Big Changes to Visa’s Level 2 and Level 3 Incentive Program

What merchants and software providers need to know.

Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP) is reshaping the landscape of B2B credit card processing. Launched in April 2025, with full enforcement on October 17, 2025, CEDP replaces Visa’s current Level 2 and Level 3 interchange program.

This new program introduces stricter standards for enhanced transaction data and ties interchange savings directly to data accuracy. While this means greater potential cost savings for merchants, it also comes with new compliance requirements and operational changes that demand attention.

Please note, the CEDP program only applies to Visa transactions. Mastercard has made no changes to its Level 2 and Level 3 programs.

What Is CEDP?

CEDP replaces Visa’s Level 2 and Level 3 interchange incentive programs, which previously rewarded merchants for submitting enhanced data, often without rigorous validation for accuracy. Under CEDP, Visa now requires complete, accurate, and descriptive line-item data for commercial card transactions. Before qualifying for discounted interchange, Visa will validate this data in real time, looking for legitimate data that provides value to commercial cardholders. Merchants that consistently meet these standards are classified as “verified” and qualify for lower interchange rates under the new “Product 3” category. Those who remain unverified will pay higher interchange rates.

Key Dates and Timeline

New Fee Structure

All participating Visa transactions will incur a 0.05% CEDP participation fee. This was effective in April 2025 and previously communicated in our interchange blog. However, merchants submitting validated data can benefit from interchange rate reductions of 7–10% better than with its previous Level 3 program, This is impactful especially on large-ticket purchases. Moreover, Visa has expanded the types of cards that can qualify for CEDP discounted rates extending the types of businesses that can benefit from the program

Visa Commercial Card Rates

*Visa Level II rates retire in April 2026

What Merchants Need to Do to Become CEDP Verified

To make sure you are not missing out on the cost savings, merchants should do the following:

1. Audit your current data submission practices for Level 2 and Level 3 transactions.
2. Work with your payment processor to ensure support for CEDP-compliant data.
3. Make any required adjustments to your payment processes to ensure compliant data gets sent to Visa.
4. Monitor for savings to continue after the October 17th deadline.

If You are a Wind River Payments Merchant

Wind River Payments will automatically submit merchant accounts to Visa for verification so there are no merchant actions that need to be taken. Visa assigns merchants a status based on their data quality. If Visa does not verify one of our merchants, we will reach out with a remediation plan to ensure data quality is improved and verification is achieved.

At any time, Wind River Payments merchants can contact us for their status by reaching out to their Relationship Manager or emailing our support team: support@windriverpayments.com.

What Software Providers with Integrated Payments Need to Do

1. Audit your current data submission practices for Level 2 and Level 3 transactions.
2. Work with your payment processor to ensure support for CEDP-compliant data.
3. Make any required adjustments to your API to ensure compliant data gets sent to Visa.
4. Automate where possible – using existing data already prepopulated within your software (invoice-level details).
5. Eliminate placeholder values.
6. Confirm with your payment partner(s) that merchants are being submitted to Visa for verification automatically upon boarding.