Visa CEDP: Secure Compliance, Unlock Maximum Savings.

What CEDP Is

• Visa's CEDP introduces a new interchange framework for U.S. commercial card transactions, fundamentally altering how merchants qualify for reduced rates.
• It replaces legacy Level 2 and Level 3 data programs with a single, verification-driven model where the quality of enhanced transaction data dictates interchange pricing.

Why Visa Introduced CEDP

• Visa aims to improve data quality, transparency, and fraud prevention by demanding real, accurate, and detailed enhanced data (e.g., invoice-level descriptions, tax, shipping, SKU fields), moving away from placeholder or incomplete information.
• The old Level 2/3 systems often allowed better rates even with sub-par data. CEDP stops this by using real-time machine learning validation to enforce higher standards.

How CEDP Works

• All commercial Visa transactions can now submit enhanced data (what was formerly Level 2/3).
• Visa evaluates this data for completeness, accuracy, and descriptive quality. Only then will the transaction—and the merchant—be considered for verified status and lower interchange rates (known as Product 3 rates).
• Merchants failing to meet these data quality standards receive non-verified status, resulting in standard or even higher interchange fees.

Timeline & Fee Impacts

• April 2025: CEDP launched, introducing a new 0.05% participation fee for enhanced data submissions.
• October 2025: Visa began enforced validation, meaning only verified merchants qualify for the best rates.
• April 2026: Legacy Level 2 interchange programs are being retired, making compliance crucial for any enhanced-data pricing benefit.

Why This Matters to Your Business

• CEDP directly links your cost of acceptance to your data quality. Poor data no longer earns discounts and can even lead to higher interchange fees than before (sometimes worse than sending no enhanced data at all).
• Failure to submit compliant data can cause processing costs to jump significantly, severely impacting margins—especially critical for B2B sellers operating on tight profit margins.

Our Core Approach

We bridge the critical gap between your ERP and payment gateway, ensuring rich, accurate, and fully compliant enhanced data flows with every single transaction—guaranteeing CEDP verification and maximum interchange optimization.

Key Components of Our Solution

• Automated, Real-Time Enhanced Data: We ensure true Level 2 and Level 3 fields (like item descriptions, quantities, SKUs, tax, and shipping details) are transmitted directly from your ERP, eliminating manual entry or placeholders.
• Robust ERP-to-Gateway Integration: We build direct, resilient integrations, capturing detailed invoice data and passing it consistently with every payment instruction.
• Continuous Validation & Monitoring: Our tools and services validate your data against Visa CEDP standards *before* submission, proactively preventing declines and costly downgrade rates.
• Proactive Compliance Management: We continuously monitor and adapt to Visa's evolving rule updates, ensuring your business remains verified and optimized as CEDP continues to develop.

Tangible Business Benefits

• Significantly Lower Interchange Costs: Consistently maintain qualification for the lowest available Product 3 rates.
• Enhanced Pricing Competitiveness: Reduced processing costs translate directly into more attractive pricing for your B2B customers.
• Superior Data Quality & Reporting: Rich transaction details simplify reconciliation, boost analytics, and refine the overall customer experience.
• Minimized Operational Risk: Eliminate surprise downgrades and hidden fees caused by incomplete or misformatted data.