Credit card surcharge rules, by card network and by state

Rules checked October 19, 2026 from official sources. Laws and card network rules change, and this isn’t legal advice. Check with your payment provider and your state (or province) before you add a surcharge.

The short answer

A credit card surcharge is an extra fee you add when a customer pays by credit card, to cover what the card costs you. It can be allowed, but only inside two sets of rules.

First, the card networks. Visa and Mastercard allow it on credit cards only, never debit or prepaid. They cap the amount, and they want 30 days’ notice before you start.

Second, your state. Some states ban surcharges outright. Others allow them with their own caps and sign rules. Where both apply, the stricter rule wins.

We only list states we checked against an official source. If your state isn’t in the table, that doesn’t mean surcharging is allowed there. It means we haven’t verified it yet.

What a surcharge is (and what it isn’t)

A surcharge raises the price because of how the customer pays. A $100 sale with a 3% surcharge becomes $103 on a credit card.

A cash discount works the other way. The regular price is the card price, and people who pay with cash get money off. Federal law treats these differently. Under 15 U.S.C. 1693o-2, a “discount” is a cut from the regular price, and the term “does not include any means of increasing the price that customers are informed is the regular price” (15 U.S.C. 1693o-2). So that law protects discounts. It does not give you a right to surcharge. More on this in our cash discount program guide.

Card network rules (these apply in every state)

Visa

• Credit only. Visa says to “limit surcharging to credit cards only (debit cards and prepaid cards cannot be surcharged)” (Visa merchant surcharging Q&A). That holds even when a debit cardholder picks “credit” at the terminal.
• The cap. “Limit the amount to your merchant discount rate (MDR) for the applicable credit card or 3% whichever is lowest” (Visa Q&A). Visa adds that even if your card costs are above 3%, you “cannot assess a surcharge above 3%” (Visa requirements).
• Notice. “Merchants must notify their acquirer 30 days before they begin surcharging” (Visa).
• Disclosure. You must “clearly alert consumers to the practice at the point of entry, the point of sale or transaction, and on every receipt” (Visa Q&A). The surcharge shows as its own line on the receipt.
• Brand or product level, not both. You can surcharge all Visa credit cards, or a type of Visa credit card, but not both at once.
• Enforcement. Visa says it runs mystery shopping every year, and the acquirer of a merchant found surcharging wrongly may be fined US$1,000 right away (Visa Q&A).

Mastercard

• Credit only. “These fees are not allowed on Debit Mastercard or Mastercard prepaid cards” (Mastercard surcharge rules).
• The cap. “The Maximum Surcharge Cap - 4%.” At brand level, you can charge the lesser of your average effective merchant discount rate for Mastercard credit or that 4% cap (Mastercard).
• Notice. Mastercard requires “advance notice to both Mastercard and the merchant’s acquirer of the merchant’s intention to impose a surcharge no less than thirty days before the merchant implements a surcharge” (Mastercard). It has a webform for the Mastercard part.
• Disclosure. Clear notice at the point of sale, including the surcharge amount, and the dollar amount on the receipt.

American Express

Amex’s Merchant Operating Guide (April 2026) doesn’t give an explicit surcharge permission or a percentage cap. Its rule is about fairness between cards. You may not impose fees on Amex “that are not imposed equally on all Other Payment Products, except for electronic funds transfer, cash, or check” (Amex Merchant Operating Guide). In practice, an Amex surcharge can’t be higher than what you charge on other cards.

One limit on what we read: that guide covers businesses that take Amex through a payment provider (the OptBlue program). The rules for businesses with a direct Amex contract sit behind a login, and we haven’t read them.

State surcharge laws we’ve verified

These are the only places we have checked against an official source. “Status” is the law as written in that source. Card network rules apply on top of every row.

