Georgia Credit Card Surcharge Law: Caps, Debit Rules, and Penalties

Under Georgia credit card surcharge law, a business can pass its card processing cost to customers, but only if the fee stays at or below what the merchant actually pays to process the transaction, the customer is told the exact dollar amount before paying, and a fee-free payment option like cash or check is also available. The controlling statute is O.C.G.A. § 13-1-15. On top of that, Visa and Mastercard impose their own caps and notification rules, and debit cards cannot be surcharged at all. Get any of these wrong and you face exposure under the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act, private lawsuits with triple damages, and possible loss of your card processing account.

What Georgia Law Requires

O.C.G.A. § 13-1-15 calls the charge a “convenience fee” and lets any merchant or lender collect one from customers who choose to pay electronically, including by credit card, debit card, or electronic funds transfer. The statute attaches three conditions, and all three must be satisfied for the fee to be lawful.¹

First, the fee cannot exceed the actual amount the merchant pays a third party to process the transaction. As an alternative, the merchant can charge the average of its actual processing costs for that payment type, which makes the math workable when rates vary transaction to transaction.¹ There is no flat percentage ceiling in the statute; the ceiling is your own cost.

Second, you cannot charge the fee unless you also offer customers a way to pay by check, cash, or money order with no added fee. A business that only accepts electronic payments cannot layer on a convenience fee at all.¹

Third, before imposing the fee, you have to tell the customer the exact dollar amount, that the fee is nonrefundable, and that it is being charged because the customer chose to pay electronically.¹ A vague reference to “processing fees may apply” does not meet this standard. The customer needs the number in advance.

Card Network Rules That Sit on Top

Complying with Georgia law is not the whole picture. Visa and Mastercard enforce their own surcharge rules through your acquiring bank, and their sanctions are independent of anything the state does.

Advance Notice

Before you can start surcharging, you must notify your acquiring bank and the card network at least 30 days in advance. Visa provides an online form for the notification.² Skipping this step is a network violation on its own, even if the rest of your program is textbook clean.

Percentage Caps

Visa’s maximum surcharge is 3% of the transaction amount, effective April 15, 2023. Mastercard’s ceiling is 4%. In either case, the surcharge cannot exceed the merchant discount rate you actually pay on that card, even when your rate is below the network cap.² If Visa charges you 2.1% to process, 2.1% is your cap on Visa transactions.

The Georgia statute is usually the stricter of the two rules because it locks the fee to your actual cost. Comply with § 13-1-15 and you will almost always be within network limits.

Signage and Receipts

Visa requires signage at the store entrance and at the point of sale stating the surcharge percentage, noting that it does not exceed your cost of acceptance, and clarifying that debit cards are not surcharged. Visa’s sample language reads: “We impose a surcharge of [X]% on the transaction amount on Visa credit card products, which is not greater than our cost of acceptance. We do not surcharge Visa debit cards.”³ You can write your own signage and combine brand messages if you surcharge on both networks.

The surcharge must also appear as a separate line item on the customer’s receipt.² Rolling it into the item price without breaking it out violates network rules and likely fails Georgia’s dollar-amount disclosure requirement as well.

For phone orders and online sales, disclose the surcharge before the customer authorizes payment. A fee that first appears on a confirmation page or emailed receipt is disclosed too late.

Debit Cards Are Off Limits

This is the trap that catches the most merchants. Federal law and card network rules prohibit surcharging debit and prepaid card transactions, and choosing “credit” at the terminal does not change that. A signature-based transaction on a debit card is still a debit transaction.⁴

The Durbin Amendment, at 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2, protects a merchant’s ability to offer discounts across payment methods, but it does not authorize surcharging debit.⁵ Most modern point-of-sale systems detect card type and suppress the surcharge automatically. If yours does not, you need a manual process. One surcharged debit transaction is one violation.

Cash Discounting as an Alternative

If the compliance load feels heavy, a cash discount program is the common workaround. Instead of adding a fee for card users, you build processing costs into your listed prices and offer a discount to customers who pay with cash or check.

Federal law protects a merchant’s right to offer discounts for cash, check, or debit card payments, and card networks cannot penalize you for it as long as the discount does not favor one card issuer over another.⁵ Cash discounting is legal in all 50 states, requires no 30-day network notice, and sidesteps the signage and receipt line-item rules that surcharging imposes.

The catch is that the discount has to be real. Your cash price must actually sit below your card price. If your signage says $10.00 and the credit card customer pays $10.35, that is a surcharge no matter what you call it on the receipt, and it will be evaluated as one.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

Surcharge violations can come at you from three directions.

Georgia Fair Business Practices Act

The FBPA at O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393 does not name credit card surcharges, but it prohibits unfair or deceptive acts in consumer transactions.⁶ Georgia’s consumer education site has stated that failing to clearly disclose added transaction fees may violate state laws against deceptive or false advertising.⁷ A hidden surcharge, or one that exceeds your actual processing cost, can fall under this framework.

Under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-397, the Attorney General has two enforcement routes. Administratively, for willful violations, the Attorney General can issue cease-and-desist orders, impose civil penalties of up to $2,000 per violation, and order restitution to affected consumers. Through superior court, the Attorney General can seek injunctions, civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, restitution, and the appointment of a receiver over the business’s assets.⁸ Because the penalties run per violation, a business that has been surcharging improperly across hundreds of transactions faces exposure that grows quickly.

Private Consumer Lawsuits

Individual consumers can sue under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-399. If the court finds an intentional violation, it must award three times actual damages, and it will award reasonable attorney fees and litigation expenses to the consumer.⁹ The fee-shifting piece is what makes small surcharge overcharges worth suing over. A consumer must send a written demand before filing, and the business then has 30 days to make a reasonable settlement offer.

Card Network Sanctions

Visa and Mastercard enforce their rules through your acquiring bank. Penalties can include higher processing fees, network fines, or suspension of your merchant account. For a card-dependent business, losing the ability to accept cards often hurts more than any state fine.

Compliance Checklist

Confirm your actual processing rate for each card type and set your surcharge at or below that number.
Submit 30-day advance notice to Visa, Mastercard, and your acquiring bank before you begin.
Post signage at the entrance and at the point of sale showing the surcharge percentage and stating it does not exceed your cost of acceptance.
Before ringing up the sale, tell the customer the exact dollar amount of the fee and that it is nonrefundable.
Show the surcharge as a separate line item on every receipt.
Program your point-of-sale system to suppress the surcharge on debit and prepaid cards, including signature-based debit runs.
Keep cash, check, and money order available as fee-free payment options.

1
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 13 Contracts – 13-1-15 Convenience Fees for Electronic Means
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Visa. Surcharging Credit Cards Q&A for Merchants
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Visa. Sample Surcharge Disclosure Signage
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Visa. U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1693o-2 – Reasonable Fees and Rules for Payment Card Transactions
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Justia Law. Georgia Code 10-1-393 – Unfair or Deceptive Practices in Consumer Transactions
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Consumer Ed. Credit Card Surcharges
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Justia Law. Georgia Code 10-1-397 – Cease and Desist Orders
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Justia Law. Georgia Code 10-1-399 – Civil Actions for Violations