Card Surcharge Rules UK | Consumer & Business Cards

Quick Summary

UK businesses generally cannot add a surcharge because a customer chooses to pay using a consumer credit, debit or charge card. The prohibition also extends to certain other consumer payment methods, including electronic payment services such as PayPal. Commercial and corporate cards are different. The consumer-card surcharge ban does not apply to commercial debit or credit cards in the same way, although businesses must still consider the wider payment-surcharge rules, the actual cost of accepting the payment, card-scheme or provider requirements and how the charge is disclosed. The important distinction is the payment instrument, not simply whether the customer is buying for business purposes. A sole trader paying with a personal credit card does not suddenly turn that card into a commercial card. Merchants should therefore understand how their gateway, terminal or payment provider identifies consumer and commercial cards before attempting to automate card surcharges.

Can a UK business charge a customer extra for paying by card?

The simple answer is:

For most ordinary consumer debit and credit card payments, no.

But the often-repeated statement that “all card surcharges are illegal in the UK” is too simplistic.

The rules distinguish between different payment instruments.

In particular, commercial, corporate and business cards can be treated differently from consumer cards.

That creates a practical problem for merchants:

How do you know whether the card presented at checkout is a consumer card or a commercial card?

For established businesses processing meaningful volumes of corporate cards, that can become both a legal and a payment-technology question.

Are Card Surcharges Legal in the UK?

Since 13 January 2018, UK businesses have been prohibited from imposing additional charges for the use of many common consumer payment methods.

The Payment Systems Regulator confirms that merchants are not allowed to charge customers extra for certain payment methods, including cards covered by the relevant interchange-fee rules.

Trading Standards guidance goes further and explains that businesses cannot impose a payment surcharge for:

consumer credit cards;
consumer debit cards;
consumer charge cards;
certain similar non-card payment methods; and
electronic payment services such as PayPal.

However, the same guidance explicitly states that the ban does not apply in the same way to commercial debit or credit cards.

So the answer depends on what the customer is actually using to pay.

UK Card Surcharge Rules at a Glance

Payment method	Can you generally add a payment surcharge?	Key point
UK consumer debit card	No	Consumer-card payment surcharge prohibition applies.
UK consumer credit card	No	You cannot simply add a percentage because the customer chose to pay by consumer credit card.
Consumer charge card	No	Consumer charge cards are also covered by the prohibition described in current Trading Standards guidance.
PayPal / covered electronic payment service	Generally no	The surcharge rules extend beyond ordinary plastic cards to certain electronic payment services.
Commercial / business debit card	Potentially	Commercial cards fall outside the blanket consumer-card surcharge ban, but other restrictions can still apply.
Commercial / business credit card	Potentially	Any surcharge needs to be considered against the applicable rules, actual processing costs and provider/scheme requirements.
Corporate / purchasing card	Potentially	Usually a commercial-card question rather than a consumer-card surcharge question.
Consumer card through Apple Pay / Google Pay	Do not assume a wallet changes the rule	A digital wallet does not automatically turn an underlying consumer payment instrument into a commercial one.
Cash / cheque / certain other methods	Potentially	Where a surcharge is permitted for a consumer transaction, separate rules limit how much can be charged.

Important: whether the buyer is a business does not by itself decide whether a card surcharge is allowed. The payment instrument matters. A sole trader paying for business expenses using a personal credit card is still using a consumer card.

Consumer Card vs Commercial Card: Why the Difference Matters

This is where much of the confusion arises.

A consumer card is issued for personal use.

A commercial card is issued for business purposes and can include products such as:

business credit cards;
business debit cards;
corporate cards;
purchasing cards;
procurement cards; and
other qualifying commercial card products.

The important point is that:

B2B transaction ≠ automatically commercial card.

Trading Standards guidance gives a particularly useful example.

If a sole trader buys something for their business but pays using their personal credit card, the consumer-card surcharge prohibition still applies.

If a customer uses a genuine corporate credit card, even in circumstances where the purchase itself might otherwise appear personal, the payment instrument is treated differently.

