Interchange optimization
Mis-qualified transactions don't show up as a problem on the statement.
Interchange is set by the card brands, not the processor. What varies is whether a transaction qualifies for the rate it should have, and when it doesn't the statement just shows a higher category and moves on.
Where it comes from
Missing Level II data
On commercial and corporate cards, no tax amount or customer code means a downgrade the merchant never sees named.
Level III on large-ticket B2B
Line-item detail unlocks the lowest categories. Most B2B merchants aren't sending it.
Keyed transactions treated as retail
The transaction method and the setup are working against each other.
Late settlement and missing AVS
Operational details quietly move otherwise eligible transactions into higher categories.
What optimization actually means
Not negotiating interchange — nobody negotiates interchange — but getting each transaction to qualify at the category it's already eligible for, and moving the merchant onto a pricing model where they see the difference.
Illustrative example — not a client result
Effective rate: 2.61% → 2.19%
What MerchantScope does with it
Every parse identifies which transactions qualified where and which downgraded, and those become the specific talking points in the pre-call brief — the category, the cause and the fix, in your own product.