Posted in Business & Corporate Law

Eleven states, including Florida, have laws that prohibit businesses from imposing consumers with surcharges on credit card transactions.  But what type of businesses are subject to this prohibition?  All businesses?  Only merchants and retailers?  Currently, the concept of charging surcharge or convenience fees for credit card usage by service business is not clearly addressed in the applicable statute.  Florida Statute Section 501.0117(1) states that a “seller or lessor in a sales or lease transaction may not impose a surcharge on the buyer or lessee for electing to use a credit card in lieu of payment of cash, check, or similar means, if the seller or lessor accepts payment by credit card.”  Moreover, a surcharge is defined as any additional amount imposed at the time of a sale or lease transaction by the seller or lessor that increases the charge to the buyer or lessee for the privilege of using a credit card to make payment.  Id.
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