That is why merchants should avoid rules such as:

“All business customers pay a 2% card fee.”

That does not distinguish between consumer and commercial payment instruments.

Can You Surcharge a Business Credit Card?

Potentially.

The blanket prohibition applying to consumer credit and debit cards does not apply in the same way to commercial cards.

However, that does not mean a merchant should automatically add an arbitrary percentage to every commercial-card payment.

Government guidance on the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations explains that for other retail payments and many payments involving commercial payment instruments, surcharges are restricted by the costs borne for accepting the payment.

A merchant considering commercial-card surcharging should therefore establish:

whether the card is genuinely a commercial card;
whether the surcharge is permitted in the circumstances;
which payment-processing costs are relevant;
how the surcharge amount has been calculated;
whether the charge is clearly disclosed;
whether the payment provider supports it;
whether card-scheme rules impose additional requirements; and
whether the checkout can reliably distinguish consumer and commercial cards.

This is why surcharging should be treated as a payments configuration issue rather than simply adding a line of text to an invoice.

Can You Add 2% to Every Business Card Payment?

That is not a sensible default approach.

A merchant's actual cost can vary according to:

card brand;
commercial card type;
credit or debit;
issuer location;
transaction channel;
interchange;
scheme fees;
acquirer margin;
gateway charges; and
the merchant's pricing arrangement.

A blanket 2% commercial-card surcharge may therefore bear little relationship to the cost the business is actually incurring.

The government's guidance explains that legitimate payment costs can include elements such as the Merchant Service Charge and relevant intermediary transaction costs where the rules permit those costs to be passed on.

Businesses considering surcharging should therefore document the rationale for the amount rather than selecting a convenient percentage.

Our merchant account fees guide explains the different costs that can sit inside card acceptance.

Why Are Commercial Cards More Expensive to Accept?

Commercial cards can have a different underlying cost profile from ordinary consumer cards.

The UK interchange caps applying to certain consumer cards do not apply to every commercial-card transaction in the same way.

Costs can therefore differ substantially depending on the card product.

A business with high corporate-card usage may see a payment-cost mix involving:

Interchange + Scheme Fees + Acquirer Margin + Gateway / Other Costs

that looks very different from a merchant predominantly accepting UK consumer debit cards.

This is one reason commercial-card-heavy sectors often need a more detailed review of their merchant statements.

See our guides to interchange and IC++ pricing and card scheme fees.

Commercial cards making your processing expensive?

Surcharging is only one way to look at the problem.

If your business accepts significant volumes of corporate, purchasing or business cards, Merchant Advice Service can help you understand the card mix and wider payment requirement before comparing providers.

Get personalised recommendations

How Does a Payment Gateway Know Whether a Card Is Commercial?

This is where payment technology becomes important.

Payment providers can use card-product information associated with the card number to identify characteristics such as:

card brand;
credit or debit;
consumer or commercial classification;
issuer;
country; and
other payment-product information.

The first digits of a card number fall within an issuer identification range, often still referred to as a BIN.

Payment providers can use card-range data to determine what type of card is being presented.

This can allow a payment platform to apply different logic depending on whether the transaction uses a consumer or commercial card.

Adyen, for example, currently offers commercial-card surcharge functionality that can be configured to identify relevant commercial cards and apply surcharge logic within supported integrations.

Its payment-terminal configuration can also be set so a surcharge applies only to commercial or business cards.

This illustrates why merchants should not try to solve the issue using a manual:

“Are you paying with a business card? Yes / No”

question.

The payment system should ideally determine the actual card product.

Can Card Identification Ever Be Wrong?

It can be imperfect.

Card products change, issuers migrate portfolios and payment providers rely on card-range information that needs to remain current.

This matters because incorrectly treating a personal card as a commercial card could result in an inappropriate surcharge.

That risk is another reason businesses should:

use provider-supported surcharge functionality;
understand what happens when a card cannot be classified;
avoid manually guessing card type;
test checkout behaviour;
monitor customer complaints; and
maintain a refund process where a charge was applied incorrectly.