State	Status	Key rule	Source
Colorado	Allowed with limits	Up to 2% of the total, or the merchant discount fee you actually paid. Required sign, separate receipt line, no debit.	C.R.S. title 5 (2024)
Connecticut	Banned	“No person may impose a surcharge on any transaction.” Some government payments are excluded.	C.G.S. ch. 739
Florida	Banned by statute	The 2026 statute still bans credit card surcharges. Court rulings on it are reported, but we haven’t read them.	Fla. Stat. 501.0117
Kansas	Allowed with limits	Only if the amount is shown in a clear notice at the point of entry or sale, before the sale. No cap in the statute. Since January 1, 2025.	K.S.A. 16a-2-403
Maine	Banned	No surcharge on credit or debit cards. Government bodies have a limited exception.	9-A M.R.S. 8-509
Massachusetts	Banned	No seller may surcharge a credit card payment. Cash discounts are allowed.	M.G.L. c.140D §28A
Minnesota	Allowed with limits	Up to 5% of the price. Tell the customer out loud and post a sign in person.	Minn. Stat. 325G.051
New Jersey	Allowed with limits	No more than your actual cost to process the card. Show the amount before the customer is charged.	NJ Division of Consumer Affairs FAQ
New York	Allowed with limits	Post the total credit card price, surcharge included. Capped at what the card company charges you.	N.Y. GBL §518
Oklahoma	Allowed with limits	The lower of 2% or your actual cost. Notice required. Since November 1, 2025.	SB 677 (enrolled)
Texas	Banned by statute	The statute bans credit card surcharges. A 2018 federal ruling limited it for some merchants.	Texas AG Opinion KP-0257
Puerto Rico	Banned	No extra charge for any valid payment method, including credit and debit cards.	Ley 150-2008

A few notes on the table:

• Minnesota and Kansas allow more than the card networks do (5%, or no state cap). Visa’s 3% and Mastercard’s 4% caps still apply, so the network cap is your real limit.
• Oklahoma changed recently. Visa’s own 2024 Q&A still lists it as a state that bans surcharges, but that list came before the new law.
• Florida and Texas are hard cases. Each statute bans surcharges, but courts have ruled on them. We only describe what an official source tells us. See the Texas page for what the Texas Attorney General says.

States we haven’t verified yet

We have not yet verified the surcharge rules in these places from an official source: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

That is not a green light. “Not yet verified by us” means only that. Ask your provider and check your state’s own laws before you surcharge there.

One related point for California: we couldn’t read its surcharge statute, but its Attorney General has a page on the state’s honest pricing law. It says “if a business only accepts credit cards as a form of payment, then the credit card fee is mandatory and would have to be included in the advertised price” (California AG).

The June 2026 settlement: not in effect

In June 2026, a revised Visa and Mastercard settlement with US merchants got preliminary court approval. Visa says that under it, “Merchants will have more options to surcharge, including if they do not surcharge other credit networks” (Visa statement, June 9, 2026).

It still needs final court approval. Until then, it changes nothing, and the network rules above are the ones that apply.

Surcharge or cash discount?

Both aim to make card payers cover the card cost. They work differently under the law.

• A surcharge adds a fee for paying by credit card. Network caps, notice and state laws apply.
• A cash discount lowers the price for people who pay another way. Federal law stops card networks and card issuers from blocking real discounts, and several states that ban surcharges allow them.

The catch: Visa says a card price “achieved by applying an additional fee for a card payment” may be treated as a surcharge. So a program that looks like a discount but adds a fee at the register may count as a surcharge. Our cash discount program guide covers what makes it real.

What this means in practice

1. Check your state first. If it bans surcharges, stop there. If it isn’t in our table, ask your provider and check your state’s laws.
2. Credit only. Never surcharge debit or prepaid cards, even if the customer picks “credit.”
3. Use the lowest cap that applies. That’s your card cost, Visa’s 3%, Mastercard’s 4%, or your state’s cap, whichever is lowest.
4. Give 30 days’ notice. To your acquirer for Visa, and to both Mastercard and your acquirer for Mastercard.
5. Post signs and show it on receipts. At the entrance, at checkout, and as its own receipt line.

Or skip all of it. A surcharge passes your card cost to your customers. Lowering your card cost helps you and your customers. Start by finding your real rate.

Keep reading

• State guides: Texas, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts.
• Cash discount programs, explained: the federal rules and the line Visa draws.
• Credit card processing fees, explained: what every line on your statement means.
• Interchange-plus vs flat rate: which pricing model costs less.