Paying extra to use plastic? The surcharge NJ shoppers shouldn’t be seeing

💳 Visa and Mastercard rules prohibit merchants from adding surcharges to debit-card purchases, even if you select “credit” at checkout.

💰 New Jersey allows limited credit-card surcharges, but lawmakers are considering a specific state ban on debit and gift-card fees.

😡 Consumers hate the extra charges: J.D. Power says 81% of cardholders who encountered surcharges have used another payment method to avoid them.

That annoying fee may not belong on your debit card

You've seen the signs.

“3% convenience fee for credit/debit cards.”

Or maybe it's called a “processing fee.” Whatever the name, you pay a little extra for the privilege of not carrying a wad of cash.

But if you're paying with a debit card, that surcharge may violate the rules of the card network.

Visa says U.S. merchants cannot surcharge purchases made with a Visa debit or prepaid card — even if you select “credit” at the payment terminal. Mastercard similarly says surcharges are not allowed on Debit Mastercard or prepaid cards.

That doesn't mean merchants can't charge more for credit cards.

New Jersey's credit-card surcharge rules

Under current New Jersey law, businesses may impose a surcharge on credit-card purchases, but it cannot exceed the merchant's actual cost to process the payment. Businesses also have to clearly disclose the amount before the customer incurs the charge.

Debit cards fall into a murkier area under current state law. That's why lawmakers are considering legislation that would explicitly prohibit sellers from imposing surcharges on debit and gift-card transactions.

The proposal, S-4107/A-5110, would also require businesses that surcharge credit cards to clearly tell customers before payment that debit and gift cards cannot be surcharged. Violations would be treated as unlawful practices under the state's Consumer Fraud Act.

In other words, lawmakers are trying to put into New Jersey law a prohibition that Visa and Mastercard already impose through their merchant rules.

Consumers really hate these fees

And merchants might want to think twice before tacking another fee onto the bill.

A 2025 J.D. Power study found 65% of credit-card customers surveyed had encountered higher prices for using their cards. Among those hit with a surcharge, 81% said they had used another payment method at some point to avoid it.

A separate national poll suggests those fees could also cost businesses customers.

A Morning Consult survey conducted for the American Bankers Association found 66% of adults surveyed said they would be less likely to shop at a retailer or restaurant that imposed a surcharge for paying with a credit or debit card. Just 22% said they would be more likely to shop there.

The survey also found 66% believed retailers should absorb the cost of allowing customers to pay by card, while only 13% said retailers should pass that cost along to customers. The Morning Consult poll surveyed 4,475 U.S. adults in March 2025 and had a margin of error of plus or minus one percentage point.

The backlash can go even further.

J.D. Power's 2026 merchant study found 35% of small businesses surveyed were imposing credit-card surcharges. Nearly one-third of those businesses said customers sometimes or frequently simply canceled the purchase and walked away when they saw the fee.

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