Black Communities PSA (Merchant Theft)

Yes, it is against the law to charge a fee for using a debit card in the United States. Debit card surcharging is prohibited nationwide under the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which limits interchange fees for debit card transactions and prevents merchants from passing these costs on to consumers through surcharges.
This ban applies to all 50 states, regardless of how the debit card is processed—whether using a PIN or signature.

In addition to federal law, major card networks such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover explicitly prohibit merchants from adding surcharges to debit card or prepaid card transactions in their merchant agreements.

This rule is consistent across all payment networks and is not subject to state-level exceptions. Even if a debit card is processed as a "credit" transaction (i.e., without a PIN), it is still considered a debit card for regulatory purposes, and surcharging remains illegal.

Merchants who attempt to impose such fees risk penalties, including fines from card networks, chargebacks initiated by customers, and potential termination of their merchant accounts.

Instead of surcharging, businesses may legally offer cash discounts or use other strategies to offset processing costs, such as setting minimum transaction amounts for card payments or encouraging alternative payment methods like ACH transfers.

Therefore, any fee charged specifically for using a debit card is illegal under both federal law and card network rules.

contact: [email protected]
donation: cash app $Melchq