GOV.UK Pay provides a useful real-world example: its corporate-card surcharge functionality checks the card type automatically and will not apply its configured corporate-card surcharge where it cannot reliably determine the relevant card characteristics.

Can You Surcharge a Corporate Card Paid Through Apple Pay or Google Pay?

This needs care.

A wallet is not necessarily the underlying payment product.

The customer could have:

a personal debit card;
a personal credit card;
a business card;
a corporate card; or
another supported payment credential

provisioned into the wallet.

The fact that the customer is using Apple Pay or Google Pay therefore does not automatically tell the merchant whether a commercial-card surcharge would be appropriate.

The gateway or wallet integration would need to support the required classification and surcharge logic.

GOV.UK Pay, for example, says its current corporate-card surcharge feature does not apply the surcharge when payment is made through a digital wallet such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Merchants should therefore confirm the actual functionality of their own provider rather than assuming that a configured commercial-card fee will automatically work through every wallet.

Can You Charge Extra for PayPal?

For ordinary consumer payments, businesses should not simply add a payment fee because the customer chooses PayPal.

Current Trading Standards guidance specifically includes electronic payment services such as PayPal among the methods for which businesses cannot impose a consumer payment surcharge.

So changing the checkout label from:

“Credit card fee”

to:

“PayPal fee”

does not provide a route around the surcharge rules.

Can You Call a Card Surcharge an Admin Fee?

Changing the name does not necessarily change what the charge actually is.

If the customer is charged £10 only when they select a particular payment method, calling it:

admin fee;
processing fee;
handling fee;
booking fee; or
convenience fee

does not automatically mean it falls outside the payment-surcharge rules.

Trading Standards guidance makes a useful distinction.

An administration or booking fee that applies at the same level regardless of payment method is not necessarily a payment surcharge.

For example:

£10 booking fee whether paying by card, cash or another accepted method

is different from:

£10 fee only when paying by credit card.

The second charge is linked directly to the chosen means of payment.

Businesses also need to comply with wider pricing and consumer-protection rules, including requirements not to hide material compulsory charges from customers.

Can You Increase Your Prices to Cover Card Fees?

Yes, businesses generally price products and services to cover their operating costs.

Card processing is one of those costs.

The government guidance specifically recognises several options for businesses dealing with payment costs, including:

absorbing the cost;
including costs within the headline price;
negotiating lower payment-provider fees; or
choosing whether to accept particular payment methods.

For many businesses, this is considerably simpler than attempting to identify and surcharge commercial cards individually.

For example:

Product price = £102 for everyone

is fundamentally different from:

Product price = £100 + £2 if you use a consumer credit card.

The latter is the type of payment-specific charge caught by the consumer-card surcharge prohibition.

Can You Offer a Discount for Bank Transfer?

Potentially, but merchants should be careful that a payment-method discount does not simply recreate an unlawful surcharge in reverse.

Government guidance explicitly addresses discounts for particular payment methods.

It confirms that merchants can encourage customers towards a particular method of payment, but the pricing structure must not result in customers using protected payment methods effectively being charged an unlawful surcharge.

For example, a business should not assume it can:

raise the normal price by 3% → call that the card price → offer 3% off for bank transfer

if the practical result is simply to recreate a prohibited consumer-card fee.

Businesses using payment-method discounts should therefore consider the actual structure carefully rather than treating the word discount as an automatic exemption.

Can a Business Require a Minimum Card Spend?

A minimum card spend is different from a payment surcharge.

The merchant is not necessarily adding a separate fee; it is deciding the minimum transaction value at which it will accept a particular payment method.

In a 2022 Parliamentary answer, HM Treasury stated that setting a minimum spend for a particular payment instrument remained a merchant choice.

However, merchants should also check:

their acquiring agreement;
payment-provider terms;
card-scheme rules;
how the policy is communicated to customers; and
whether refusing a payment creates other contractual or customer-service issues.

Do not confuse:

“Minimum card payment £5”

with:

“50p extra if you pay by card.”

They are different commercial arrangements.

What About American Express?

American Express should not simply be treated as exempt from the consumer surcharge prohibition because its payment model can differ from Visa and Mastercard.

