Card-brand operating rules are the ones that show up at the register. You feel them when you post a price, when a PIN pad adds a line, and when a debit card is run as "credit." In the U.S., a surcharge is a fee added only to a credit sale. Visa's U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A (February 15, 2024) caps that fee at the merchant discount rate or 3 percent, whichever is lower, requires 30-day acquirer notice before the first surcharged sale, and forbids debit and prepaid. Mastercard's merchant surcharge page (accessed August 2026) states a Maximum Surcharge Cap of 4 percent, the same debit and prepaid exclusion, and 30-day notice to Mastercard and the acquirer. A cash discount is the opposite shape: federal law protects a reduction from the regular price, and Visa treats a program that reaches the card total by adding a fee as a surcharge. State law can still ban the fee. Run Is surcharging legal in my state in 2026 first. This article is the brand sequence at the counter.
This is a reading of public brand pages and the U.S. Code, not legal advice. Confirm the current text with your acquirer and counsel before you change a sign, a menu, or a terminal setting.
A discount is a reduction from the regular price. A PIN-pad add-on is a surcharge, whatever the sign says.
A U.S. credit surcharge never applies to debit or prepaid, including a debit card run as credit.
Visa: lower of merchant discount rate or 3 percent. Mastercard Maximum Surcharge Cap: 4 percent, still limited by cost of acceptance.
Visa: entry, point of sale, and an itemized receipt line, after 30-day acquirer notice. Mastercard: 30-day notice to Mastercard and the acquirer, plus the dollar amount on the receipt.
The surcharge is a registered program
Visa's Q and A defines a surcharge as an additional fee or charge a merchant adds to a consumer's bill for using a particular form of payment. In the U.S. and U.S. territories, merchants in most states may add that fee to credit transactions only if they follow Visa's process (Visa, U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A, February 15, 2024):
- Notify the acquirer at least 30 days before you begin.
- Put the surcharge amount in Visa Field 28. Your acquirer enables that field.
- Limit the amount to the merchant discount rate for that credit card, or 3 percent, whichever is lowest.
- Disclose it as a merchant fee at the point of entry, at the point of sale or transaction, and on every receipt.
Mastercard's summary (accessed August 2026) requires advance notice to both Mastercard and the acquirer, no less than thirty days out, and the dollar amount of the surcharge on the receipt. Brand-level is one percentage on all of that brand's credit. Product-level is selected credit products. Visa's Q and A gives the same fork for Visa credit: brand level or product level, not both.
Visa mystery-shops. The acquirer of a merchant identified as surcharging improperly may be assessed an immediate $1,000 fine (Visa Q and A, February 15, 2024). That fine lands on the acquirer and becomes your shutdown.
The 3 percent number is a ceiling, not a quote
Work the cap on a real rate. The example below is illustrative.
Take an $80 Visa credit sale. Your merchant discount rate on that product is 2.40 percent. Visa's cap is the lower of 2.40 percent and 3 percent, so 2.40 percent. The largest compliant surcharge is $80 × 0.0240 = $1.92. A terminal set to a flat 3 percent would add $2.40, which is $0.48 over the discount rate and a rule break on every ticket.
Flip it. Same $80 sale, cost of acceptance 3.20 percent. The 3 percent brand cap now binds: $80 × 0.03 = $2.40, not $2.56. Visa's August 14, 2023 considerations sheet restates that even if cost of acceptance is higher than 3 percent, you cannot assess above 3 percent.
Mastercard's brand-level cap is the lesser of your average effective merchant discount rate for Mastercard credit or the published Maximum Surcharge Cap of 4 percent (Mastercard surcharge rules, accessed August 2026). A 4 percent Mastercard ceiling does not raise Visa's 3 percent ceiling on a Visa ticket. If you do not know the credit discount rate on the products you actually take, you cannot set a legal surcharge. That number lives on the statement.
Debit is never in the surcharge
Visa's Q and A is explicit: U.S. merchants cannot surcharge Visa debit or prepaid. Choosing "credit" on the PIN pad is signature versus PIN, not a license to surcharge a debit card. Mastercard's page says the same for Debit Mastercard and Mastercard prepaid. A tap, a wallet, a dual-message debit card: still debit if the account is a deposit account. If the register adds a percentage to those tickets, you are outside both brands' surcharge programs, in every state.
A true convenience fee is a different program: a flat fee for an alternate channel (phone, web), not a percentage for using a card (Visa Rules and policies). A 3 percent add-on at a face-to-face register is a surcharge, whatever the button is labeled.
Discounts are the opposite shape
Federal law protects the discount. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1666f, a card issuer may not prohibit a seller from offering a discount to induce payment by cash, check, or similar means rather than a credit card. If that discount is offered to all prospective buyers and disclosed clearly and conspicuously, it is not a finance charge. 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2 stops a payment card network from inhibiting a discount for cash, checks, debit, or credit, so long as a debit or credit discount does not differentiate by issuer or network. The same section defines a discount as a reduction from the price that customers are informed is the regular price. It does not include increasing that regular price (15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2(c)(4), text in effect August 23, 2026).
