The Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee, or FANF, is a monthly fee for accepting Visa cards. Visa sets it and your processor passes it on to you. Unlike most card fees, it does not depend on each sale: for card-present sales it depends on how many locations you have and your type of business, and for card-not-present sales on your monthly Visa volume. A business with both kinds of sales can be charged both.
What FANF is
- A Visa fee on every business that accepts Visa. Fulton Bank's merchant services explainer says Visa imposes it on all businesses accepting Visa cards, regardless of how they take them.
- Monthly and fixed. It is charged once a month, not as a percentage of each sale.
- Charged per business, not per account. Xplor Pay, a processor, explains that FANF is assessed per taxpayer, meaning a legal business with its own federal taxpayer identification number, and covers all the merchant accounts that business owns.
Xplor Pay dates the fee to April 2012. Chase lists FANF among the card brand fees that can appear on its statements.
How FANF is worked out
Card-present sales
For sales where the card is in the store, Fulton Bank's explainer says two things set the fee:
- The number of locations you own.
- Whether you count as a high-volume business, meaning at least half of your monthly card-present sales are in certain merchant categories. Its list includes grocery stores and supermarkets, service stations, drugstores and pharmacies, department stores, discount stores, airlines, lodging and car rental.
Fulton's explainer also says a location with less than $200 a month in Visa volume is not charged, and one with $200 to $1,249.99 is charged a small percentage instead of the flat amount.
Card-not-present sales
For online, phone and other card-not-present sales, the fee is set by your monthly Visa sales volume, in tiers. Xplor Pay's explanation puts fast food restaurants and unattended terminals on this volume-based table too.
Both kinds of sales
If you take cards in person and online, both fees may apply. Xplor Pay says its merchants see two line items in that case.
Where FANF shows on your statement
Look for a line named FANF or Fixed Acquirer Network Fee among the card brand or network fees, usually once a month. You may see two lines if you have both card-present and card-not-present sales. If your business has several merchant accounts, a processor may split the one fee across them: Xplor Pay divides it in proportion to each account's volume.
Because it is a fixed monthly amount, FANF weighs more on a small business than a large one. On a slow month it is a bigger share of your fees, which nudges your Effective Rate: How to Calculate Your Card Processing Rate up.
Why it can change from month to month
- Your monthly Visa volume moved into a different tier.
- A location crossed one of the low-volume thresholds.
- You opened or closed a location.
- You added online sales, which can add the card-not-present fee.
What to check
- That you are charged once per business, not once per account, unless the processor is splitting one fee across your accounts.
- That a location with very little Visa volume is not charged the full amount.
- That the high-volume category applies only if most of your card-present sales are in one of the listed categories.
- Your processor's current FANF schedule, if the amount looks wrong. Fee schedules change, so ask for the one in effect for that statement.
FAQ
Is FANF the same as the Visa assessment fee?
No. The assessment fee is a percentage of your Visa sales. FANF is a fixed monthly amount based on your locations and business type, or on your card-not-present volume.
Can I avoid FANF?
Not if you accept Visa cards, according to Fulton Bank's explainer, which says Visa imposes it on all businesses that accept them. A location with very low Visa volume may not be charged.
Why do I have two FANF charges?
Usually because you have both card-present and card-not-present sales, each with its own fee. It can also be one fee split across several merchant accounts.
Is FANF charged per location?
The fee is charged per business. For card-present sales, the number of locations decides how large it is.
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
- Fulton Bank Merchant Services, Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF) (2022): https://fultonbank.com/-/media/Files/Merchant-Services/Visa-Fixed-Acquirer-Network-Fee_04-2022.pdf
- Xplor Pay, Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (published August 31, 2023, updated December 13, 2024): https://xplorpay.com/insight/visafanf/
- Chase, Merchant Services statement support (card brand fees): https://www.chase.com/business/support/payments/statements-and-fees