Is it legal to charge a credit card fee? US and Canada

Is it legal to charge a credit card fee? In most of the United States, and in every Canadian province except Quebec, yes. The fee has to go on credit cards only, stay under the card networks' caps, and be disclosed before the customer pays. It is never allowed on debit or prepaid cards under Visa and Mastercard rules. Three states ban credit card surcharges outright, six more attach their own conditions, and three still have an old ban printed in the statute that courts have narrowed or struck down.

This page answers the yes-or-no question and sends you to the rules for your state or province. Each location page linked below carries the statute or regulator guidance behind it, checked in October 2026. For the practical side, our guides to the credit card surcharge sign and the debit card surcharge go further.

Is it legal to charge a credit card fee in the US?

Yes in most states. Federal law speaks to discounts rather than surcharges, and most states have no surcharge statute at all, so the card network rulebook usually sets the limits. State law adds to it where a state has one.

Federal law mostly protects the opposite move. 15 U.S.C. 1666f stops card issuers from prohibiting a discount for paying by cash, check, or similar means. 15 U.S.C. 1693o-2 stops the networks from inhibiting discounts for paying by cash, check, debit card, or credit card, as long as the discount doesn't vary by issuer or network. A markdown is protected by federal law. A fee added on top is left to the networks and the states.

The network rules are short:

• Visa caps a credit card surcharge at your merchant discount rate or 3%, whichever is lower, and wants notice to your acquirer at least 30 days before you start (Visa).
• For Mastercard, the most you can add is 4% or your average effective merchant discount rate, if that's lower (Mastercard).
• Surcharges on debit or prepaid cards aren't allowed by either network.
• Visa requires a notice at the point of entry and the point of sale, and the surcharge amount on every receipt.

In a state with no surcharge law, that's the whole rulebook. Our pages for Georgia and Ohio are typical: no state cap, so the network caps decide. Michigan's Attorney General says plainly that no state law there restricts card surcharges, which is why our Michigan page points straight to the network rules.

Here's the quick version, as of October 2026:

Which states ban credit card fees?

Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts. In all three, a lower price for paying cash is the legal way to reflect what cards cost you.

Connecticut goes the furthest. Its Department of Consumer Protection reads Sec. 42-133ff as barring any fee that raises the total because of the payment method, which covers credit, debit, cash, checks, and electronic payments, and it says a convenience fee tied to the payment method falls under the same ban (CT DCP). Towns, state agencies, and courts may add card fees. Private businesses, from a shop in Bridgeport to an online seller, may not.

Maine bans surcharges on credit and debit cards alike. Title 9-A, Sec. 8-509 says a seller may not add one when a customer pays by card instead of cash, check, or similar means, and that a discount from the regular price is not a surcharge (Maine Legislature). A 2025 bill to lift the ban, LD 151, was reported Ought Not to Pass in committee that May.

Massachusetts has a one-line rule: no seller may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who pays by credit card instead of cash, check, or similar means (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140D, Sec. 28A). Since September 2, 2025, the Attorney General has also enforced junk fee regulations that require the total price, mandatory fees included, whenever a price is shown (Massachusetts AG). Our Boston page covers the city details.

Visa's own Q&A, which states Visa's understanding as of February 15, 2024, also lists Puerto Rico among places that prohibit surcharging. The same list still showed Oklahoma as a ban state, which it no longer is. Treat any list, ours included, as a starting point and confirm with the state's own source.

Which states allow credit card fees with conditions?

Six states let you surcharge credit cards but set their own cap, notice, or posting rules. The card network caps still apply on top, so the lowest limit wins.

Two of these trip people up. Oklahoma's statute says a customer hasn't chosen to pay by credit card if the seller takes only credit cards, so a card-only business can't use the surcharge provision at all. And in New York, the Department of State's guide treats a fee line that first appears on the receipt as non-compliant, whatever it's called.

The stacking matters in practice. Say a business in Tulsa pays 2.6% to accept Visa credit cards. Visa would allow 2.6%. Oklahoma allows 2%. The ceiling is 2%. In Minnesota the opposite happens: the state's 5% almost never matters, because Visa stops at 3% and both networks stop at your cost.

What about states where an old ban is still on the books?

California, Florida, and Texas all still have a surcharge ban printed in the statute. In California and Florida, court rulings and the Attorney General's position mean merchants can generally surcharge credit cards with proper disclosure. Texas is less settled.

California: Civil Code 1748.1 has never been repealed. After the 2018 decision in Italian Colors v. Becerra, the Attorney General says it will generally apply that ruling to merchants in the same position as the plaintiffs. You still can't mislead customers, for example by advertising a lower price than you charge.

Florida: Section 501.0117 is still in the 2025 statutes, but the Attorney General's office says federal courts held it unconstitutional and that merchants may add a surcharge to credit card purchases. The office also cautions that a fee you don't disclose may be an unfair or deceptive trade practice.

Texas: Section 604A.0021 still says a seller may not surcharge a buyer who pays by credit card. A 2018 federal ruling held it unconstitutional as applied to merchants who wanted to surcharge no more than their swipe fees, and the Attorney General's Opinion KP-0257 says the law "remains enforceable in some contexts." A separate section bans debit card surcharges outright. If you're in Houston or anywhere else in the state, we'd look at a cash discount first and get legal advice before any surcharge sign goes up.