That last sentence is the register test. If the sticker is $80 and the PIN pad adds $2.40, you increased the regular price. Visa's Q and A treats that as a surcharge. A "cash discount" that is actually a surcharge inherits the credit-only rule, the cap, the 30-day notice, and any state ban. Surcharge, dual pricing, and cash discount are three programs. Pick one on purpose.
Visa's discount-offer shape, from the same Q and A: display only the card price per item, or both the card and cash price side by side per item. When the cardholder is presented with the final bill, the card total must equal the posted card prices. It must not be achieved by applying an additional fee for a card payment.
How you display prices
Surcharge disclosure is three places, not one door sign (Visa Q and A, February 15, 2024; Visa considerations sheet, August 14, 2023):
- Point of entry (the door, or the first online page that references card brands).
- Point of sale or transaction.
- A separate surcharge line on the receipt.
Mastercard requires clear disclosure at the point of interaction, including the amount of the surcharge and the dollar amount on the receipt (Mastercard surcharge rules, accessed August 2026). Visa publishes sample signage on the same small-business regulations page that carries the 30-day notice.
Dual pricing posts two numbers before tender. A cash discount posts one card-inclusive price and subtracts when the customer pays cash. If the customer only learns the card total after they have chosen to pay, you are in surcharge territory, and you need the surcharge program, not a renamed discount.
Other rules you hit at the same counter
A $10 credit minimum is allowed. A debit minimum is not. Visa's public rules page says a U.S. merchant (and merchants in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam) may require a minimum of U.S. $10 on credit cards only. Government agencies and education merchants may set a credit maximum. 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2(b)(3) stops a network from blocking that $10 credit minimum if it does not differentiate by issuer or network. A "$10 minimum on cards" sign that also hits debit is a rule break.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine still ban the surcharge in statute. Visa's February 15, 2024 Q and A also listed Puerto Rico, and as of that date Oklahoma, among jurisdictions it understood to prohibit surcharging. The brand program does not waive those statutes. Confirm the current attorney general and the 2026 state tracker before you register.
What to do with a real statement
The cap is your credit merchant discount rate, not a processor's 3 percent default. Run the analyzer on an as-billed statement, take the credit cost into the surcharge conversation, and keep debit out of the fee. A documented program that matches the posted price will outlast a terminal toggle that does not.
FAQ
What card-brand operating rules actually show up at the register? How you post the price, whether you can add a fee for credit, that debit and prepaid are never in that fee, that a cash discount has to be a real reduction from the regular price, and that a U.S. $10 minimum is allowed on credit only. Visa caps a U.S. credit surcharge at the lower of your merchant discount rate or 3 percent and requires 30-day acquirer notice. Mastercard publishes a Maximum Surcharge Cap of 4 percent and the same debit and prepaid exclusion.
Can I surcharge a debit card if the customer chooses credit on the terminal? No. Visa's U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A (February 15, 2024) forbids surcharges on debit and prepaid, including when the customer chooses credit on the PIN pad, which is signature versus PIN. Mastercard's surcharge page excludes Debit Mastercard and Mastercard prepaid.
What is the maximum credit card surcharge under Visa and Mastercard rules? Visa: the lower of your merchant discount rate for that credit card or 3 percent. Mastercard brand-level: the lesser of your average effective Mastercard credit discount rate or the published Maximum Surcharge Cap of 4 percent. A 4 percent Mastercard ceiling does not raise Visa's 3 percent ceiling on a Visa ticket, and some states still ban the fee.
Is a cash discount the same as a credit card surcharge? No. Federal law (15 U.S.C. § 1666f and § 1693o-2) protects a discount as a reduction from the regular price. Visa treats a program that posts a lower sticker and then adds a card fee as a surcharge, with the credit-only rule, the cap, and 30-day notice attached. Label does not convert the shape.
Can I require a $10 minimum to use a card? On credit, in the U.S. and listed U.S. territories, Visa allows a U.S. $10 minimum. 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2 stops a network from blocking that credit minimum if it does not differentiate by issuer or network. A debit minimum is not in that exception, so a cards-wide $10 floor is a rule break.
Do I have to notify anyone before I start surcharging? Yes. Visa requires notice to your acquirer at least 30 days before the first surcharged sale, plus disclosure at entry, at the point of sale, and as a separate receipt line; Mastercard requires 30-day notice to Mastercard and the acquirer. Starting because a terminal toggle was flipped is how programs get shut off.
Sources
- Visa, merchant credit surcharging (30-day acquirer notice; sample signage), accessed August 2026.
- Visa, U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A, version 02152024 (February 15, 2024).
- Visa, Merchant Surcharging Considerations and Requirements, version 08142023 (August 14, 2023).
- Visa, Visa Rules and policies ($10 credit minimum; discounts as a reduction from the standard price; convenience fee is a flat fee for an alternate channel), accessed August 2026.
- Mastercard, What merchant surcharge rules mean to you (Maximum Surcharge Cap 4 percent; debit and prepaid excluded; 30-day notice), accessed August 2026.
- 15 U.S.C. § 1666f, cash discounts (issuers may not prohibit; discount from the regular price is not a finance charge), text in effect August 23, 2026.
- 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2, reasonable fees and rules for payment card transactions (network may not inhibit discounts; $10 credit minimum; discount defined as a reduction from the regular price), text in effect August 23, 2026.
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