999,999 | $450.00 |
| $2,000,000–$3,999,999 | $1,000.00 |
| $4,000,000–$7,999,999 | $2,000.00 |
| $8,000,000–$19,999,999 | $4,000.00 |
| $20,000,000+ | $8,000.00+ |
On your statement, FANF appears as "FANF," "Visa Network Fee," or "FNF Fee." Source: CardFellow, PaymentCloud, SwipeSum (2025–2026 published rates).
Why does FANF show up as a mystery lump sum?
Processors bury FANF because they can. On tiered and flat-rate statements, network fees are bundled and never itemized. On interchange-plus statements, FANF is a separate line but typically unlabeled beyond "Visa Network Fee" with no rate or calculation shown. The fee is real and non-negotiable. What's negotiable is whether your processor charges you the actual Visa rate or something higher.
We pulled statements for 30 merchants last quarter. Every one had FANF buried in a quarterly lump charge or a line called "Visa Network Fee" with no explanation. Not one merchant knew what it was. Three assumed it was a processor markup they could negotiate away. It is not. FANF is a Visa fee. The only thing to negotiate is whether your processor passes it through at cost or inflates it.
Processors on tiered or flat-rate billing have financial reasons to keep network fees opaque. When fees are bundled, you can't verify whether the pass-through matches Visa's published rate. On interchange-plus billing, every fee shows up as a separate line item with the corresponding rate — checkable against Visa's published schedule in about five minutes.
Kaleb Dickhaut, Founder of ClickWerxs: "FANF is the fee I use to test whether a processor is being straight with a merchant. It's a published, fixed number. If it shows up as a vague line item or gets rolled into a quarterly blob, the processor is choosing opacity. That choice usually isn't limited to just FANF."
What is the difference between Visa APF and Mastercard NABU?
The Visa APF (Acquirer Processing Fee) and Mastercard NABU (Network Access and Brand Usage) are both per-authorization fees around $0.0195, but they're not equivalent. APF is a Visa fee charged on every authorization, including declined transactions. NABU is a Mastercard fee charged only on authorized and settled transactions. The distinction matters if your business has high decline rates or frequent cart abandonment.
Visa APF:
- $0.0195 per credit authorization; $0.0155 per debit authorization
- Charged on every authorization, including declines and reversals that never settle
- Appears as "ACQR Processor Fee," "APF," or "Network Access Fee"
Mastercard NABU:
- $0.0195 per domestic authorization (settled transactions only); $0.0295 for international cards
- Charged only on settled transactions, not declines
- Appears as "MC NABU" or "Mastercard Network Access Fee"
Source: CardFellow, Merchant Cost Consulting (2025–2026).
| Fee | Network | Rate | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| APF | Visa | $0.0195 credit / $0.0155 debit | Every authorization |
| NABU | Mastercard | $0.0195 domestic / $0.0295 international | Settled transactions only |
A subscription business processing 5,000 Visa renewal attempts per month with a 20% failure rate pays APF on 1,000 transactions that generated zero revenue. That's $19.50/month in fees on failed attempts alone. Mastercard doesn't charge NABU on those.
What is the Visa DCSF and what changed in 2025–2026?
The Visa Digital Commerce Services Fee (DCSF) is a card-not-present fee covering digital authentication: CVV2 verification, AVS, account updater, and tokenization. It replaced separate per-service fees in October 2023 and has been through two significant changes since, both upward.
DCSF rate history:
- October 2023 – December 2024: 0.0075%, applied to settled CNP transactions only
- January 1, 2025: Scope expanded to all CNP authorizations, including declined transactions
- April 1, 2026: Rate doubled to 0.015% (min $0.01). Cross-border CNP rate added at 0.035%.
Source: Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees, April 2026; corroborated by Fiserv Spring 2026 Card Brand Updates, PayPal Spring 2026 Release Guide.
For a merchant running $500,000/month in CNP Visa volume, the April 2026 rate doubling adds roughly $75/month. That number is higher if your decline rate is significant, because you've been paying the fee on zero-revenue transactions since January 2025. Your processor almost certainly didn't send a letter about that scope change.
