Credit card processing fees in Canada, explained line by line

The short answer

Most of what you pay on each card payment comes from two parts. There’s the fee set by the card networks, called interchange, and the fee your provider adds on top. Some providers roll both into one flat rate. Others show them separately.

The only number that tells you what you really pay is your effective rate: total fees divided by total card sales. If you paid $640 in fees on $20,000 of card sales, your effective rate is 3.2%.

Below is every fee you’re likely to see, with real examples from providers’ own pricing pages.

The fees on a Canadian merchant statement

1. Interchange

This is usually the biggest part. Canada’s Department of Finance describes it as “the largest component” of what businesses pay to accept credit cards, a fee “paid to credit card-issuing financial institutions, such as banks” (Department of Finance, 2024).

Your provider doesn’t set interchange, and it changes with the type of card. That’s why a flat-rate provider charges enough to cover the expensive cards too.

2. The provider’s markup

This is what your provider keeps. On interchange-plus pricing you can see it as a separate number. Helcim publishes a markup of 0.40% + 8¢ per in-person payment, for businesses processing up to $50,000 a month. Clearly Payments publishes 0.38% + 8¢ in person, for businesses with $150,000 to $300,000 a year in card sales.

Remember, those are markups only. Your total is interchange plus that markup. Helcim says most of its merchants end up with a total in-person rate “near or below 2%” (Helcim’s claim, not ours).

3. The flat rate

A flat rate rolls interchange and markup into one number. It’s simpler to predict, and you pay the same whatever card your customer uses. Published in-person rates:

• Square: 2.5%
• Shopify (Basic plan): 2.6%
• Lightspeed: 2.6% + 10¢
• Moneris: 2.65% + 10¢
• Stripe: 2.7% + 5¢

Online and keyed-in payments cost more. Square charges 2.8% + 30¢ online and 3.3% + 15¢ keyed in. Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ online, plus 0.5% if you type the card in by hand.

4. Interac debit (per transaction)

Debit is priced differently from credit. Most providers charge a flat fee per Interac payment:

• Helcim: 9¢ (12¢ for tap)
• Moneris: 12¢ in person, $1.00 online or in-app
• Stripe: 15¢
• Shopify: 15¢ on Basic, Grow and Advanced

Square charges a percentage instead: 0.75% + 7¢. That’s 22¢ on a $20 sale and $1.57 on a $200 sale. If lots of your customers pay by debit, this line can matter more than your credit rate.

5. Monthly, software and terminal rental fees

These are charged whether you sell or not. Examples from published pricing:

• Moneris lists its Moneris Go terminal from $34.95 a month, plus a $5 Moneris Go software fee.
• Clearly Payments’ membership plan is $99 a month plus 8¢ per payment (for up to $50,000 a month). Clearly says terminal rental “is additional where needed.”
• Shopify’s Basic plan is $49 a month.
• Square, Stripe and Helcim list no monthly fee to take payments.

A low rate with a high monthly fee can cost more than a higher rate with none, especially in a slow month.

6. Chargeback fees

A chargeback is when a customer disputes a payment with their bank. Providers charge you to handle it:

• Helcim: $15, but only if you lose. $0 if it’s resolved in your favour.
• Shopify: $15 CAD.
• Lightspeed: $15 (currency not stated).
• Stripe: CA$15 per dispute, plus another CA$15 if you contest it (refunded only if you win).
• Moneris: $25, and it lists a separate $80 “Authorization Chargeback Handling” fee.

Square doesn’t publish a chargeback fee on its Canadian pricing page.

7. Foreign card surcharges

Cards issued outside Canada usually cost more:

• Square adds 1.5% on cards issued outside Canada.
• Stripe charges 3.5% + 5¢ in person for international cards, and adds 0.8% online, plus 2% if currency conversion is needed.
• Moneris lists a 0.80% foreign card fee on its interchange-plus (Simplified) pricing, “up to 1.00%”.
• Shopify charges 3.5% + 30¢ for online international cards on Basic.

If you get a lot of tourists, check this line first.

8. Statement, PCI and other small fees

These are the small charges that add up. Moneris lists a $2 paper statement fee, a $5 minimum merchant discount rate, a $2.50 aged close batch fee and an 8¢ dial communications fee. It also says “additional fees may apply for other products and services.”

PCI fees relate to the card industry’s data security standard, PCI DSS, which “provides a baseline of technical and operational requirements designed to protect payment account data” (PCI Security Standards Council). None of the providers we compare publish a PCI fee amount. Clover’s pricing page says “no PCI charge,” and Helcim says it charges no minimums, software fees or statement fees. If your statement shows a PCI fee, ask what it’s for and whether you can avoid it.

What it adds up to: one example month

Say you take $10,000 in credit card payments in person, across 400 sales. At published rates, the card fees alone would be (our estimate, before debit, chargebacks and foreign cards):

Provider	How it’s priced	Card fees	Monthly fees	Total
Square	2.5%	$250	$0	$250
Stripe	2.7% + 5¢	$290	$0	$290
Moneris	2.65% + 10¢	$305	$39.95	$344.95
Helcim	interchange + 0.40% + 8¢	interchange + $72	$0	depends on interchange

Moneris monthly fees are the $34.95 terminal rental plus the $5 Moneris Go software fee. Moneris doesn’t say how often that $5 is billed, so we’ve counted it monthly. For Helcim, $72 is only the markup. We can’t add interchange without knowing your card mix, which is why interchange-plus totals have to come from your own statement or a quote.

The 2024 cut to credit card fees for small businesses

On October 17, 2024, the federal Department of Finance announced lower credit card fees for small businesses (Department of Finance). What it said:

• The new rates took effect on October 19, 2024.
• Visa and Mastercard agreed to lower domestic consumer credit interchange for in-store payments to “an annual weighted average interchange rate of 0.95 per cent,” and to cut online interchange by 10 basis points.
• You qualify with each network separately: “annual Visa sales volume below $300,000” for Visa, and “annual Mastercard sales volume below $175,000” for Mastercard.
• The government said interchange fees would fall “by up to 27 per cent,” and gave the example of a store processing $300,000 a year in credit cards that “could save $1,080 in fees every year.”
• It said it “expects” payment processors to pass the savings on, and that the revised Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry would require processors to “notify eligible businesses if network fee reductions will not be passed on in full.”

The release mentions Visa and Mastercard only, not American Express.

Since then, Visa has announced it will raise the yearly Visa sales limit for its small merchant program from $300,000 to $750,000, starting October 24, 2026 (Visa Canada). Our fee-cut checker uses the right limit for the date you check.

What this means for you: on a flat rate, you pay your provider’s published rate whatever interchange is. A lower interchange fee only reaches you if your provider lowers its rate. On interchange-plus, you pay interchange directly, so a cut to interchange should show up on that line if you qualify. If you think you qualify and your rate hasn’t changed since 2024, ask your provider in writing.

Keep reading

• The fee calculator: turn your statement into one number.
• Compare payment processors in Canada: every provider’s rates side by side.
• POS systems compared: if you need software, not just card payments.
• Full fee breakdowns for Square, Moneris, Helcim and Stripe.