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I recently came across this notion of levels, as in "level 3 data", for credit card transactions. I'm not sure what is meant by that concept. What are the levels for credit card transactions? How is it determined what level a given transaction occurs under?

Some follow up questions worth asking too: where do the levels come from, who defines them, and why do they exist? Are there any other related or similar levels out there to know about?

jxramos
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  • I’m voting to close this question because it isn't really a question about personal money or personal finance. Yes, I know the name of the group is misleading, but that's the intended reading. – keshlam Oct 21 '23 at 06:43
  • Seems relevant just for the privacy ramifications surrounding one’s shopping. It’s one thing to suppose hypotheticals of possibly passing along marketing data like through club cards etc it’s another to learn details about the actual mechanisms for how this information passes along via the credit card. These details should help consumers make informed decisions. – jxramos Oct 21 '23 at 20:54

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Apparently these levels are tied to the credit card processing machines and what data they're setup to publish between merchants and credit card companies

There's a summary over here of the topic

Credit Card Processing Levels: When you process a credit card, you’re then placed into one of three processing categories: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3.

Level 1 has the highest rates and Level 3 has the lowest. As you move up levels, there are more line-item details that must be sent with each transaction. https://isolutionspayments.com/tutorials/what-are-credit-card-processing-levels

jxramos
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