The Network Access and Brand Usage fee, or NABU, is a Mastercard network fee charged per transaction, not as a percentage of the sale. Chase describes it as charged on domestic authorizations and refunds when the card was issued in the United States. Since April 2024 it also applies, at a higher amount, to cards issued outside the United States. Your processor passes it on as a line among the card brand or network fees.
What NABU is
NABU is one of Mastercard's own network fees, apart from interchange (which goes to the bank that issued the card) and apart from your processor's markup. It is a small fixed amount on each qualifying transaction, so it shows on a statement as a count of transactions times a per-item charge.
When it applies
Chase's statement help page says NABU is:
- Charged on domestic authorizations and refunds when the card used was issued within the United States.
- Not charged on reversals, chargebacks or manual cash advances.
Braintree, a processor, published Mastercard's change effective April 15, 2024: Mastercard extended NABU to non-domestic authorizations, collection-only and refund or credit transactions in the United States, at a higher amount for cards issued outside the United States.
How much it is
Braintree's April 2024 update lists the fee for US merchants as $0.0195 per transaction when the card was issued in the United States, and $0.0295 per transaction when it was issued elsewhere. Network fees change, and processors can bill them differently, so check the per-item amount on your own statement or your processor's current fee schedule.
Because it is a fixed amount, NABU matters more on small sales. At $0.0195, it is about 0.39% of a $5 sale and about 0.02% of a $100 sale.
Where NABU shows on your statement
Look for a line named NABU or Network Access and Brand Usage among the Mastercard fees. On a statement that shows how each fee was worked out, it reads as a number of items times an item charge. Chase lists it in the Charges and fees section of its statements.
Other Mastercard fees that sit next to it
Chase lists these Mastercard fees beside NABU. They are separate charges:
| Fee | What Chase says it is for |
|---|---|
| Merchant Location Fee | Charged per location, based on monthly activity; not charged on locations with less than $200 in monthly gross Mastercard volume |
| AVS Auth Access | Transactions where you use the address verification service to check a cardholder's address |
| Account Status | Requests to check a card account's status, address or card security code |
| Processing Integrity | An authorization not used in time, or not reversed when it should have been |
| Cross-Border Assessment | Transactions where the card was issued in a different country from your business |
What to check
- That the NABU count is close to the number of your Mastercard sales and refunds for the month.
- That the per-item amount matches your processor's fee schedule.
- Whether a Processing Integrity fee appears too, which points to authorizations that were not used or reversed in time.
FAQ
Is NABU the same as the Mastercard assessment fee?
No. Chase describes assessment fees as a percentage of the gross transaction amount. NABU is a fixed amount per transaction.
Is NABU charged on refunds?
Yes. Chase lists refunds, along with authorizations, as transactions the fee is charged on.
Does NABU apply to cards from other countries?
Yes, since April 15, 2024, at a higher amount than for US-issued cards, according to Braintree's notice of the change.
Why is NABU so small on my statement?
It is about two cents per transaction ($0.0195 for a US-issued card in Braintree's April 2024 notice). Its total depends on how many Mastercard transactions you run, not on their size.
Find every fee on your statement
Merchant Statement Analyzer is free. Upload last month's statement to the analyzer and see every line named and explained, card brand fees included.
Sources
- Chase, Merchant Services statement support (Mastercard fees): https://www.chase.com/business/support/payments/statements-and-fees
- Braintree (PayPal), Mastercard network updates, Spring 2024 (effective April 15, 2024): https://developer.paypal.com/braintree/articles/risk-and-security/compliance/network-updates/2024/mc-s24