Summary: Level 1, 2, and 3 data are tiers of transaction detail in payment processing. Level 1 includes basic transaction data (amount, card number, date). Level 2 adds tax amounts, merchant postal codes, and customer codes. Level 3 provides line-item details like product descriptions, quantities, and prices. Marqeta supports sharing Level 2 and Level 3 data via webhook or Core API, enabling real-time transaction events for card programs.
Data from credit card transactions is an invaluable asset. It helps issuers build a deeper understanding of cardholder purchase patterns, needs, and behaviors. Learning about the different card processing levels can help you improve card program management, from expense tracking to fraud review.
Marqeta supports sharing Level 2 and Level 3 data for card programs by webhook or through the Core API, giving you deeper insight into the payment patterns behind every transaction. Using that data, you can derive previously untapped value from transactions and grow your card program's data set.
What is Level 1, 2, and 3 data?
Level 1, 2, and 3 data are tiers used in payment processing to provide additional information about a transaction. The main difference between them is the amount of data they provide.
Card network naming conventions:
- Mastercard: Data I, II, and III
Mastercard: Data I, II, and III
- Visa: Level I, II, and III
Visa: Level I, II, and III
Quick definitions:
- Level 1 data – Basic transaction information: amount, card number, and expiration date.
Level 1 data – Basic transaction information: amount, card number, and expiration date.
- Level 2 data – Additional details: tax amount, merchant's postal code, and customer code.
Level 2 data – Additional details: tax amount, merchant's postal code, and customer code.
- Level 3 data – Line-item details: product descriptions, quantities, and prices.
Level 3 data – Line-item details: product descriptions, quantities, and prices.
These levels of data are often required for transactions with government entities or large corporations, as they help with tracking and auditing. They also give merchants more detailed information to analyze their transactions and improve their business operations.
One of the most common real-world examples is expense management. Say you have an employee named Amy. She travels on a business trip and uses her corporate credit card to pay for her hotel, rental car, and meals. With the data that is sent back to your organization, it will be easier for your accounting department to reconcile her expense reports.
Merchants start at Level 1 and are incentivized with lower interchange rates to move to higher processing levels. In exchange, those higher levels require merchants to share specific types of data that go beyond the basics. Levels 2 and 3 apply to commercial (business) card transactions, and the higher the level, the greater the amount of information the merchant is required to share. The system rewards merchants for sharing more data, and issuers get richer transaction detail in return.
Higher transaction volumes also come with stricter security requirements. Merchants processing more transactions are held to higher PCI compliance standards, which helps lower a card program's risk of chargebacks. Achieving Level 2 or Level 3 card processing status often lines up with these higher-volume PCI tiers, since both are based on similar transaction thresholds, even though they are separate frameworks.
Level 2 and Level 3 data can be used by card programs for a variety of activities such as expense management and fleet card programs. This data helps Marqeta customers get the details of the exact items purchased and detailed tax amounts.
Level 1 data
Level 1 represents standard business-to-consumer card processing data present in every credit card transaction's clearing message. The vast majority of merchants remain at Level 1, since card networks typically require at least 1 million transactions annually to move to Level 2, and only a small percentage of merchants ever reach that milestone.
Examples:
- Card number
Card number
- Transaction amount
Transaction amount
- Currency code
Currency code
- Merchant name and category code (MCC)
Merchant name and category code (MCC)
- Date
Date
Level 2 data
Once a merchant hits 1 million annual transactions, they usually qualify for the lower interchange rates of Level 2 for corporate, commercial, government, and B2B transactions, as long as they submit the required data. This is voluntary, but the financial incentive for the merchant is notable. While the data provided will vary depending on the specific vertical, Level 2 requires all of the Level 1 data plus details such as sales tax, sales tax indicator, customer code or purchase order number, and merchant zip code.
Vertical industry examples:
- Fleet – fuel type and amount
Fleet – fuel type and amount
- Airlines – ticket number and passenger details
Airlines – ticket number and passenger details
Level 3 data
Level 3 is typically for larger business-to-business transactions from merchants that already qualify for Level 2, and it involves the most granular data of the three tiers. Level 3 includes all Level 1 and Level 2 data, plus additional fields such as commodity and product codes, quantities, item descriptions, shipping and freight information, and units of measure.
Real-time transaction events via webhook: Marqeta delivers Level 2 and Level 3 data through webhooks, enabling card programs to receive real-time transaction event notifications as purchases occur. This capability is also available through Marqeta's Core API, which offers 370+ endpoints for managing every part of a card program. For the full list of event types and fields for Level 2 and Level 3 card data, see Level 2 and Level 3 card data events in Marqeta's Core API documentation.
