What a foreign card fee is
A foreign card is a card issued by a bank in another country. A tourist from Ohio paying with their US Visa card at your shop in Ontario is a foreign card sale.
The card networks charge extra fees on these sales. They are often called cross-border, foreign or international fees. Helcim’s fee disclosure puts it this way: “Card associations and networks will charge additional fees for ‘international transactions’, which are transactions where the cardholder issuing bank is located in a different country than the merchant.”
These are network fees: charges set by Visa, Mastercard and the other networks, and passed on by your processor. They are separate from interchange, which goes to your customer’s bank. More on network fees: Assessment Fees Explained.
The Visa and Mastercard cross-border fees TD lists
TD Merchant Solutions publishes its card network fees. These are the cross-border ones, as percentages of the sale. TD’s fee schedule calls the Visa ones “Visa Cross Border Assessment” fees, and its statements show them as “VI Cross Border”:
| Fee on TD’s list | Rate | When it applies, in TD’s words |
|---|---|---|
| Visa Foreign Assessment Fee (Multi Currency) | 0.6780% | When “the country codes of the merchant and the cardholder differ” and the sale is in Canadian dollars |
| Visa Foreign Assessment Fee (Single Currency) | 1.1300% | The same, when the sale is in a currency other than Canadian dollars |
| Mastercard Foreign Assessment Fee (CDN) | 0.678% before Aug 1, 2026; 1.1300% from Aug 1, 2026 | Country codes differ, sale in Canadian dollars |
| Mastercard Foreign Assessment Fee (USD) | 1.1300% | Country codes differ, sale in another currency |
| Discover International Processing Fee | 0.4520% | Country codes differ |
| Amex Foreign Assessment Fee | 0.6780% | Country codes differ (excludes JCB) |
These are on top of the regular assessment fees TD lists for every sale, such as 0.1017% for Visa and Mastercard.
The 2026 Mastercard change. TD’s Fee Change Summary says: “Effective August 1, 2026, Mastercard is increasing the Foreign Assessment Fee.” It lists the change from 0.678% to 1.13%, marked as a card network fee, 100% passed on, for TD’s IPLUS and DRAF pricing methods. TD listed October 10, 2026 as the date to cancel without penalty.
Other cross-border fees on TD’s list
Some cross-border fees apply only in certain cases.
- Visa Foreign Settlement Fee. TD’s fee list says it applies to “all cross border transactions where the settlement currency is other than Canadian Dollars,” and lists 0.1130%. TD’s Fee Change Summary is newer: it says that from April 1, 2026, Visa raised it to 0.2825%, for credit and debit, and that “Generally, this change will apply to Merchants with US dollar Merchant Accounts.”
- Visa Foreign Compliance Integrity Fee. A per-sale charge when a declined card is retried on a cross-border sale. TD says it rose to $0.38 from May 1, 2026, charged for each authorization attempt after a decline.
- Visa DCSF Foreign Fee. 0.0396% on cross-border card-not-present (online, phone or keyed) sales.
- Mastercard NABU Foreign Fee. From October 19, 2026, TD lists $0.0476 per foreign Mastercard sale. See Mastercard’s New NABU Fee in Canada.
What Helcim and Square publish
Helcim (interchange plus) lists the extra international fees in its fee disclosure:
| Card network | In person, CAD | Online or keyed, CAD | Online or keyed, USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa International | +0.68% | +0.68% | +1.13% |
| Mastercard International | +0.68% | +0.68% | +1.13% |
| Discover International | +0.45% | +0.45% | +0.45% |
| American Express International | +0.68% | +0.68% | +0.68% |
| Interac Debit International | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Helcim’s disclosure lists Mastercard at +0.68% in Canadian dollars. TD lists Mastercard’s foreign assessment at 1.13% from August 1, 2026. The two pages were read on the same day and do not match. Helcim is the source for which amount applies to a Helcim account.
Square Canada (flat rate) adds a set amount. Its support article says: “Payments made with credit or debit cards issued in a different country than the location of your Square account incur a 1.5% international transaction fee, in addition to Square’s base processing fees.” It applies to in-person, online and card-not-present sales, but not to Afterpay or Interac payments.
More on each: Helcim and Square.
Who sees these fees
- Shops near the border and in tourist areas may take more foreign cards.
- Online sellers shipping to other countries may take more foreign cards, and some fees on TD’s list apply only to card-not-present sales.
- Businesses with a US-dollar account may see the Visa Foreign Settlement Fee, according to TD.
How it shows up on your statement
- Interchange plus and differential: cross-border fees are their own lines. TD’s statement names include “VI Cross Border - Multi Curr”, “VI Cross Border - Single Curr” and “Cross Border Assessment”.
- Flat rate: look for an extra charge on international cards, such as Square’s 1.5%.
How to Read Your Merchant Statement shows where network fees sit. The statement decoder explains individual lines.
Where to go from here
On a statement, foreign card fees are the lines with “cross border”, “foreign” or “international” in the name. Their total, set against foreign card sales, shows what those sales cost in network fees.
For more on Canadian card fees, see card processing in Canada. Want a partner to review your statement? We will put you in touch. Start the free statement review.