What are Visa's international fees and how much do they stack?
When a US merchant accepts a foreign-issued Visa card, three fees can apply at once. Most merchants see them merged into one line or miss them entirely.
Visa International Service Assessment (ISA): 0.80% for foreign cards settling in USD; 1.20% with currency conversion.
Visa International Acquirer Fee (IAF): 0.45%, stacked on top of ISA.
Combined exposure: 1.25% (USD) or 1.65% (non-USD). Source: Merchant Cost Consulting, Checkout.com (2025–2026).
On April 1, 2026, Visa raised the Non-Domestic Settlement Currency Fee from 0.10% to 0.25%, a 150% increase. Source: Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees, April 2026; corroborated by Fiserv Spring 2026 Card Brand Updates.
A SaaS business doing $100K/month with 20% international volume is paying over $2,500/month in Visa international fees. They don't appear on your statement summary. They're in the detail lines, usually unlabeled.
The merchants who get hit hardest: e-commerce (CNP transactions from international billing addresses), SaaS platforms with subscription customers outside the US, and hospitality businesses processing cards from foreign travelers. If any of those describe you, pull the detail lines on your last three statements and add up every ISA, IAF, and NDSF line. Most merchants are surprised by the total.
What are the Mastercard network fees?
Mastercard has its own parallel fee structure. The NABU is the one most merchants see. The others are quieter but add up.
Mastercard Base Assessment:
- Under $1,000 transactions: 0.1275% + $0.0195/transaction
- $1,000 and over: 0.1475% + $0.0195
- The Acquirer Brand Volume Fee component increased April 15, 2024. Source: Merchant Cost Consulting.
Mastercard Digital Enablement Fee (CNP only):
- Prior rate since January 2015: 0.02% (min $0.02, max $0.40)
- April 6, 2026: 0.025% (min $0.025, max $0.50)
- Source: Fiserv Spring 2026, Merchant Cost Consulting.
Mastercard KB Transaction Fee (Kilobyte Access Fee):
- $0.0035 per settlement transaction
- Appears as "MC KB TRAN" or "Kilobyte Access Fee"
- 10,000 transactions/month = $35/month
- Source: Merchant Cost Consulting, CardFellow.
Mastercard Cross-Border Assessment: 0.60% (USD) / 1.00% (non-USD). Source: Merchant Maverick, Host Merchant Services.
Mastercard Force Post Transaction Fee:
- New as of April 2026: $0.09 per transaction settled without prior authorization
- Mastercard's equivalent of Visa's Zero Floor Limit Fee ($0.20)
- Source: Fiserv Spring 2026 Card Brand Updates.
All Visa and Mastercard network fees at a glance
| Fee Name | Network | Type | Rate | Appears As |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Assessment (credit) | Visa | % of volume | 0.14% + $0.0195/auth | "Visa Credit Assessment" |
| Base Assessment (debit) | Visa | % of volume | 0.13% + $0.0155/auth | "Visa Debit Assessment" |
| FANF | Visa | Monthly fixed | $2–$65/location (CP); $15–$1,000/mo (CNP) | "FANF," "Visa Network Fee" |
| APF | Visa | Per auth | $0.0195 credit / $0.0155 debit | "ACQR Processor Fee," "APF" |
| DCSF | Visa | % of CNP auth | 0.015% min $0.01 (Apr 2026) | "DCSF," "Digital Commerce Fee" |
| ISA + IAF | Visa | % cross-border | 1.25% USD / 1.65% non-USD | "Visa ISA," "International Fee" |
| Misuse of Auth | Visa | Per occurrence | $0.15 (since Jan 2025) | "Misuse of Auth Fee" |
| Zero Floor Limit | Visa | Per occurrence | $0.20 | "Zero Floor Limit" |
| Base Assessment | Mastercard | % of volume | 0.1275–0.1475% + $0.0195/tx | "MC Assessment" |
| NABU | Mastercard | Per auth (settled) | $0.0195 domestic / $0.0295 intl | "MC NABU," "MC Network Access" |
| Digital Enablement Fee | Mastercard | % of CNP | 0.025% min $0.025 max $0.50 (Apr 2026) | "MC DEF," "Digital Enablement" |
| KB Transaction Fee | Mastercard | Per settlement | $0.0035 | "MC KB TRAN," "Kilobyte Access" |
| Cross-Border Assessment | Mastercard | % cross-border | 0.60% USD / 1.00% non-USD | "MC Cross-Border Assessment" |
| Force Post Fee | Mastercard | Per occurrence | $0.09 (new Apr 2026) | "MC Force Post Fee" |
Sources: Fiserv Spring 2026 Card Brand Updates, CardFellow, Merchant Cost Consulting (2025–2026).
