The Downgrade Reason Dashboard provides visibility into interchange downgrade activity across your payment portfolio — showing which merchant accounts are experiencing downgrades, at what rate, and what reasons are driving them over time.
Interchange downgrades occur when a transaction fails to qualify for the best available interchange rate and is instead assessed at a higher cost tier. This dashboard helps identify patterns in downgrade sales volume and rate by group, enabling targeted remediation to reduce unnecessary interchange costs.
Equivalent of the Downgrade Savings dashboard.
Dashboard scope and defaults:
This dashboard is scoped to Interchange data only.
The default view is set to Downgrades. Use the Qualification Group filter to view Optimal data.
Default view displays settled data only. Use the Funding Method filter to access conveyed data.
Downgrade Type is directional based on interchange category. Downgrade Reason is provided by certain acquirers (Chase, Vantiv) and will show null for others. Use the saved view "Acquirer Downgrade Reason" if your acquirers provide reason code data.
Downgrade Sales & Downgrade Rate (Combo Chart)
This is a dual-axis combo chart showing downgrade sales volume as stacked bars and the overall downgrade rate as a line overlay.
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Left Y-Axis: Downgrade Sales ($) — stacked bars, one color per group member (e.g., DBA Name)
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Right Y-Axis: Downgrade Rate (%) — line overlay showing the blended downgrade rate across all groups
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X-Axis: Date (configurable via Date Granularity: Y / Q / M / W / D — defaults to Monthly)
Controls
|
Control |
Default |
Options |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Measure |
Amount |
Amount, % of Total Amount |
Switches the Y-axis metric |
|
Group |
MID : DBA Name |
— |
Dimension used to segment the stacked bars |
|
Top N |
10 |
— |
Limits the chart to the top N groups by downgrade sales volume |
|
Date Granularity |
Month |
Y / Q / M / W / D |
Date bucketing for the X-axis |
Tip: Clicking on a bar segment in the chart filters the Downgrade Rate line to reflect only the downgrade rate for that selected group — useful for isolating the rate impact of a specific DBA or MID.
Downgrade Sales by Downgrade Type (Stacked Bar Chart)
This chart breaks down downgrade sales volume by downgrade type over time, helping identify which specific downgrade categories are driving costs.
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Y-Axis: Depends on the selected Measure:
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Amount — downgrade sales dollar amount
-
% of Total Amount — each bar totals 100%, showing share of downgrade sales amount per downgrade type
-
-
X-Axis: Date (configurable via Date Granularity: Y / Q / M / W / D — defaults to Monthly)
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Segments: One color per downgrade type
Controls
|
Control |
Default |
Options |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Measure |
Amount |
Amount, % of Total Amount |
Switches the Y-axis metric |
|
Group |
IC : Downgrade Type |
— |
Dimension used to segment the bars |
|
Top N |
10 |
— |
Limits segments to the top N downgrade types by volume |
|
Date Granularity |
Month |
Y / Q / M / W / D |
Date bucketing for the X-axis |
Use this chart to see which downgrade types are responsible for the most downgrade sales volume and whether specific types are growing or shrinking over time.
Pivot Table
The pivot table provides a detailed multi-measure breakdown of downgrade activity across configurable dimensions and time periods.
Controls
|
Control |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Measure |
Net Sales, % of Total Net Sales, Transactions, Interchange Fees, Controllable Downgrade Savings, Effective IC Rate, Average Sale, Downgrade Rate |
Multi-select — see available measures below |
|
Groups |
3 |
Number of active group levels |
|
Group 1 |
IC : Description |
Primary row dimension |
|
Group 2 |
Card : MOP Name |
Secondary row dimension |
|
Group 3 |
IC : Downgrade Type |
Tertiary row dimension |
|
Date Granularity |
Month |
Y / Q / M / W / D |
Available Measures
|
Measure |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Net Sales |
The net revenue from sales after accounting for refunds. |
|
% of Total Net Sales |
The share of net sales out of grand total net sales. |
|
Transactions |
The total count of all transactions, including both completed sales and refunds. |
|
Interchange Fees |
The total interchange fees assessed on transactions. |
|
Controllable Downgrade Savings |
The estimated savings available from downgraded transactions that could be corrected and requalified at a better interchange rate. |
|
Effective IC Rate |
Interchange cost as a percentage of net sales. Net sales denominator excludes conveyed transactions. |
|
Average Sale |
Average transaction value — net sales ÷ transactions. |
|
Downgrade Rate |
The percentage of sales that incurred additional downgrade fees. |
Table Structure
|
Column |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Group 1 |
Top-level row grouping (default: IC : Description). |
|
Group 2 |
Secondary row grouping nested under Group 1 (default: Card : MOP Name). |
|
Group 3 |
Tertiary row grouping nested under Group 2 (default: IC : Downgrade Type). |
|
Monthly columns |
Selected measures for each month across the date range, displayed side by side for trend comparison. |
Filtering Tips
Use the Filters button at the top right to narrow the dashboard:
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Date Period: Defaults to the last 13 months including the current month — adjust to focus on a specific period
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Funding Method: Switch between Settled (default) and Conveyed data
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Date Granularity: Switch from Monthly to Weekly for a more granular view of recent downgrade trends
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Qualification Group: The default view is set to Downgrades. Use the Qualification Group filter to view Optimal data.
Use Case Example:
"We want to understand why our effective interchange rate has been creeping up over the last quarter."
Check the Downgrade Sales & Downgrade Rate chart — identify which DBA Names show the highest downgrade sales volume and whether the rate is trending up
Click on a bar segment to filter the Downgrade Rate line to that specific group and isolate its rate
In the pivot table, add Effective IC Rate and Downgrade Rate as measures — Group 1 already defaults to IC : Description, so you can immediately see which downgrade reason codes are contributing most to rate elevation
Use Controllable Downgrade Savings to quantify the cost impact per reason code and prioritize remediation efforts