Visa’s new rules could be costing you — here’s how to stay compliant

If your business accepts commercial cards, a major shift is underway in how Visa rewards enhanced data submission. On October 17, 2025, Visa will begin enforcing its Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP). Merchants that don’t meet its new standards risk paying higher interchange fees, having transactions downgraded, and losing eligibility for preferred rates.

This isn’t just a tweak, it’s a fundamental change in how “Level 3” data is judged, verified, and rewarded. Below is your complete playbook for what’s changing, how it affects you, and what you must do now to stay ahead.

What Is CEDP (Commercial Enhanced Data Program)?

CEDP is Visa’s redesigned framework for enhanced (Level 2 / Level 3) transaction data. Its goal: ensure that the data merchants submit is accurate, descriptive, and usable—not just superficially complete.

Under the current model, merchants often submit partial or generic enhanced data (e.g. “miscellaneous item” or blank fields) and still get preferential rates. CEDP changes that. Now, data will be validated, and only merchants whose data consistently meet Visa’s standards will earn the best pricing.

Visa will classify merchants into two groups:

• Verified: merchants whose enhanced data meets Visa’s integrity standards
• Non-verified: merchants with data quality issues, missing or generic fields, or inconsistency

Only verified merchants will consistently qualify for the top-tier interchange pricing (Product 3) for eligible transactions.

What’s Changing: Timeline & Key Dates

Below is the rollout schedule and how Visa will shift legacy programs:

Who is impacted — more than you think

Under the legacy regime, only certain commercial or procurement cards were eligible for Level 3 pricing. CEDP broadens the scope. Stripe Support+2Versapay+2

• Business credit cards — previously limited to Level 2 capabilities — may now qualify for Product 3 when submitting full enhanced data. Stripe Support+1
• All major commercial card types (corporate, purchasing, business credit) will be eligible under CEDP with the appropriate data submission. Stripe Support+2NMI+2
• Legacy Level 2 will largely disappear — meaning merchants who currently rely on passing only limited enhanced data must upgrade or reorganize their data practices. Revolution Payments+3Redbridge+3Versapay+3

In short: If you do any volume of commercial card acceptance and you’re not fully capturing line-item data today, this change will likely affect you.

What “enhanced data” really requires under CEDP

This is where things get rigorous. Visa’s standards are not just “fill all fields”—they demand invoice-quality, descriptive, accurate, and consistent data. Generic or placeholder entries will be rejected or trigger downgrades.

Here are core required elements:

• Line-item descriptions — specific product/service names, not “item,” “fee,” or a company name
• Product codes / SKUs / commodity codes — meaningful identifiers
• Quantities, unit prices, extended amounts
• Tax details — subtotal tax per line (if applicable), not just overall tax
• Freight/shipping or handling charges
• Purchase order numbers / invoice numbers / requisition numbers
• Units of measure
• Correct aggregation — sum of line items + freight + tax must match total transaction amount
• No blank or “miscellaneous” or placeholder entries — missing or generic fields risk downgrades
• Consistency and accuracy — fields must make sense relative to previous transactions (e.g., you can’t alternate wildly between units or codes)

Visa’s validation engine will flag many common errors.

• 0.15%

  Potential immediate interchange reduction for verified merchants under CEDP.

• 2026

  Visa phases out most Level 2 programs by April 17, 2026.

• 1

  Missed requirement or generic “miscellaneous” entry can trigger a downgrade—costing you preferred rates.

Verified vs. non-verified: What it means for your bottom line

Your merchant status under CEDP determines how aggressively you’ll be rewarded or penalized.

Verified merchants

Those whose data consistently meets Visa’s integrity thresholds. Benefits:

• Access to Product 3 interchange rates on all qualifying transactions
• The highest rate reductions (Visa has talked about up to 15 basis points or ~0.15 %) for verified merchants.
• Greater protection against downgrades or rejections (subject to occasional error thresholds)

Non-verified merchants

If your merchant status is “non-verified,” here’s what to expect:

• You may still get Product 3 rates transaction-by-transaction, but only if individual submissions pass validation
• Visa may apply retroactive adjustments if earlier transactions are judged noncompliant
• Higher risk of transaction downgrades or fallback to standard corporate rates
• Potential difficulty in ever achieving verified status if errors persist

Some processors estimate it could take 2–3 months of clean submissions before a merchant is upgraded to verified.

Why this matters

1. Direct cost savings

Qualified merchants can reduce their effective processing costs. Even a few basis points saved on large B2B volumes adds up fast.

2. Avoiding downgrades & penalties

Incomplete or bad data triggers fallback to higher-cost interchange categories. That can wipe out your expected savings.

3. Cash flow & settlement efficiency

Visa indicates that clean, validated data may accelerate processing and settlement due to lower friction in validation. Versapay

4. Better dispute & reconciliation support

Line-item visibility helps buyers, card issuers, and systems reconcile charges, reducing disputes.

5. Competitive differentiator

B2B buyers, especially larger enterprises, often require or prefer suppliers that deliver detailed invoices. Clean data can make you a better partner.

What you must do now: Action plan

Here’s a roadmap to hit compliance and position yourself advantageously:

1. Audit your current B2B / commercial card process
   • Analyze existing enhanced data submissions
   • Monitor historic downgrade reports
   • Flag missing/generic field patterns
2. Upgrade or partner your gateway / payment stack
   • Ensure your gateway or payment processor supports real-time validation and rich enhanced data
   • Automate template filling so you don’t manually enter every field
   • Build or adopt logic to catch errors before submission
3. Submit clean test transactions early
   • Start sending fully populated enhanced transactions now to trigger early feedback from Visa’s integrity engine
   • Monitor any integrity alerts and correct immediately
4. Track metrics & performance
   • Create internal dashboards to monitor data quality, field error rates, downgrades
   • Share with your finance, payments, and IT teams
5. Work with your processor / acquirer
   • Confirm they support CEDP / Product 3
   • Ask for your classification (verified vs non-verified)
   • Request best practices, templates, or audit support
6. Scale & maintain compliance
   • After achieving verified status, monitor data continuously
   • Periodically audit your processes and templates
   • Adjust for business changes, new products, or updates

How Bankful can help you navigate CEDP

If you want to see exactly how your business stacks up and what work remains, contact us to book a free CEDP readiness check with Bankful. We’ll walk you through a gap analysis and map out your path to compliance—and cost savings.