How do you tell if your processor is padding assessment fees?
Network fees are pass-through costs. Visa and Mastercard publish the rates. Processors bill them. Some processors bill more than the published rate and present the overage as a non-negotiable network charge.
The documented example: Global Payments billed Visa assessments at 0.304% when the actual Visa credit assessment is 0.14%, over double the published rate. The same processor applied similar inflation to Mastercard assessments. Source: Merchant Cost Consulting audit data.
The test: find "Visa Credit Assessment" or "Visa Acquirer Service Fee" on your statement. Anything above 0.14% for credit or 0.13% for debit is processor margin, not a Visa charge. On $200,000/month in Visa volume, 10 basis points of padding costs $200/month — $2,400/year, billed as if it were a required network fee.
That gap is exactly what a statement review catches. On interchange-plus pricing, assessments appear as separate line items at cost. On flat-rate or tiered pricing, they're bundled and unverifiable.
Interchange-plus pricing is the billing structure that makes this auditable. Your processor's markup is the only negotiable number. Interchange and network fees are constants.
What changed in 2025–2026 and what should you check now?
Seven significant changes took effect over the past 18 months. Most were never communicated directly to merchants.
| Effective Date | Network | Fee | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1, 2025 | Visa | Misuse of Authorization | $0.09 to $0.15 (+67%) |
| January 1, 2025 | Visa | DCSF scope | Expanded to all CNP auths including declined |
| January 1, 2026 | Mastercard | TPE Fee | 0.25% to 0.30% |
| April 1, 2026 | Visa | DCSF domestic CNP | 0.0075% to 0.015% (doubled) |
| April 1, 2026 | Visa | Non-Domestic Settlement Currency | 0.10% to 0.25% (+150%) |
| April 6, 2026 | Mastercard | Digital Enablement Fee | 0.02% to 0.025% |
| April 2026 | Mastercard | Force Post Transaction Fee | New: $0.09/transaction |
Sources: Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees, April 2026; Fiserv Spring 2026 Card Brand Updates, PayPal Spring 2026 Release Guide, Merchant Cost Consulting.
The DCSF doubling is the change most likely to have quietly raised your effective rate. If you process significant CNP volume and haven't compared this month's statement to one from six months ago, that's where to start.
Pull your last three months of statements. Find every line with "FANF," "APF," "NABU," "DCSF," "KB TRAN," or "Assessment." Compare each against the table above. The math takes about 20 minutes.
If you want us to run through it, talk to us about a statement review and we'll go line by line.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Visa FANF fee?
The Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF) is a monthly charge Visa assesses through processors based on merchant location count (card-present) or monthly Visa CNP volume (ecommerce). Card-present rates run from $2.00 per location per month (1–3 locations) to $65.00 per location (4,001+ locations). CNP merchants pay $15.00/month at $8K–$39,999/month in Visa volume, up to $1,000/month at $2M–$3,999,999/month. Introduced April 2012. Source: CardFellow, PaymentCloud (2025–2026).
Is NABU a Visa or Mastercard fee?
