There are a few ways of legally passing on credit card fees to customers. Some are direct, and some are indirect. Adding a surcharge to cover the credit card fee is the more direct method while incentivizing cash payments is indirect.
Merchants can impose a surcharge as long as it doesn't exceed the cost of the merchant's processing fee. Merchants may offer discounts for payment by cash, check or other methods unrelated to credit cards. There is no prohibition for credit card surcharges and no statute on discounts for different payment methods.
California Senate Bill 478, part of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, bans all “junk fees” on purchases across California. This includes credit card surcharges in most situations. It's also worth noting that California's new laws extend beyond credit card surcharges.
Surcharging is widely accepted in the US except in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Puerto Rico. Illinois, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Texas, Nevada, New York, South Dakota, New Jersey, Minnesota, California, Florida, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Montana allow surcharging with certain contingencies.
You may accomplish this by including the credit card surcharge on your invoice or displaying a sign at your office. If you're using an online payment solution, this notice should be automatically included on your payment page.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Releases Final Rule on Credit Card Late Fees, with Overdraft Fees on Deck. On March 5, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced the final rule governing late fees for consumer credit card payments, likely cutting the average fee from $32 to just $8.
Treating the fees as a cost of sales (also known as the cost of goods sold) would put them at the top section of your income statement. This means the fees will be deducted to arrive at your gross margin. Therefore, the formula would be: Income – Cost of Goods Sold – Credit Card Fees = Gross Profit.
A surcharge is an additional fee that a business imposes on a customer when they use a credit card for payment. This fee helps cover the costs associated with processing credit card transactions (such as merchant fees or payment gateway charges) by passing them down to the consumer.
Use a different payment method.
Merchants often charge convenience fees or surcharges when credit cards aren't a standard payment method. If you have a rent, utility or tax bill, consider paying by check or electronic transfer instead.
Credit card surcharging and cash discounting are the two main options for passing on fees. Adding a surcharge to credit card payments is not legal in every state, but offering a cash discount is. Implementing minimum purchase amounts and convenience fees can help control costs, too.
A surcharge is an additional amount or percentage that sellers can add to pass on a card processing fee to a buyer. You can set it up as a percentage amount as long as it doesn't go over your processing cost. With Square, the fee is the same regardless of card type.
Businesses cannot impose any surcharge for using the following methods of payment: consumer credit cards, debit cards or charge cards. similar payment methods that are not card-based (for example, mobile phone-based payment methods) electronic payment services (for example, PayPal)
Credit card processing fees are paid by the vendor, not by the cardholder. Businesses can pay credit card processing fees to the buyer's credit card issuer, to their credit card network and to the payment processor company. On average, credit card processing fees can range between 1.5% and 3.5%.
Most cardholders (92%) agree businesses should be transparent about credit card surcharges before the payment processes. Most cardholders think it should be illegal for merchants to tack on fees for paying with a credit card.
A surcharge is not a convenience fee. A convenience fee is levied by a merchant for offering customers the privilege of paying with an alternative non-standard payment method. Merchants can process convenience fees in all 50 states. A surcharge is levied by a merchant for customer purchases made with a credit card.
Here are three scripts you may want to use to notify your customers about an upcoming convenience fee: In-person: “There will be a $3 flat fee for online payments and credit cards. Would you like to use cash or another form of payment?” Online: “By selecting 'credit,' you agree to pay a $3 convenience fee.”
Nationwide rules on surcharges in the US
Credit card surcharges are generally permissible in the United States. These surcharges are added to credit card transactions to cover processing fees. The surcharge amount is typically a percentage of the transaction.
If merchants add a surcharge, they must decide to add it at the brand or product level — but not both. A brand-level surcharge adds the same fee to all credit card transactions from the same payment network, such as Visa or Mastercard.
U.S. merchants cannot surcharge debit card or prepaid card purchases.
As of the time of writing, surcharging is legal in all but four states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York*) and Puerto Rico. Note: Surcharges are governed by state law and card brand rules (like those published by Visa and Mastercard), each of which are subject to change.
In order to calculate a 3% processing fee, you will have to multiply the whole transaction value by 0.03. For instance, the processing fee would be $3 (100 x 0.03 = 3) if the transaction value was $100.
The golden rule of Credit Cards is simple: pay your full balance on time, every time. This Credit Card payment rule helps you avoid interest charges, late fees, and potential damage to your credit score.
U.S. merchants have the option to add a surcharge at the “brand level” to all transactions on Visa credit cards, or to transactions on particular types of Visa credit cards at the “product level” (e.g. Visa Traditional, Visa Traditional Rewards, Visa Signature) but not both.
7-year credit rule and your credit score
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, in most cases, debts can only appear on your credit report for seven years. After that period is up, the debt can no longer be reported. Also, if you've had a delinquent account on your credit report, creditors can hold the debt against you.