Nova would like to inform you that Visa, MasterCard, and Discover recently announced changes to their respective interchange, assessment fees, and qualification criteria.  On the February merchant statements, we will announce these interchange rate increases to all of our merchant customers.  These changes will go into effect April 1, 2008.

Merchant account changes are as follows on Tiered, Surcharge, Fixed, and Special Pricing Methods:

• 19 basis point (0.19%) and $0.04 increase on the Non Qualified Tier, Commercial Non Qualified Tier, and Flat Rate merchants.
• PIN-based Debit will increase $0.06 per transaction.

The following is a copy of the statement message that will appear on the February merchant statements for the above pricing methods.

Eff. 4/08: No base increase, CDATAII/Face-to-Face moves to commercial non-qualified, ENH Keyed Rewards 2 to non-qualified, Intl Elec to mid-qualified.  Non Qualified/Commercial Non Qualified/Flat Rates Increase 0.19% + $.04, PIN debit increases %.06 each.

We are also having structural changes to the tiered pricing programs.

• Corp Data Rate II/Corp Face-to-Face to commercial non-qualified.
• CPS Rewards 2/Enhanced Key-Entered to Non-Qualified.
• Intl Electronic to Mid-Qualified.

Merchant accounts that are on Interchange Pass Through pricing will receive the increase as a pass through based on the actual increase for each applicable interchange category for April.  There will be no increase to the amount of mark up on percentage or per item. 

If you have any questions and/or concerns on how this will affect your business please contact your Merchant Service Provider at (888) 288-3816.