UK card payments, in plain English
10 editorial explainers on the rules, pricing and operations that shape UK card payments. Written for merchants, not for lawyers or developers. Each piece is dated, cites the underlying authoritative source, and is reviewed by Oliver Mackman (Director, Best Business Loans Ltd, Companies House 16833937).
Pricing and economics
UK card interchange rates 2026
Consumer debit 0.2%, consumer credit 0.3%, commercial 1.0% to 2.5%. Cross-border UK-EEA caps and PSR appeal status.
Interchange-plus vs blended pricing UK
When IC+ wins, when blended wins. £25k annual breakpoint, per-acquirer breakdown.
UK-EEA cross-border interchange (2026)
PSR appeal status, current rates, merchant impact, what to do now.
Visa and Mastercard cross-border update 2026
Scheme fee changes, UK-domestic vs cross-border treatment, PSR ruling fallout.
Operations and compliance
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and 3DS2
PSD2-retained rules, when SCA triggers, exemptions, conversion impact, liability shift.
UK card chargebacks 2026
Per-acquirer fee table, dispute lifecycle, friendly fraud, monitoring thresholds.
UK card-acquirer settlement schedules
Same-day vs T+1, rolling reserves, weekend posting, new-merchant holds.
MATCH list and TMF: UK merchant guide
13 MATCH reason codes, 5-year listing duration, removal routes, FOS escalation, high-risk-acquirer route.
PCI-DSS v4 for UK small merchants
SAQ-A vs SAQ-A-EP vs SAQ-B, what each scope covers, hosted-checkout vs self-hosted.
Card-network rules
Last reviewed: 2026-05-11.