The AFP Payments Guide series examines payments-related topics that are developed via interviews with treasury professionals. Presented as quarterly case studies with practical applications and tools to help you make informed decisions about key payment services.
AFP and Redbridge Payments Guide: The Three Principles Every Business Should Know for Managing Card Fees
The 2025 AFP and Redbridge Payments Guide: The Three Principles Every Business Should Know for Managing Card Fees provides a clear foundation to bring transparency, control and strategy to one of the most overlooked cost centers in payments operations.
Whether you're a CFO, controller or payment operations lead, this guide can help you uncover hidden costs, optimize your payment strategy and protect your bottom line.
You’ll uncover how to:
- Demystify fee structures and pricing models with understandability
- Gain visibility into true processing costs through better data and reporting
- Benchmark and negotiate smarter with comparability
Managing card fees isn’t a one-time exercise—it’s a discipline.
What’s Inside the Guide
Understandability: Making Sense of Processing Fees
- Break down the layers of card processing fees: interchange, assessments and processor markups
- Understand the differences between pricing models (flat rate, interchange-plus, tiered, etc.)
- Learn how surcharges, chargebacks and compliance fees impact your bottom line
- Build internal clarity with shared terminology and team training
Why It Matters
Understandability is the foundation for effective fee management. Card processing fees are rarely presented as a single line item—they’re layered across multiple parties, including banks, card networks and processors. Without a clear grasp of how these fees are structured, businesses risk overpaying and missing opportunities to optimize.
Visibility: Seeing The Full Picture On Processing Costs
- Learn how to access and interpret processor statements
- Integrate payment data with ERP and treasury systems
- Monitor key metrics like effective rate, chargeback rate and authorization-to-settlement ratio
- Use proactive alerts and regular reviews to catch issues early
Why it Matters
Visibility is the foundation of effective cost management in payment operations. Even if a business understands how processing fees work, that knowledge is useless without access to clear, accurate data.
Comparability: Putting Fees in Context
- Compare your fees against industry standards and peer benchmarks
- Evaluate multiple processors using real transaction data
- Use analytics tools to simulate savings and model different pricing structures
- Learn how to negotiate based on data, not guesswork
Why it Matters
Comparability empowers businesses to evaluate whether their card processing fees are fair, competitive and aligned with industry standards. Without it, organizations risk overpaying or missing opportunities to optimize their payment strategy.
Who Should Use This Guide?
- CFOs and Controllers looking to reduce costs and improve reporting
- Treasury and Finance Teams managing payment operations
- Payment Operations Managers seeking to optimize processor relationships
- B2B Merchants and Retailers who accept high volumes of card payments
- Anyone responsible for reconciling or negotiating card processing fees