Current Trading Standards guidance describes the prohibition in terms of consumer credit, debit and charge cards, rather than only Visa and Mastercard.

The PSR also notes that the UK interchange framework applies differently to certain American Express transactions.

The practical merchant rule should therefore be:

Do not add a surcharge to an ordinary consumer Amex payment simply because you believe it costs more to accept.

If the business is dealing with a specific commercial American Express product, obtain appropriate advice and confirm the payment-provider and product treatment before configuring a surcharge.

Does the Card Surcharge Ban Apply to B2B Payments?

This question needs a more careful answer than simply “no”.

The current regulations contain rules relevant to both consumer transactions and certain other payment situations.

More importantly, the consumer-card surcharge prohibition focuses on the payment instrument.

Trading Standards guidance gives the example of a sole trader making a business purchase with a personal credit card: the consumer-card ban still applies.

So this is wrong:

“The invoice is addressed to a company, therefore we can surcharge any card used to pay it.”

The better approach is:

identify the actual payment instrument → establish whether a surcharge is permitted → apply the appropriate rules and provider configuration.

For genuine B2B commercial-card transactions, surcharging can potentially be available, but the merchant should still establish the applicable cost, contractual and provider requirements.

How Much Can You Surcharge?

There is no universal percentage that every UK merchant can safely apply to every surchargeable payment method.

Government and Trading Standards guidance is built around the principle that, where the relevant rules limit a permitted payment surcharge, the charge should reflect the costs borne in accepting that payment method rather than becoming an additional profit centre.

Relevant payment costs can potentially include components such as:

merchant service charge;
interchange;
scheme fees;
acquirer margin;
relevant transaction costs; and
other directly relevant payment-processing costs.

The precise legal treatment depends on the transaction and payment instrument.

Businesses should therefore keep appropriate records supporting how any surcharge has been calculated.

Do You Have to Tell the Customer About the Surcharge?

Yes, payment-related charges should not be hidden until the final moment of purchase.

Current Trading Standards guidance notes that businesses must not provide misleading pricing information or hide information consumers need in order to make an informed decision.

Where a permitted surcharge is unusual or likely to surprise the customer, its existence should be made clear before the customer invests significant time and effort completing the transaction.

For online payments, this means the customer should understand:

that a surcharge applies;
why it applies;
how much it is;
which payment method triggered it; and
the total amount payable

before final payment authorisation.

Can a Card Terminal Apply Commercial Card Surcharges Automatically?

Some payment platforms can.

For example, Adyen's current point-of-sale surcharge functionality allows merchants to configure surcharge rules according to characteristics including:

card brand;
funding source;
country or region;
currency; and
whether the card is commercial or business.

A supported terminal or payment integration can therefore potentially:

Read Card → Identify Card Product → Check Surcharge Rule → Display Charge → Customer Confirms → Process Payment

That is much safer operationally than asking staff members to guess whether a card looks like a business card.

However, functionality varies considerably between providers.

Can Ecommerce Checkouts Apply Commercial Card Surcharges?

Potentially, where the payment gateway supports the functionality.

The gateway needs to be able to:

identify the payment product;
distinguish relevant commercial cards;
calculate the surcharge;
show it before final payment;
include the surcharge in the authorised amount;
return the appropriate transaction data; and
handle refunds correctly.

Adyen introduced commercial-card surcharge functionality for supported online transactions in 2025 and describes using card-range information to distinguish personal and commercial cards.

This is useful evidence that commercial-card surcharging is not merely a theoretical legal exception — payment providers are building technology specifically to support it where permitted.

How Are Refunds Handled When a Surcharge Was Applied?

The payment provider's implementation matters.

If the original payment was:

£1,000 purchase + £20 permitted surcharge = £1,020 charged

the merchant and provider need a clear process for dealing with:

full refunds;
partial refunds;
refund of the surcharge;
chargebacks;
accounting; and
reconciliation.

GOV.UK Pay's corporate-card functionality, for example, records the surcharge separately and allows its treatment to be managed when refunds are created.

