STAR Cuts Fees, Raises Interchange

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – STAR, the nationwide ATM and EFT network owned by Memphis-based Concord EFS, has cut its annual fees to members and hiked its interchange rates. “We have always had, as one of our long-term goals, creating a unified fee structure across the country,” said Barbara Span, Vice President of Marketing for STAR. “We believe our change in fee structure particularly benefits our smaller and mid-sized members such as credit unions.” Under the new fee structure, Span explained, financial institutions up to $500 million will pay $500 per year for membership in STAR. The organization did make some changes to its interchange pricing, Span said, but left the overall structure unchanged. The organization added petroleum retailers to its interchange structure as a separate category to reflect their narrow margins, relatively low ticket amounts and some processing issues, Span explained. Span confirmed that fast food restaurants will still pay a flat 12.5 cents regardless of their sales volume. Retailers with more than 15 million transactions per year will pay 0.55% plus four cents per transaction up to a cap, up from 0.45%. Retailers with more than five million and less than 15 million transactions will pay 0.6% plus five cents up to a cap, up from 0.5%. Retailers with less than five million transactions per year will pay 0.65% per transaction plus 12 cents, up from 0.55%.