On a commercial card, yes: a firm can add a fee, but the fee can't be more than the card costs the firm to accept. On a personal (consumer) credit or debit card, no fee is allowed, whoever the client is, so a company director paying your bill on their own card pays no surcharge. Tie any card charge to the card type, tell clients about it at engagement, and give them a fee-free way to pay.
In this article
The short version
- Regulation 6A has banned fees on consumer card payments since January 2018, and the ban follows the card used, whoever the client is.
- A company director paying the firm's bill on their own personal card can't be charged a fee, even though the client is a business.
- On a commercial card the fee is capped at what that card costs you to accept, so a £3,000 payment priced at 2% + 20p can carry at most £60.20.
- Renaming the charge as card handling or admin makes no difference if only card payers pay it.
- Tell clients about any card fee at engagement and on the payment page, and always offer a fee-free route such as pay by bank or direct debit.
Which card payments can carry a fee
A commercial client pays a £3,000 bill by card and your provider takes £60 of it. It feels reasonable to pass that on, and sometimes you can. Regulation 6A of the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 has banned fees on consumer card payments since January 2018, and the ban follows the card, not the client.
A commercial card is one issued to a business, a public body or a self-employed person, limited to business expenses, with payments charged straight to that business's account. It can be a credit or a debit card. Corporate cards issued to employees for business spending are the usual example. Everything else, which is the vast majority of Visa and Mastercard cards in people's wallets, is a consumer card.
That gives four situations a law firm will meet:
| Who pays | Card used | Can you add a fee? |
|---|---|---|
| Private client (conveyancing, wills, family) | Personal card | No |
| Company client | Company-issued commercial card | Yes, capped at your cost |
| Company client | Director's or employee's personal card | No, on the wording of the Regulations |
| Sole trader | Card issued to them for business expenses | Yes, capped at your cost, if it meets the commercial card definition |
The third row is easy to miss. The finance director pays for the commercial lease on her own card because it's to hand. The client is a business, the card isn't a commercial card, and no fee can be added to that payment. The card brand won't tell you which kind you're looking at either, because personal and commercial cards carry the same Visa and Mastercard brands.
A practice that acts mostly for private clients will find almost every card payment it takes is on a consumer card. Renaming the charge doesn't help: a "card handling" or "admin" fee that only card payers pay is still a fee for choosing to pay by card.
How much you can add
Where a fee is allowed, it's capped at the cost you bear for accepting that specific card. That cost can include your provider's merchant service charge and fees paid to intermediaries. It can't include general overheads, staff time or training.
In practice, the fee should follow what your provider charges on the card actually used, not a flat percentage picked in advance. If your provider charges, say, 2% + 20p on a particular commercial card, the most you can add to a £3,000 payment on it is £60.20. If commercial and premium cards are priced higher than standard ones, the cap follows the price for the card used.
What to tell clients and when
Clients should hear about any card fee when they instruct you, as part of how their matter will be priced, and again on the payment page before they pay. Clients tend to complain about a fee they first see on the payment page, after the matter has started.
Always give a fee-free route. Pay by bank, bank transfer and direct debit carry no surcharge, and a client who would rather avoid a card fee will usually take one of them if it's the easy option on the page.
If you'd rather not work out card fees payment by payment, Adfin's business-card surcharging adds the card fee to business card payments and collects it with the payment, and you can switch it on per client or for all. It's one of the actions Adfin's Customer Agents can take alongside chasing, late fees and instalment plans, within rules your firm sets and reviews. Which clients and which payments a surcharge applies to stays your firm's decision. The same payment page offers pay by bank, card, Apple Pay and Google Pay, so the fee-free option sits right next to the card.
Sample wording for your terms and payment page
Treat these as a starting point for your own review, not approved text.
For your terms of business:
"Paying by card. You can pay our bills by card, pay by bank, bank transfer or direct debit. We don't charge a fee for payments made with personal debit or credit cards, pay by bank, bank transfer or direct debit. If you pay with a commercial card issued to a business for business expenses, we add a charge to cover what we're charged for accepting that card. The charge is shown before you pay and is never more than that cost."
For the payment page or invoice footer:
"A card charge applies to commercial (business) cards only and is shown before you confirm payment. There's no charge for personal cards, pay by bank or bank transfer."
When you adapt them, keep three things. Name the card type, not the client type: "business clients paying by card will be charged 2%" ties the fee to the client, which the Regulations don't. Avoid a fixed percentage unless you've checked it against your provider's price for every commercial card you accept. And make sure the wording matches your published price information.
Common questions
Can a law firm charge private clients a card fee? No. Private clients almost always pay on personal cards, and fees on personal (consumer) card payments have been banned since January 2018.
Is the surcharge ban about the client or the card? The card. A business client paying on a personal card is, on the wording of the Regulations, paying with a consumer card, so no fee can be added.
What counts as a commercial card? A credit or debit card issued to a business, public body or self-employed person, limited to business expenses and charged directly to that business's account.
How much can we add to a commercial card payment? No more than it costs you to accept that specific card, counting your provider's charges but not general overheads or staff time.
Can we charge a general admin fee instead? A fee charged to every client whatever they pay with isn't a card surcharge, but it's part of your price and belongs in your published and quoted fees. A fee only card payers pay is a card fee whatever it's called.
Who enforces the surcharge rules? Local authority Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk - The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/3110
- legislation.gov.uk - Regulation (EU) 2015/751 on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions, Article 2 (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2015/751/article/2
- Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012: Guidance (accurate as of September 2026) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b2d09bae5274a55bb5790cb/payment-surcharges-guidance-update.pdf
- SRA - Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-solicitors/
- Adfin - Credit control (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.adfin.com/credit-control
