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By Ashish Rajan, CardTrak.com

VISA is seeking to expand its small ticket acceptance program by offering acquirers lower credit and debit interchange rates on consumer card transactions of $15 or less in seven new merchant categories. VISA also reports that its volume on purchases of less than $25 in targeted small ticket segments totaled $49.1 billion in 2005, up 25% from 2004. VISA currently has a total of 14 categories for reduced rates for small ticket transactions. The new categories include bus lines, car washes, dry cleaners, laundries, news dealers/newsstands, quick copy services and tolls/bridges. Most of the under $25 tickets are under VISA's "No Signature Required" program. VISA says that by the end of this year as many as 27% of all VISA transactions may qualify for its "No Signature Required" program. VISA says the merchant segments that qualify for its "No Signature Required" program represents approximately $750 billion in consumer spending.