On October 1, 2011, Visa and MasterCard put into effect their new interchange rates.  Neither of the credit card companies would openly discuss the new interchange rates.  It's safe to say that rates are on the rise.  Visa made various changes to its rates, including setting their debit interchange rates as high as allowed under the Durbin Amendment and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

The rate schedule for Visa included changes to 19 prepaid interchange categories and almost all of them were increases.  Before the changes, the base rate was .95% plus 20 cents.  Now it's up to 1.15% plus 15 cents.

The biggest hike in interchanges costs was in the petroleum category.  Merchants will pay an extra .29% on an average sale.  Travel, Entertainment and E-commerce saw double digit rate increases.  Some notable decreases were for utilities and tax payments on debit cards.

You can see Visa's updated rates on the company's website at the following link:

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-reimbursement-fees-october2011.pdf