In most of the US, yes, on credit cards, within the card networks' rules and your state's law. Visa allows a credit card surcharge of up to your card rate or 3%, whichever is lower, with 30 days' written notice to your processor and disclosure at entry, at checkout and on the receipt. Debit and prepaid cards can't be surcharged. Some states ban surcharges, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, and others cap or shape them, such as Colorado, Oklahoma, Minnesota and New York. A discount for paying by cash is protected by federal law.
Checked 22 October 2026 against Visa's Core Rules and surcharge Q&A, Mastercard's surcharge pages, 15 U.S.C. 1666f, and each named state's statute or official guidance. These rules change: Connecticut changed its law in 2024, Oklahoma in 2025 and Louisiana in 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Is it legal to charge customers a credit card fee?
In most of the US, yes, with conditions. Two sets of rules apply at once:
- The card networks' rules. Visa and Mastercard each allow US merchants to add a surcharge to credit card payments. Both exclude debit and prepaid cards. Both cap the amount and require notice and disclosure.
- Your state's law. A few states ban surcharges outright. Others allow them with their own caps or posting rules. Visa's own Q&A says the rule follows the state where each location is. A business with locations in several states can surcharge where a state allows it and not where it doesn't.
A fee for paying by card is called a surcharge. The rules below are about that kind of fee. A flat fee for an extra payment channel is a convenience fee, which has different rules.
What do Visa's rules require?
Visa's U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A and its Core Rules (edition of 18 April 2026, sections 5.5.1.5 to 5.5.1.9) set five conditions:
- A cap. No more than your merchant discount rate for the credit card, or 3%, whichever is lower.
- Notice first. Tell your acquirer (your processor) in writing at least 30 calendar days before you first charge a surcharge, or before you announce one, whichever is earlier.
- Credit only. Debit and prepaid cards can't be surcharged. That holds when a debit cardholder presses "credit" on a terminal, because it is still a debit card. See debit card surcharge.
- Disclosure. At the point of entry, at checkout, and as a separate charge on every receipt. Online, the customer must be able to cancel after seeing the surcharge.
- Similar treatment. You can't surcharge Visa in a payment channel where another credit card brand stops you surcharging its cards, or limits it and you surcharge Visa on different terms. Visa's rules list exceptions, such as when the other brand costs you less and doesn't prohibit surcharging.
The surcharge must be included in the transaction amount and identified in the transaction data. The surcharge entry covers the brand-level and product-level choice and the minimum font sizes Visa gives as examples.
What do Mastercard's rules require?
Mastercard's merchant surcharge rules page says US merchants may surcharge Mastercard credit cards, not Debit Mastercard or prepaid cards. The cap is the lower of your average effective merchant discount rate for Mastercard credit or its Maximum Surcharge Cap, which the page lists as 4%. The receipt must show the dollar amount of the surcharge.
The same page asks for notice to both Mastercard and your acquirer at least 30 days before you start. But Mastercard's disclosure form page now says it is "presently no longer requiring" US merchants to register, while it updates its surcharge rules. Neither page carries a date. Ask your processor what it needs.
If you take both brands, Visa's 3% is the lower ceiling. Your own card rate may be lower than either.
What does federal law say?
Federal law protects the discount, not the surcharge. Under 15 U.S.C. 1666f(a), a card issuer "may not, by contract or otherwise, prohibit" a seller from offering a discount to get a customer to pay by cash, check or similar means rather than a credit card.
Visa's rules allow the same thing as a "discount offer". To do it, show the card price alone or the card and cash prices side by side. The card total must come from those displayed prices, not from a fee added at checkout. See cash discount and dual pricing.
Which states ban or limit credit card surcharges?
Visa's Q&A says that as of 15 February 2024 it understood Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico to prohibit surcharging, and Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York to have requirements. Visa warns its list may contain errors. Oklahoma shows why: its law changed in November 2025.
We checked these states against their own statutes or official guidance on 22 October 2026. This is not a list of every state.
| State | What the law says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | No surcharge on any transaction. A discount for paying by cash, check or debit is allowed with a posted or displayed notice. Up to $500 civil penalty per violation. | Conn. Gen. Stat. 42-133ff |
| Massachusetts | No surcharge on a customer who pays by credit card instead of cash, check or similar means. | M.G.L. c. 140D, s. 28A |
| Maine | No surcharge for paying by credit card or debit card. A discount from the regular price is not a surcharge. | 9-A M.R.S. 8-509 |
| Colorado | Allowed on credit and charge cards: up to 2% of the total, or up to the merchant discount fee you actually pay, each with a required sign. Never on cash, check, debit or gift cards. A separate line on the receipt. | SB21-091, in force from 1 July 2022 |
| Oklahoma | Allowed on credit cards since 1 November 2025, with the amount posted at entry and checkout, or on the home page and checkout page online. No more than 2% or your actual processing cost, whichever is less. | SB 677 (2025) |
| Minnesota | Allowed on credit and charge cards up to 5% of the price, disclosed in person, online or by phone as the statute sets out. | Minn. Stat. 325G.051 |
| New York | Allowed, but you must post the total card price including the surcharge, or the card and cash prices side by side. The surcharge can't exceed what the card company charges you. | N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law 518 |
| Louisiana | No surcharge on debit cards from 1 August 2026. Credit cards are not covered by this law. | Act 751 of 2026 |
Each state's law is broader than this table. Read the statute for your locations.
