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Insights and Expertise

Louisiana's debit non-compliantly face immediate fines of $1,000, and fines

quickly increase. Although American Express technically
surcharge law: New required surcharging on debit cards until recently, Mas-
tercard and Visa rules did not allow merchants to accept
AmEx cards while surcharging Visa/Mastercard cards. In
law, familiar rules reality, merchants generally could not surcharge AmEx
debit cards. Thus, even before Act No. 751, merchants were
prohibited from surcharging on debit cards.

Does this help consumers?
The statute provides a private right of action for cardhold-
ers who are surcharged when paying with debit cards
only if the merchant fails to refund the cardholder within
30 days after written notice that the merchant violated the
debit surcharge law or if the merchant engages in repeti-
tive or willful misconduct.

Even then, the cardholder can only recover their "actual
damages." So even if cardholders are improperly sur-
charged on debit, they likely will not get anything but
a small refund. However, recovery caps may not stop a
cardholder from trying to squeeze damages out of mer-
chants for improper surcharges. As the law has garnered
By Jessica Walsh significant media attention, at least some cardholders will
Global Legal Law Firm likely be on the prowl for debit surcharge infractions.
n June 2, 2026, Louisiana's governor signed SB Overall, Act No. 751 does not appear to materially help
254 into law, which bans debit card surcharg- consumers. Given the regulations, private rights of action
ing and provides a private right of action for may be hard to come by and damages awards for private
O shoppers who are wrongly surcharged. SB citizens will likely be modest. Furthermore, any merchant
254 (now Act No. 751) enacts Louisiana Revised Statutes surcharging debit cards in bad faith is unlikely to be de-
51:3081 and 51:3082 and says "[i]n a sale of goods or ser- terred by small damages awards if they are unfazed by
vices, a retail business shall not impose a surcharge on a Visa's brutal fine regime. Act No. 751 may, however, put
cardholder who uses a debit card instead of cash, check, merchants in a tight spot if consumers are intent to manu-
credit card, or any other similar means of payment." facture violations.

It defines a surcharge as "any additional amount of money So does the law do anything?
imposed at the time of the transaction by a retail business Act No. 751 does not prevent compliant surcharging on
that increases the charge to the cardholder for the privi- credit cards, nor does it prevent cash discounting or dual
lege of using a debit card." The act went into effect on Aug. pricing. The law only applies to charges that increase the
1, 2026. cost to use a debit card. Thus, merchants that are already
compliantly surcharging, cash discounting or dual pricing
Louisiana legislators seem to have overlooked one small should be able to continue without issue so long as they
detail, however: merchants are not allowed to surcharge transparently emphasize that whatever differential pric-
debit cards anyway. ing scheme they employ has no bearing on the cost to pay
by debit card.
Card brands Visa and Mastercard explicitly prohibit sur-
charging on anything but a credit card. Merchants thus Commentators have warned, however, that this law could
are not allowed to surcharge debit cards, even if a debit impact convenience fees for the use of debit cards, mean-
cardholder chooses "credit" instead of "debit" at the POS. ing any merchants with convenience fee programs should
Visa has clarified that instead of referring to a payment review to ensure compliance. However, in the grand
method, this distinction applies only to whether the card scheme of things, Act No. 751 will likely not have much
is run as a signature debit transaction instead of a PIN of an impact.
debit transaction. Furthermore, as most merchants and
other industry participants are aware, Visa strictly en- What's the deal with this law, then?
forces its surcharge rules. Not only does Visa utilize se-
cret shoppers, whose goal is specifically to identify rule Act No. 751 is one of many laws in a growing push to regu-
violations, Visa also hosts an easily accessible page solely late the merchant discount rate and the cost to pay with
for consumer complaints. Merchants caught surcharging credit or debit cards. Increasingly, state and federal regu-

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