What Is CCIS? Commercial Card Interchange Service Explained

What is CCIS?

CCIS stands for Commercial Card Interchange Service. The quickest way to understand it is to follow the chain, because each term is really defined by the next.

In plain terms, Data Enhancement is when the file your processor receives is missing data, and that data gets filled in, either by a data-enhanced gateway or by the processor. It completes the file so the transaction clears at the lowest interchange rate. A transaction that could have settled at 3.25% now settles at 1.95%.

If a merchant wants the lowest processing cost, it starts with making sure the right data gets passed, in the correct format. For big merchants, this is not a “hope for the best” kind of thing.

Their actual processing fees were not that bad. At that size they had negotiated a pretty good deal, partly because, as a global household name, the processor wanted to come in low enough to win the account. However, they were not using the correct gateway or utilizing CCIS.

What CCIS actually costs you

Credit card companies make it difficult for transactions to settle at the lowest interchange fees by adding stringent rules. Then they came up with a solution to fix it for you, called CCIS. Another processor calls it I/C, an Interchange Clearing Fee. It is when the processor fixes the transaction for 75% of the savings.

Before you think this is a good deal, let’s do the math and shine a little more light on it.

Same $4.25 saved, same transaction. The processor hands you $1.06 and tells you to be happy, because without them you would have lost the whole $4.25. A third party saves you the identical amount and gives you $4.00.

How to find CCIS on your statement

Different processors call it different names. Look for any of these line items:

I/CInterchange Clearing FeeCCIS

“I/C” is short for Interchange Clearing Fee. If you are not sure, look at every line-item fee and check it on our How to Read Your Merchant Statement page. It will tell you whether it is a real fee or not.

Your two options

I think it is an easy decision. The only exception is when your ERP or POS blocks third parties to increase profits and prevent you from getting help.

But to be clear: if you have transactions not settling at the lowest interchange, doing nothing is the worst thing a merchant can do. You are handing the biggest bonus to those who are part of the processing-network family. The very ones making it hard are winning even more.

If you don’t know whether you have transactions downgrading, the best thing you can do is take advantage of our free audit. No strings, no credit card, nothing to sign, and zero impact to you. Then you will know how much money is walking out the back door every month when it could be used to grow your business.

Click here to schedule a call and learn how easy it is to fix this, or get started today with your free audit.