The Hidden Risks of Manually Adding Credit Card Fees... What Home Service Businesses Need to Know

For small business owners, especially in home services like plumbing, pest control, HVAC, and landscaping, credit card processing fees can quickly eat into profits. Many try to offset these costs by manually adding a 3% fee to invoices- but what they don’t realize is that this can expose them to serious legal and financial risks, especially when debit cards are involved.

🚨 Visa & Mastercard Rules: Why Debit Card Surcharges Are a Major Risk

🔹 Visa & Mastercard strictly prohibit surcharging debit card transactions, regardless of whether the debit card is processed as "credit" or "debit" at checkout.

💳 Here’s where it gets risky: When you manually add a 3% fee to invoices, you have no control over how customers pay. If a customer uses a debit card, you’re violating card network rules and could face:

✔️ Fines starting at $5,000 per violation

✔️ Chargebacks and disputes from customers

✔️ Potential loss of your merchant account (losing the ability to accept cards altogether)

🚨 If flagged repeatedly, your business could be placed on the MATCH/TMF list, making it nearly impossible to secure another payment processor.

🚨 This is NOT just a state law issue- it’s an industry rule enforced by Visa & Mastercard.

See Visa Rules Here.

See Mastercard Rules Here.

⚖️ State Laws: Where Surcharging Is Completely Illegal

Beyond debit card risks, several states have banned surcharges altogether. If you're operating in one of these states, adding a fee, manually or otherwise, could result in legal action and thousands in fines.

📍 States Where Surcharging is Illegal:

🚫 Connecticut

🚫 Maine

🚫 Massachusetts

🚫 California (effective July 1, 2024)

🔹 Understanding the Durbin Amendment

The Durbin Amendment (part of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010) was created to regulate debit card fees, capping the amount banks can charge merchants for debit transactions.

⚠️ However, the Durbin Amendment does NOT allow merchants to add surcharges to debit cards- it only limits how much banks can charge in interchange fees.

This means:

❌ Even if your debit card processing costs are lower, you CANNOT pass those costs to customers as a surcharge

❌ Visa & Mastercard do not allow debit surcharges, regardless of how debit transactions are processed

✅ The only legal way to avoid processing fees on debit cards is to use a compliant Dual Pricing solution.

💸 Real-World Consequences of Noncompliance

🔴 New Jersey – Several restaurants were fined $500 per transaction for improperly applying surcharges without proper disclosure.

🔴 California – A business was fined $10,000 for manually charging card fees, violating both state law and card network rules.

🔴 Visa Enforcement – In 2023, Visa fined multiple small businesses $25,000+ for improper surcharges, especially for applying fees to debit transactions.

🚨 Even worse? Repeated violations can land your business on the MATCH/TMF list, which means losing your ability to accept credit cards altogether. Once on this list, securing a new payment processor becomes extremely difficult.

🚨 The reality? One mistake could cost your business thousands.

✅ A Compliant Solution: Dual Pricing with Rapid Accept

Instead of manually adding fees, and risking violations, Rapid Accept offers a fully compliant Dual Pricing solution.

🔹 How It Works:

✔️ Customers see two prices upfront- cash and card

✔️ If they pay by card, the fee is applied automatically & compliantly

✔️ Debit transactions are NEVER surcharged, keeping you 100% compliant

🔹 Best of all, you keep your current software!

🛠️ Still using Jobber, HouseCall Pro, ServiceTitan, or another CRM for quotes, scheduling, and marketing? No problem.  Just use Rapid Accept for invoicing & payments- no software switch required.

🚀 Why This Matters for Your Business

✅ No compliance headaches- stay protected from state and federal fines

✅ No surprise chargebacks- avoid disputes from customers paying with debit

✅ No losing thousands in processing fees or risking your merchant account

💰 For just $60/month, you can eliminate card fees the right way and sleep better at night knowing your business is protected. Setup is simple, in the matter of minutes.

🚨 Don’t wait until you get hit with a fine- switch to compliant Dual Pricing today.