Can you charge a fee for debit card payments?

No. Visa and Mastercard limit surcharges to credit cards, and Visa says a debit card is still a debit card when the customer presses "credit" at the terminal. A few states put the same rule into law:

• Louisiana: Act 751 of 2026 bars a retail business from surcharging a debit card payment from August 1, 2026 (Louisiana Legislature).
• Texas: Section 604A.002 bans surcharges on debit and stored value cards, and the 2018 lawsuit never touched it (Texas statute).
• Maine and Colorado: both statutes name debit cards among the payments that can't carry a surcharge.

The usual trap is a flat "card fee" added to every card at the terminal, debit included. Our debit card surcharge guide explains how to check your setup.

Do some states cap credit card fees at 1%, 3%, or 4%?

Not the ones people usually name. These figures circulate online, and our state research found no law behind them:

• Illinois: the 1% cap comes from House Bill 3128, introduced in 2021, which never passed. It died when the 102nd General Assembly ended on January 10, 2023.
• Maryland: Commercial Law Sec. 12-509 lets a seller offer a cash discount. It doesn't set a 4% cap.
• Montana: some websites cite a 3% state cap. We found no statute that sets one.
• South Dakota: the state's consumer protection guidance mentions surcharges of up to 4%, but Visa's cap is the lower of your cost or 3%.

In all four, the network caps are the real limit.

Is it legal to charge a credit card fee in Canada?

Yes, everywhere except Quebec. Since October 6, 2022, Visa and Mastercard have let Canadian merchants surcharge credit cards, capped at 2.4% or the merchant's own cost of acceptance, whichever is lower (Visa Canada). Visa wants 30 days' written notice to your acquirer. Mastercard wants notice to both Mastercard and your acquirer (Mastercard Canada).

You can't add a surcharge to a Visa or Mastercard debit or prepaid card. Interac's fee page says merchants may not directly apply a surcharge to Interac Debit and caps any surcharge fee at $0.25 (Interac). Visa adds that convenience fees aren't permitted in Canada at all.

Quebec is the exception. Section 224(c) of the Consumer Protection Act bars charging more than the advertised price, and the Office de la protection du consommateur tells merchants they may not charge any fee for paying by debit or credit card, warning or no warning (OPC). A chain with stores in Montreal and Ontario has to switch the fee off in Quebec. The FCAC describes surcharging as an option "except in Quebec." Our guide to credit card surcharges in Canada puts dollar figures on the cap.

Do junk fee and total price laws affect card fees?

They can, mostly when customers have no way to avoid the fee. Several states now require the advertised price to include mandatory fees, and a card fee becomes mandatory if card is the only way to pay.

• Virginia: since July 1, 2025, Section 59.1-608 requires the total price, including all mandatory fees or surcharges, whenever a price is advertised or displayed.
• California: the Attorney General's SB 478 FAQ says a card fee customers can avoid generally doesn't have to be in the advertised price, but a card-only business has to include it.
• Minnesota: the Attorney General's FAQ says a surcharge that customers can reasonably avoid by paying cash isn't a mandatory fee.
• Federal: the FTC's rule on unfair or deceptive fees, in effect since May 12, 2025, covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging and requires the total price up front (FTC).

The pattern is simple. If every customer has to pay the fee, put it in the price. A convenience fee is a different animal with its own rules, covered in our convenience fee guide, and Mastercard says a merchant that surcharges credit can't also charge a convenience fee on Mastercard credit (Mastercard FAQ).

Should you charge a credit card fee?

Legal and worth it are separate questions. A fee makes the most sense when tickets are large, margins are thin, and customers have an easy fee-free way to pay. It makes the least sense when most sales are small, price is how you win, or a competitor down the street doesn't charge one.

Run the numbers first. Say a shop takes $50,000 a month on credit cards and its average cost to accept them is 2.4%, or $1,200. A 2.4% surcharge recovers that only if every credit customer keeps paying by credit. Some will switch to debit, which costs you less anyway, and some will quietly shop elsewhere. Now say a free statement review shows that same shop could pay 1.9% on interchange-plus pricing. That's $250 a month saved without a single sign, and the legal surcharge ceiling drops to 1.9% with it, because your cost is the cap.

If you do go ahead:

1. Check your state or province page for a ban, cap, or posting rule.
2. Work out your real cost per card brand from your statement.
3. Set the fee at or below the lowest cap that applies.
4. Give your acquirer 30 days' written notice.
5. Configure your terminal and checkout to skip debit and prepaid cards.
6. Post compliant signs and show the fee on every receipt.

Where a surcharge isn't allowed or isn't worth the friction, a cash discount program is usually the next thing to look at, and dual pricing vs surcharging compares the two. Our credit card surcharging program handles compliance, disclosure, and setup if a fee is the right call.

Your next step

The legal ceiling on any card fee comes back to one number: what cards actually cost you. Send a recent statement for a free statement review and we'll work out your cost by card brand, then tell you plainly whether a fee, a cash discount, or a lower rate makes the most sense where you operate. If you'd rather talk it through, contact us.