This is another reason surcharge functionality should ideally sit inside the payment system rather than being maintained through a separate spreadsheet or manually added invoice line.

Accepting a high proportion of commercial cards?

Before adding surcharges, understand what those cards are actually costing you.

Your statements can help show the commercial-card mix, underlying processing costs and whether changing provider or pricing structure could be a better option.

Compare payment providers

Should You Surcharge Commercial Cards or Negotiate Better Rates?

Just because a surcharge may be permitted does not mean it is necessarily the best commercial solution.

Businesses should compare at least three options.

Option 1: Surcharge eligible commercial cards

This can recover some payment costs but may add checkout complexity or create customer resistance.

Option 2: Build payment costs into pricing

This creates a simpler customer experience but spreads card costs across the wider customer base.

Option 3: Reduce the underlying processing cost

Businesses with significant card volumes may be able to improve:

acquirer margin;
IC++ pricing;
gateway costs;
fixed transaction charges;
international pricing;
terminal costs;
commercial-card processing; or
the wider provider arrangement.

Sometimes the best surcharge strategy is therefore to make the payment itself cheaper.

What Should a Merchant Check Before Introducing a Card Surcharge?

Before making any change, establish:

Which payment instruments are being surcharged?
Are any of them consumer cards or other protected payment methods?
Can the provider reliably distinguish commercial cards?
How has the surcharge been calculated?
Does the provider or card scheme impose additional rules?
How will the charge be disclosed?
How are wallets handled?
What happens if the card type cannot be identified?
How are refunds handled?
How will the surcharge appear in reporting and reconciliation?

If the answers are unclear, do not switch the feature on simply because the payment provider offers a surcharge setting.

The MAS Card Surcharge Test

Payment Instrument → Consumer or Commercial → Actual Cost → Provider Capability → Disclosure → Payment → Refund / Reconciliation

1. Payment instrument

What is the customer actually using to pay?

2. Consumer or commercial

Is it genuinely a commercial payment instrument or simply a personal card being used for a business purchase?

3. Actual cost

What does that payment method actually cost the merchant to accept?

4. Provider capability

Can the gateway or terminal identify the card correctly and apply the right rule?

5. Disclosure

Will the customer clearly see the permitted surcharge before paying?

6. Payment

Can the surcharge be included correctly within authorisation and transaction reporting?

7. Refund and reconciliation

Can finance identify and reverse the surcharge correctly where required?

How Merchant Advice Service Helps With Commercial Card Costs

Merchant Advice Service does not provide legal advice on individual surcharge arrangements.

Our role is to help businesses understand the payment setup behind the issue.

For merchants accepting substantial commercial-card volumes, this can include:

consumer vs commercial card mix;
merchant account pricing;
interchange;
scheme fees;
IC++ pricing;
gateway functionality;
card-product identification;
commercial-card surcharging capability;
checkout configuration;
card terminals;
settlement;
reporting; and
payment reconciliation.

In some cases, the question may be whether the existing provider can support commercial-card surcharge functionality.

In others, the better question may be whether the merchant is paying too much to process those cards in the first place.

You can also browse merchant account providers through The Payments Directory®.

Want to understand your commercial-card costs?

Tell us what you process, which customers use business or corporate cards and how your provider currently prices those transactions.

We can help you understand the payment requirement before identifying alternative providers that may be suitable.

Get personalised recommendations

Editorial Note

This guide is written and reviewed by Merchant Advice Service to help UK businesses understand the payment considerations surrounding consumer and commercial card surcharges.

Merchant Advice Service is an independent payment advice and provider-matching service. We are not a law firm, Trading Standards authority, card scheme or payment regulator.

Payment-surcharge rules can depend on the payment instrument, parties, contract and specific circumstances. Businesses considering introducing a surcharge should review the current regulations and relevant provider or card-scheme requirements and obtain appropriate legal advice where necessary.

Our information, matching and introduction service is free to businesses. MAS may receive commission or a referral fee from some commercial partners where an introduction results in a completed product or account.

