Things are changing in the B2B payments landscape. With the replacement of L2/L3 data by Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP), businesses that serve B2B, corporate, and government clients are being incentivized to submit high-quality data.
As of October 2025, the previous standards for rich B2B data submission—known as Level 3 (L3) data validation and large ticket interchange (LTI)—have been replaced by the CEDP standard. Furthermore, the sunsetting of Level 2 (L2) data is planned for April 2026.
The CEDP’s primary goal is to encourage small and commercial businesses to submit accurate, complete data for all Visa credit card transactions in exchange for interchange incentives.
But what does accurate, high-quality data mean, and what are the benefits of leveraging CEDP in your business? Continue reading for more information.
What is CEDP?
Before the launch of CEDP, Visa businesses could claim interchange incentives by submitting enhanced data (known as Level 2/Level 3). With CEDP, these initiatives are only triggered by the ongoing entry and validation of complete and accurate data.
Key attributes of CEDP according to Visa:
- Requires a more thorough data validation process for enhanced data on all eligible merchant transactions
- Features new reporting and support services for merchants, acquirers, and service providers to help ensure data quality
- Authenticates ongoing merchant data quality, offering verified merchant status for those who meet quality standards
- Verified merchant transitions receive interchange incentives at settlement
- Grants interchange incentives for Visa transactions that meet CEDP standards
What you need to know about CEDP
Level 3 data validation and LTI was replaced with CEDP in October 2025, and Level 2 is scheduled to sunset in April 2026. If you’re looking to collect reduced interchange rates, now is the time to align with CEDP.
All Visa merchants are initially unverified. Once Visa’s algorithm confirms your data is high-quality (complete and accurate), you achieve “Verified” status and are awarded with reduced interchange rates. These rates are received at the settlement of eligible transactions.
Eligible transactions include U.S. domestic small business, commercial (incl. corporate, purchasing, and fleet), and government (incl. purchasing, travel, and fleet) credit transactions. Some merchant category codes (MCC) are excluded from CEDP, and transactions must meet Visa Enhanced Data Services File specifications. Eligibility is subject to change from time to time.
Requirements of CEDP qualification and need-to-know details:
- To take advantage of the incentives, the merchant’s payment processor must configure the transaction to include the required CEDP indicator flag when submitting the data to Visa.
- High-quality data must be supplied within 96 hours of the transaction.
- Autofilled data (any fields that contain generic, unverified, or default information) does not qualify for interchange incentives. Visa requires genuine, specific item/service data provided by the merchant’s billing system.
- While legacy systems may allow manual selection, it is best practice (and highly encouraged) to ensure that your payment processor automatically submits all eligible U.S. commercial and large ticket credit transactions to maximize your incentive capture rate.
- Transaction data quality can be rejected. Review your monthly reports from your merchant service provider, as well as your processing statement, to identify any issues in data qualification.
- There is a 5 Basis Points (BPS) participation fee for all flagged transactions.
It’s important to note that your eligibility for interchange incentives is dependent on your merchant agreement and the Visa CEDP criteria. Be sure to carefully review your agreement before implementing any changes.
CEDP in practice
What does a CEDP-qualified transaction submission look like? The goal is for businesses to submit invoice-like data for each transaction. However, this is not about adding new fields; it’s about populating all existing required fields with meaningful, specific, and accurate content. Vague descriptions (such as “misc item”) will cause rejection.
To qualify for CEDP, item descriptions must be detailed and specific. Moreover, product codes should include identifiers like SKUs or manufacturer codes (etc.). The idea is for the transaction data to be useful and complete.
Benefits of implementing Visa’s CEDP
The benefits of CEDP extend further than reduced interchange rates. See how your business can benefit from CEDP verification below:
- Detailed transaction reporting helps reduce the impact of disputes.
- The incentive to comply with CEDP drives tighter integration between your billing/ERP system and your payment processor, which ensures payment and order data flow instantly and cleanly into the accounting ledger.
- Qualify your small business and commercial/government transactions for interchange incentives.
As you can see, the transition to CEDP is more than a cost-saving tool; it promotes data transparency and supports operational efficiency. Getting ahead of the curve can help you avoid higher fees and frustrating disputes.
How Stax simplifies compliance with Visa’s CEDP
Data integrity is now the price of the best interchange rates. This means that your payments processor must be a technology partner, not just a transaction handler. That’s where Stax comes in.
Stax is your go-to solution for CEDP compliance. We do the technical heavy lifting to ensure your data meets Visa’s validation standards, as well as receive provide comprehensive monthly reporting as required by Visa.
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