Short answer
Level 2 and Level 3 data are extra details sent with a business card payment: tax amount and customer code (Level 2), plus line items (Level 3). With valid data, card networks can apply lower interchange to commercial cards, often around half a point to a point lower. The saving only reaches you if your pricing passes interchange through, as interchange-plus does.
What Level 2 and Level 3 data are
Every card payment carries basic data: amount, card number, merchant and date. That's Level 1. Business card programs let merchants send more, because the companies that issue those cards want detail for their expense controls and accounting.
| Level | Data sent with the payment | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Amount, date, merchant name and location | Every consumer and business payment |
| Level 2 | Level 1, plus sales tax amount, customer code or purchase order number, merchant postal code | Business and corporate cards |
| Level 3 | Level 2, plus line items: description, quantity, unit price, unit of measure, product code, freight and duty | Purchasing cards and large B2B orders |
Definitions for each term are in our glossary: Level 2 data, Level 3 data and Visa CEDP.
Who pays commercial-card interchange
Interchange is set by the card networks and paid to the bank that issued the card. Commercial cards (business, corporate and purchasing cards) carry some of the highest online rates, typically well above standard consumer credit, because they come with rewards, longer payment terms and expense tools for the cardholder's company.
If you sell to companies, a large share of your card revenue may sit on these cards. Software, wholesale, manufacturing, logistics and professional services businesses often see commercial cards on a third or more of their card volume, and on most of their large invoices.
How much Level 2 and 3 data can save
How much enhanced data lowers interchange depends on the card network, the card product, the size of the payment and whether the data passes the network's validation. As a rule of thumb, valid Level 3 data on a qualifying commercial card can take somewhere around 0.5 to 0.9 percentage points off interchange. Here's what that range means in dollars:
| Commercial card volume | 0.5 points lower | 0.9 points lower |
|---|---|---|
| One $60,000 invoice | $300 | $540 |
| $10M a year on commercial cards | $50,000 | $90,000 |
| $25M a year on commercial cards | $125,000 | $225,000 |
Illustrative only. Actual rates depend on the card network's current program, the card type and data quality.
One catch matters more than the rate: on flat-rate pricing, you don't get the saving. Stripe's standard price is 2.9% + 30¢ whatever the card's interchange. If the interchange on a payment falls, the processor's margin grows, not yours. Enhanced data pays off for the merchant on interchange-plus pricing or a custom agreement that passes interchange through at cost.
Visa's Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP)
In 2025 Visa replaced its earlier Level 2 and Level 3 rules with the Commercial Enhanced Data Program. In short:
- Data quality is checked. Lower enhanced-data rates depend on data that passes Visa's validation, not on fields filled with placeholders.
- There's a participation fee. Merchants using the program pay a small fee on qualifying transactions, which their processor passes on.
- Level 2 matters less. Visa has been phasing out the separate benefit for Level 2 data, so full Level 3 line items carry most of the value.
Mastercard runs its own commercial card rules. Rates and dates change, so confirm the current rules for both networks with your processor before you build.
Does Stripe support Level 2 and Level 3 data?
Stripe supports enhanced data for some accounts and card types. But on its standard pricing, every successful card charge costs 2.9% + 30¢ regardless of interchange, so sending Level 3 data doesn't change your bill. The question to ask Stripe isn't "do you support Level 3?" but "will the interchange difference be passed through to us?" That usually requires custom, interchange-plus style pricing. See how to negotiate Stripe fees.
Card vs ACH for annual contracts
For a large annual invoice, the cheapest card payment still costs far more than a bank transfer:
| Payment method | Fee |
|---|---|
| Card at 2.9% + 30¢ | $1,740.30 |
| ACH Direct Debit at 0.8%, capped at $5 | $5.00 |
Stripe fees verified on against stripe.com/pricing. How we check
Many B2B companies keep cards available, because some customers must pay by card for their own controls, but make ACH the default on invoices and annual contracts. Some pass card costs on through a surcharge; check card network rules and state law before you do.
What your processor and billing system need to send
- A processor that supports enhanced data for the networks you need, and passes interchange through at cost.
- Billing or invoicing software that captures the fields: tax amount, customer reference or PO number, and line items with quantity, unit price and product code.
- A clean mapping from your invoice data to the processor's API fields. Placeholder or mismatched data can fail validation and fall back to the standard rate.
- Reporting that shows which transactions qualified, so you can check the saving month by month.
If most of your volume is consumer cards, enhanced data won't move your costs much; focus on your effective rate and pricing model first. If you're a B2B company with large invoices, it can be one of the biggest levers you have. Our guide to reducing card processing fees covers the rest.