An interchange agreement is a contract that sets the terms for sharing equipment, services, or personnel between two or more parties, and the word shows up in three very different settings. In freight, it is the contract a trucking company signs to borrow a trailer or container it does not own. In card payments, it refers to the fee rules that govern what a merchant’s bank pays a cardholder’s bank on every swipe. In government, it is a formal arrangement that lets career employees move between separate federal merit systems. The mechanics differ, but the core idea is the same: each side accepts specific obligations so a shared resource can move cleanly from one party to the other.
Trailer and Container Interchange Agreements
In trucking, an interchange agreement is a contract that lets a motor carrier take temporary possession of equipment owned by someone else, usually a trailer, chassis, or shipping container. The carrier picks up the equipment at an agreed location, hauls it, and returns it. From the moment the carrier signs for the equipment, responsibility for physical damage shifts to the carrier and stays there until the equipment is returned and receipted.1ArcBest Corporation. Trailer Interchange Agreement
The dominant contract for intermodal moves in North America is the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement, known as the UIIA. Roughly 13,000 intermodal trucking companies participate, and the agreement standardizes the rules so a fresh contract does not have to be negotiated for every interchange.2Intermodal Association of North America. UIIA Participation
What the Carrier Signs Up For
Liability under a typical interchange agreement is broad. The carrier agrees to indemnify the equipment owner against loss, damage, or liability arising from the carrier’s use of the equipment, including third-party injuries and property damage, and that obligation applies whether or not the owner did something that contributed to the problem. If the equipment is a total loss, the carrier owes the commercial value of the trailer as of the interchange date.1ArcBest Corporation. Trailer Interchange Agreement
Normal wear and tear is the main carve-out. The UIIA sorts damage into equipment-owner responsibility items (breakage from ordinary use) and motor-carrier responsibility items (damage during the interchange period beyond normal wear), and it includes detailed exhibits, tire-marking rules, and photo requirements for documenting condition at pickup.3Intermodal Association of North America. Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement The line between wear and billable damage is what generates most disputes, so photographing and inspecting equipment at handoff is the best protection for both sides.
Insurance Required to Sign One
Because the carrier is absorbing significant risk, coverage is not optional. The UIIA requires participating carriers to carry at least $1 million in auto liability, including a scheduled and hired autos policy with a formal UIIA endorsement attached, plus $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate general liability.
Most carriers also buy trailer interchange insurance on top of those minimums. That policy covers physical damage to non-owned trailers in the carrier’s possession, so a damaged, stolen, or destroyed trailer does not have to be paid for out of pocket. Annual premiums for this coverage generally run from a few hundred dollars to about $1,500, depending on limits and the carrier’s risk profile.
Interchange Agreements in Card Processing
The other common use of the word involves credit and debit cards. Every time a customer pays with a card, the merchant’s bank (the acquiring bank) pays a fee to the customer’s bank (the issuing bank). That fee is called interchange, and although the banks exchange it, the merchant ultimately absorbs it because it is deducted from the transaction amount before funds reach the merchant’s account.
The flow works like this. The customer taps or swipes at checkout. The acquiring bank sends the transaction to the card network, which routes it to the issuing bank. The issuing bank confirms available credit or funds and returns an authorization. At day’s end the merchant submits authorized transactions in a batch. The network settles each one by moving funds to the acquiring bank minus the interchange fee, and the acquiring bank then deposits the balance in the merchant’s account after subtracting its own processing markup.
Interchange compensates the issuing bank for guaranteeing payment, maintaining cardholder accounts, and funding rewards programs. Online and phone transactions carry higher rates than in-person sales because fraud risk is greater when the card is not physically present.
Who Sets the Rates
Individual banks do not set their own interchange rates. The card networks, primarily Visa and Mastercard, publish default rate schedules that apply across every transaction on their networks. Mastercard describes rate-setting as a balancing act: too high and merchants stop accepting the card, too low and banks stop issuing cards or funding rewards.4Mastercard. Mastercard Interchange Fees and Rates Explained
In practice, credit card interchange for in-person sales runs roughly 1.5% to 2.5% of the transaction amount plus a flat fee of about $0.10, with premium rewards cards and corporate cards at the higher end. Online transactions typically add 0.2 to 0.5 percentage points on top of the in-person rate for the same card type. A basic consumer card swiped in a store might carry around 1.5% plus $0.10, while a high-end rewards card used online can exceed 2.5% plus $0.10.
The Debit Card Cap
Credit card interchange is currently unregulated at the federal level. Debit card interchange has been capped since 2011 under what is commonly called the Durbin Amendment, which requires that fees for electronic debit transactions be “reasonable and proportional to the cost incurred by the issuer” and considers only the incremental cost of authorizing, clearing, and settling each specific transaction. Broader business costs such as marketing and rewards cannot be factored in.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693o-2 – Reasonable Fees and Rules for Payment Card Transactions
The Federal Reserve implemented the statute by capping debit interchange at 21 cents per transaction plus 0.05% of the transaction value, with an additional 1-cent fraud-prevention adjustment for issuers that meet certain standards.6Federal Register. Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing The cap applies only to banks and credit unions with $10 billion or more in assets. Smaller issuers are exempt.
Legislation to extend regulation to credit cards has been introduced repeatedly. The Credit Card Competition Act of 2026 was referred to the Senate Banking Committee in January 2026 but had not advanced beyond introduction as of that date.7U.S. Congress. S.3623 – Credit Card Competition Act of 2026
Government Personnel Interchange Agreements
Federal agencies also use interchange agreements, though the subject there is people rather than equipment or fees. Under 5 CFR 6.7, when the Office of Personnel Management and another federal agency with its own merit system decide a transfer would serve good administration, they can enter an agreement defining how employees move between the two systems and what status and tenure those employees keep after the move.8eCFR. 5 CFR 6.7 – Movement of Persons Between the Civil Service System and Other Merit Systems Eligible employees must hold permanent, continuing positions with career or career-type appointments and must meet the qualifications of the position they transfer into.9eCFR. 5 CFR 214.204 – Interchange Agreements These agreements are separate from the Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program, which handles temporary assignments to state or local governments, tribes, universities, and research centers.10U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program
What to Check Before You Sign One
The industries differ, but the structure of these agreements does not vary much. If you are reviewing one, the provisions worth reading carefully are:
- The parties and the scope. Every party is named, and the agreement defines exactly what is being exchanged, whether that is a trailer, payment processing rights, data access, or an employee’s services.
- The operational responsibilities. Who maintains the equipment, who carries insurance, and who covers day-to-day operating costs during the interchange period.
- Liability and indemnification. Who pays for damage, loss, or injury. In transportation the carrier holding the equipment almost always bears this risk; in government assignments the agencies negotiate cost-sharing case by case.
- Insurance minimums. Equipment interchange agreements typically specify coverage types and limits and require certificates of insurance before possession changes hands.
- Duration and termination. When it starts, how long it runs, and how either side can end it early.
- Dispute resolution. Many interchange agreements include arbitration or mediation clauses so disagreements over damage, costs, or performance do not go straight to court.
In equipment interchange, the single provision that generates the most conflict is the boundary between normal wear and billable damage. Documenting condition with photos and a written inspection report at pickup is the strongest protection either party has, and the UIIA has built detailed exhibits and photo requirements around exactly that problem.