NABU is a Mastercard fee, not a Visa fee. It stands for Network Access and Brand Usage and is charged at $0.0195 per domestic settled transaction and $0.0295 per international transaction. Visa's equivalent is the APF at $0.0195 per credit authorization. The key difference: NABU applies only to settled transactions. Visa APF applies to every authorization, including declines. Source: CardFellow, Merchant Cost Consulting (2025–2026).
Did Visa raise fees in 2025 or 2026?
Yes. Visa raised the Misuse of Authorization Fee from $0.09 to $0.15 on January 1, 2025, expanded the DCSF to cover declined CNP authorizations on January 1, 2025, doubled the DCSF domestic rate from 0.0075% to 0.015% on April 1, 2026, and raised the Non-Domestic Settlement Currency Fee from 0.10% to 0.25% on April 1, 2026. Sources: Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees, April 2026; Fiserv Spring 2026 Card Brand Updates, Merchant Cost Consulting.
What is the Mastercard KB Transaction fee?
The Mastercard Kilobyte Access Fee is $0.0035 per settlement transaction, charged each time a Mastercard transaction is submitted for clearing. The name refers to the kilobyte of authorization data transmitted. It appears on statements as "MC KB TRAN" or "Kilobyte Access Fee." At 10,000 Mastercard transactions per month, this costs $35/month. Source: Merchant Cost Consulting, CardFellow.
Can I negotiate network fees with my processor?
No. Visa and Mastercard set assessment fees and they don't change based on what you negotiate. Your processor's markup is the only negotiable component. On interchange-plus pricing, that markup is a separate visible line item. On flat-rate or tiered billing, it's bundled with network fees and invisible. The gap between your all-in effective rate and the sum of interchange plus network fees is the only number that changes when you switch processors.
What is the Visa APF fee?
The Visa Acquirer Processing Fee is $0.0195 per credit authorization and $0.0155 per debit authorization, charged on every auth request including declines and transactions that never settle. It appears on statements as "ACQR Processor Fee," "APF," or "Network Access Fee." Mastercard's NABU only charges on settled transactions. Visa's APF does not make that distinction. Source: CardFellow, Merchant Cost Consulting (2025–2026).
Disclaimer
This post reflects publicly available Visa and Mastercard network fee schedules and processor compliance bulletins as of May 2026. Rates are sourced from Fiserv Spring 2026 Card Brand Updates, CardFellow, and Merchant Cost Consulting. Network fees are set by Visa and Mastercard and may change without notice. Nothing in this post constitutes financial or legal advice.
Kaleb Dickhaut — Founder, ClickWerxs. Kaleb works directly with merchants to identify and eliminate unnecessary payment processing costs.
linkedin.com/in/kaleb-dickhaut
Sources
- Federal Reserve Board, Regulation II debit card interchange fee standard — covered issuers may not receive more than $0.21 plus 0.05% of transaction value, plus a $0.01 fraud-prevention adjustment where eligible. federalreserve.gov
- Processing rates, fee ranges and effective-rate figures in this post are industry-typical ranges compiled from published network schedules and from accounts reviewed in the ClickWerxs ISO portfolio. They are not quoted rates. Interchange itself is set by Visa and Mastercard on published schedules that change twice yearly; your actual cost depends on card mix, MCC, ticket size and volume.
- Competitor and platform pricing referenced in this post is taken from each company's published pricing or legal pages as of the date noted in text, and is subject to change without notice. ClickWerxs does not link to competitor websites; references are given in text so they remain verifiable. No affiliation is implied.
- ClickWerxs ISO portfolio, aggregate observation — patterns described from merchant accounts under ClickWerxs management. Anonymized and reported in aggregate; individual account terms vary. Operator data.
ClickWerxs facilitates merchant account applications and provides ongoing account management as an authorized representative of our banking and processing partners. Approval, rates, and terms are determined by the issuing processor and acquiring bank — ClickWerxs does not guarantee approval for any merchant account application. Processing rates and fee structures cited in this post reflect publicly available industry data and general ranges; your actual rate depends on your industry, volume, and card mix. This post is not legal or financial advice. For a custom quote, see clickwerxs.com/payments/get-a-quote.