In November 2012, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved a proposed settlement agreement in the In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation. As part of this settlement, Visa is required to implement certain Visa International Operating Regulation rule changes, including the ability for merchants in the U.S. and U.S. territories to surcharge certain credit card transactions beginning January 27, 2013.
Merchants who choose to surcharge once the rule changes take place will be required to follow certain requirements, including disclosure of surcharge practices to customers at the store entry point and at the point of sale. The following information and resources are available to assist merchants who opt to surcharge in preparing for these changes:
| Materials | |
|---|---|
| Notification of Intent to Surcharge | |
| Merchants who choose to surcharge must notify Visa and their acquirer 30 days prior to beginning to surcharge; click here to notify Visa. | |
| Considerations and Requirements for Merchant Surcharging | PDF | 106kB |
| Important considerations and guidelines for merchants to consider when deciding whether or not to surcharge | |
| Frequently Asked Questions for Merchants | PDF | 260kB |
| Answers to frequently asked questions related to surcharging, designed for merchants | |
| Notice to Merchants About Visa’s Rule Changes | PDF | 235kB |
| Read Visa’s notification to merchants about changes to its rules to enable surcharging as required by the settlement | |
| Sample Point-of-Sale and Point-of-Entry Disclosures | PDF | 15.3kB |
| Merchants who intend to surcharge can download point-of-sale and point-of-entry signs to help inform customers about surcharging, as required by the settlement | |
| Maximum Surcharge Limits and Average Costs of Acceptance | PDF | 207kB |
| Access information about maximum surcharge limits and average costs of acceptance to determine the amount you may surcharge | |
If you have any questions about surcharging, please contact your acquirer or Visa Account Representative.
