Surcharge for paying by card: prohibited, and in leases too

It is a short law — four articles — doing one thing: prohibiting the surcharge for paying by card and attaching a penalty. Its statement of motives explains where it comes from: it is established policy of credit card issuing institutions to contractually prohibit merchants from imposing additional charges for using that payment method, and the Legislature wanted to turn that contractual rule into law. The current text of Article 1 is not the 2008 original: Act 152-2013 repealed the earlier article and replaced it with the one in force today, which is the one extending the prohibition to debit cards and to any valid payment method.

Any consumer in Puerto Rico paying with a valid payment method, including a credit or debit card issued by an institution or commercial firm duly authorized under current federal and state law. There is no prior procedure or registration requirement: the prohibition falls on the merchant and applies by law. It reaches both sale and lease transactions of goods and services, and the text speaks of the "merchant or lessor", so the lessor is expressly named.

• Paying with a valid payment method in Puerto Rico, including a credit or debit card issued by an institution or commercial firm duly authorized under current federal and state law.Verified against the official source
• That it be a sale or lease transaction of goods and services. The law names both and mentions the "merchant or lessor".Verified against the official source

• The receipt. It is where you can see whether a charge for the payment method was added to the regular price, which is exactly what the law defines as a surcharge.

1. 1

   Step 1: The prohibition, word for word

   The Article 1 in force — the one Act 152-2013 put in place of the original — says: **no merchant may impose an additional charge or "surcharge" on a consumer who chooses to use a valid payment method in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, including a credit or debit card issued by an institution or commercial firm duly authorized to issue them under current federal and state law, instead of cash, check or any other similar payment method, in any sale or lease transaction of goods and services**. Three things are worth reading slowly. First: it says "a valid payment method", and the card is an example within that category, not the limit. Second: it says "credit or debit". Third: it says "sale or lease", so a rental is covered just like a purchase.

2. 2

   Step 2: What counts as a "surcharge"

   Article 2 defines it: for purposes of this Act, the term "surcharge" means **any increase to the regular price of a good or service, imposed on the customer by the merchant or lessor, when using a credit card as the payment method**. The yardstick is the **regular price**: if the marked price is one figure and the amount rises when the card is swiped, that increase is what the law prohibits. One asymmetry in the text itself must be pointed out rather than papered over: Article 1 expressly covers "credit or debit" cards, while the Article 2 definition mentions only the "credit card". We publish both wordings as they stand and do not decide which controls; the article creating the prohibition is Article 1, and that one names both cards.

3. 3

   Step 3: The sanction is criminal, not administrative

   Article 3 says **any person who personally or through a third party violates this Act’s provisions and is convicted by a court shall be penalized with a fine of no more than five hundred (500) dollars or jail of no more than six (6) months, or both penalties, at the Court’s discretion**. It matters to understand what that implies and what it does not. It implies the law reaches both whoever charges directly and whoever does it "through a third party". And it does not imply that this law contains an agency administrative fine or a complaint form: **Act 150-2008 names no enforcing agency, creates no administrative procedure and sets no deadlines**. That is why this guide’s processing time stays unverified.

4. 4

   Step 4: What the law does not say

   It is worth marking the boundary so as not to attribute more to the law than it carries. Act 150-2008 addresses an **increase to the regular price** for using a card. It does not speak of discounts for paying cash, does not set a minimum purchase to accept cards, does not require any business to accept cards, and does not regulate the fees the processor charges the merchant. None of that is in the text, so we assert nothing in either direction. It also does not touch charges a merchant may impose for other reasons — late fees, service charges, tips: those are other topics, with other rules.

Act 150-2008 designates no forum. Its only sanction, in Article 3, is imposed by a court upon conviction, and the law names no enforcing agency, creates no administrative complaint and sets no deadlines. In practice, the general consumer forum in Puerto Rico is the Department of Consumer Affairs, and that is why we link it; but **we want to be clear that this jurisdiction does not come from this law**, and we publish no form, address, deadline or administrative fine that Act 150-2008 does not contain. That is why processing time stays unverified.

• Believing the prohibition covers only credit cards: Article 1 expressly names the credit or debit card.
• Believing it covers only purchases: the text says "in any sale or lease transaction of goods and services".
• Not keeping the receipt: it is where you prove a charge for the payment method was added to the regular price.
• Expecting an administrative fine: this law’s only sanction is criminal and a court imposes it upon conviction.
• Assuming the law requires a business to accept cards: it does not say so.
• Assuming the law prohibits or authorizes cash discounts: it does not address discounts, but increases to the regular price.
• Confusing the card surcharge with other charges — late fees, service charges, tips: the law only covers the increase for the payment method.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor (DACO)

  DACO

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO)

  DACO

  www.daco.pr.gov