Sources & References

UK Government – Consumer Rights: Payment Surcharges
Official Department for Business and Trade guidance on the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations and the prohibition and restriction of payment surcharges.

UK Government – Guidance on the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012
Detailed government guidance covering consumer and commercial payment instruments, allowable costs, payment-method discounts and other surcharge scenarios.

Business Companion / Trading Standards – Payment Surcharges
Current Trading Standards guidance for England, Scotland and Wales explaining the ban on consumer card surcharges, the different treatment of commercial cards, payment-method classification and permitted charges.

Payment Systems Regulator – The Interchange Fee Regulation and Merchants
Official PSR guidance covering consumer-card interchange caps, merchant service charges and the circumstances in which payment surcharging is prohibited.

UK Legislation – Payment Services Regulations 2017
Primary legislation that amended the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations and forms part of the current UK legal framework for payment surcharging.

Adyen – Commercial Card Surcharges
Adyen's current commercial-card surcharge functionality, including identifying personal versus commercial cards and applying surcharge configuration to supported transactions.

Adyen – Point-of-Sale Surcharge Configuration
Technical documentation showing how surcharge rules can be configured by card brand, funding source, geography and whether the card is commercial or business.

GOV.UK Pay – Corporate Card Surcharges
Practical UK government payment-platform documentation showing how corporate cards can be identified automatically, how surcharge amounts are recorded and what happens where the card type cannot be determined.

FAQs

Can UK businesses charge a fee for paying by credit card?

Businesses generally cannot add a separate surcharge for paying with a consumer credit, debit or charge card. Commercial or corporate cards are treated differently, but any surcharge still needs to comply with the applicable rules and payment-provider requirements.

Can I surcharge a business credit card?

Potentially. The blanket consumer-card surcharge ban does not apply in the same way to commercial credit and debit cards. The merchant should confirm that the card is genuinely commercial, understand the applicable cost restrictions and use appropriate provider-supported surcharge functionality.

Does B2B automatically mean I can charge a card fee?

No. The payment instrument matters. A sole trader making a business purchase with a personal credit card is still using a consumer card, so the consumer-card surcharge prohibition can still apply.

How does a gateway know whether a card is a business card?

Payment providers can use issuer/card-range information to identify characteristics such as the card brand, issuer, funding source and whether the card is classified as consumer or commercial. Some gateways and terminals can use that information to automate commercial-card surcharge rules.

Can I call the surcharge an admin or processing fee instead?

Changing the name does not necessarily change the nature of the charge. If the fee only applies because a customer chose a particular payment method, it can still amount to a payment surcharge. A genuine administration or booking fee applied equally regardless of payment method is different.

Can I offer customers a discount for paying by bank transfer?

Payment-method discounts can be possible, but government guidance warns that they must not be structured simply to recreate an unlawful surcharge on customers using protected payment methods.

Can I charge extra for PayPal?

For ordinary consumer payments, current Trading Standards guidance includes electronic payment services such as PayPal among the payment methods that businesses cannot simply surcharge.

Can I impose a minimum card spend?

A minimum transaction value is different from adding a card surcharge. HM Treasury has stated that setting a minimum spend for a particular payment instrument can be a merchant choice, although businesses should also check their provider agreements and applicable scheme rules.

Can I surcharge American Express?

Do not assume ordinary consumer Amex transactions can be surcharged simply because the merchant may pay more to accept them. Current guidance covers consumer credit, debit and charge cards. Commercial Amex products should be considered separately according to their classification and the applicable rules.

Can my card machine automatically add a commercial card surcharge?

Some providers support this. Certain modern payment platforms can identify commercial or business cards and apply configured surcharge rules automatically. Functionality and availability vary by provider.

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Written by Libby James

Libby James is the founder and Managing Director of Merchant Advice Service. Since 2016, she has worked directly with businesses and payment providers across merchant accounts, card processing, payment gateways and complex provider requirements.

Libby specialises in high-risk, declined and harder-to-place merchants, as well as businesses requiring specialist payment methods, integrations or international support. She writes and reviews Merchant Advice Service content, drawing on practical experience gained from real merchant enquiries and provider relationships.

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