Can you charge clients a credit card fee?

Card fees run about 3% of each payment (our fee comparison has the numbers), so passing them on is tempting. Here's what card networks and states allow, as part of our getting paid series. The pay-on-time guide recommends building fees into your rate; this post explains the rules if you want a separate surcharge.

This post is general information, not legal or tax advice. Laws change and depend on where you and your client are; check the sources below or ask a lawyer licensed in your state before relying on a rule. For a surcharge plan, a business attorney or your CPA can confirm how your state's rule applies to you.

Surcharge, convenience fee or cash discount?

Card-network rules (Visa)

• Tell your acquirer (Stripe, Square, your bank) at least 30 days before you start surcharging; Visa's merchant Q and A says to notify Visa too.
• Keep the surcharge at or below your merchant discount rate for that card, and never above 3%, whichever is lower.
• Disclose the surcharge before the client pays, at the point of entry (the invoice or payment page) and at the point of sale.
• Show the surcharge as a separate line on the receipt.
• Surcharge credit cards only. Debit and prepaid cards can't be surcharged, even when run as credit.

This list follows Visa's published U.S. surcharging Q and A. Mastercard, American Express and Discover set their own rules and caps; check them with your processor before you start. Processors can have their own surcharging requirements in their terms, so read those too.

State rules

Several of these laws are written for consumer sales and some courts have questioned surcharge bans on free-speech grounds, so how they apply to a freelancer billing a business can be less clear than the table suggests. That's one more reason a discount or a higher rate is the lower-risk choice.

At the federal level, the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, in effect since May 12, 2025, covers only live-event tickets and short-term lodging, so it doesn't set rules for a freelancer's card surcharge. State law and card-network rules are what apply.

Worked example: surcharge vs ACH discount on $2,000

Checklist before you add a surcharge

1. Check your state's rule, and the client's state if you bill across state lines: a ban in Connecticut, Massachusetts or Maine ends the question.
2. Read your processor's terms on surcharging and give the notice your card network requires at least 30 days ahead.
3. Work out your real cost per card payment from your processor's statement; the surcharge can't be higher.
4. Make sure the payment page can tell credit from debit, because debit and prepaid cards can't be surcharged. If it can't, use a discount instead.
5. Put the surcharge in the contract and on every invoice before the client pays, and show it as its own line on the receipt.

Invoice wording to copy

Payments by credit card include a [2.9]% surcharge, which is not greater than our cost of acceptance. There is no surcharge for payment by debit card, ACH or bank transfer.

Invoice total: $[2,000.00]
If paid by credit card: $[2,058.00] (includes $[58.00] surcharge)

Invoice total: $[2,060.00]
Pay by ACH or bank transfer within [15] days and take [3]% off: $[1,998.20].
Bank details: [account name, routing number, account number].

Put the same wording in your contract so the client agrees to it before work starts; payment terms wording has the matching clauses.

In SoloWOS

SoloWOS Invoicing has no automatic surcharge: invoices are paid by card through your own Stripe account at the invoice total, and SoloWOS adds no fee of its own. The simplest compliant setup is to price fees into your rate and add your bank details under Payment instructions in Settings > Client payments, so clients who want to pay by transfer can. If you offer a bank-transfer discount, state it in the invoice Notes.