International Card Fees

Pay Theory is committed to providing a seamless payment experience for all our customers while maintaining transparency in our pricing model. Pay Theory incurs fees from the card networks called International Service Assessment (ISA) fee and the International Acquirer Fee (IAF), which are being passed through directly to merchants. Pay Theory refers to fees like this as “Third-Party Charges” in agreements.

This amounts to 1.5% on card transactions where the merchant and card are based out of two different countries. 

More information:

The International Service Assessment (ISA) Fee and International Acquirer Fee Explained

Visa’s International Service Assessment (ISA) fee and International Acquirer Fee (IAF) are applied whenever a business accepts a payment from a customer using a credit or debit card issued outside of the United States. Similarly, Mastercard charges an International Cross Border Fee and Global Acquirer Program Fees, while American Express applies cross-border fees, and Discover includes International Processing Fees and Global Acquirer Program Fees. These fees, typically totaling 1.5% of the transaction amount, are charged to merchants to cover the additional costs associated with processing international payments. It’s important to note that these are not fees set or controlled by Pay Theory but mandatory costs imposed by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and similar card networks. Pay Theory is simply passing these fees through to the businesses using our platform.

How This Affects You

• The international card fee will only apply to transactions involving foreign-issued credit or debit cards.

• Domestic card transactions will remain unaffected.

• This impacts Bundled Rate pricing models at Pay Theory.