What changed in Connecticut and Oklahoma?
Connecticut, 2024. Public Act 24-142, effective 6 June 2024, amended the surcharge law. The statute's history note says it changed "form" to "method" in the definition of a surcharge, limited a transaction to one "in this state", and added notice and a hearing before the $500 penalty. Connecticut's Department of Consumer Protection says a fee added at checkout and labelled a "transaction fee", "processing fee" or "non-cash adjustment" on the receipt is a surcharge. See non-cash adjustment.
Oklahoma, 2025. Senate Bill 677 became law on 28 May 2025 without the governor's signature, effective 1 November 2025. It repealed the old surcharge section and rewrote the discount section to allow a credit card surcharge with notice and a 2% cap. A business that only accepts credit cards isn't treated as one whose customer chose a card.
What about California?
Two separate laws, and neither is a simple yes or no.
- The surcharge statute. California's Department of Justice says Civil Code 1748.1, passed in 1985, prohibited surcharges. A federal court held the law could not be enforced against the businesses that brought the Italian Colors case, and the Attorney General "will generally apply the Italian Colors decision to merchants that are similarly situated." Merchants still can't mislead customers about the price.
- All-in pricing. SB 478 (Civil Code 1770(a)(29)), in effect since 1 July 2024, says an advertised price must include all mandatory fees. The Attorney General's FAQ says a card processing fee is generally not mandatory if the customer can avoid it by paying another way. If a business only accepts credit cards, the fee is mandatory and must be in the advertised price.
How do a surcharge, a convenience fee and dual pricing differ?
| Credit card surcharge | Convenience fee | Dual pricing or cash discount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A fee for paying by credit card | A flat fee for an extra payment channel | A lower price for paying another way |
| Amount | Up to your card rate or 3% under Visa's rules | A fixed amount | Your choice of discount |
| Cards it touches | Credit only | Every method in that channel | None, the card price is the displayed price |
| On installment payments | Not excluded by Visa's rules | Not allowed by Visa's rules | No installment exclusion in Visa's discount rule |
| State bans | Some states ban it | Check your state | Protected from card issuers by federal law |
The full comparison is in convenience fee vs surcharge.
What does a surcharge look like on a payment plan?
Each card payment on a plan is its own transaction, so each one carries its own surcharge. Take a $1,108.33 installment on a card that costs you 2.9%:
| Rule | Most you could add |
|---|---|
| Visa: your rate or 3%, whichever is lower | $32.14 |
| Colorado: 2% of the total, or the merchant discount fee you actually pay | $22.17, or $32.14 at 2.9% |
| Oklahoma: 2% or your cost, whichever is less | $22.17 |
| Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine | Nothing |
| Bank transfer, under any of these rules | No card fee |
The network cap and the state cap both apply, so the lower one wins. Visa's rules don't allow a convenience fee on an installment transaction, so outside Visa's service-fee categories (such as schools, utilities and government), a surcharge or a cash discount is the card-fee route on plan payments. For what the card costs against a bank transfer over a whole plan, see what ACH saves on a $15,000 plan.
What should go on the invoice or plan schedule?
Where you surcharge, Visa's rules and the state laws above point to the same list:
- The amount or percentage of the surcharge, before the customer pays.
- A statement that you are charging it, that it applies to credit cards only, and that it isn't more than your card rate.
- A separate line for the surcharge on every receipt.
- The plan agreement. For a card saved to charge later payments, Visa's rules say the agreement must acknowledge any surcharge and its disclosures, where surcharging is permitted.
- A way to pay without it. Bank transfer or another method with no card fee.
- The total price, if you sell in New York, with the surcharge included or the two prices side by side.
- Refunds. Visa's rules say a refund includes the surcharge, pro-rated on a partial refund.
Is this legal advice?
No. This post summarises the network rules and the state laws named above as they read on 22 October 2026. It is not legal advice and it doesn't cover every state. Before you add a card fee, check with your own counsel and your state attorney general's office, and ask your processor what notice it needs.
Sources
- Visa: U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A, version of 15 February 2024
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026: refunds (section 1.5.4.14), sections 5.5.1.5 to 5.5.1.9 (US credit card surcharges), section 5.5.2.1 (convenience fees), table 5-20 (stored credentials)
- Mastercard: merchant surcharge rules and surcharge disclosure form
- 15 U.S.C. 1666f
- Conn. Gen. Stat. 42-133ff and Connecticut DCP: surcharges
- M.G.L. c. 140D, s. 28A
- 9-A M.R.S. 8-509
- Colorado SB21-091, signed act
- Oklahoma SB 677, enrolled
- Minn. Stat. 325G.051
- N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law 518 and the Governor's announcement
- Louisiana Act 751 (SB 254), 2026
- California DOJ: credit card surcharges and SB 478 hidden fees
Changelog
- 22 October 2026: first published, with the network rules and state laws as checked that day.
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