In the UK you can't charge a fee for payments made on a personal (consumer) debit, credit or prepaid card. You can add a surcharge to a payment on a commercial or corporate card, but it can't be more than that card actually costs you to accept, and it can't include general overheads. A single flat "card fee" applied to every card is the arrangement most likely to break the rules.
In this article
The short version
- Fees on personal debit, credit and prepaid cards are banned.
- Commercial card surcharges are capped at what that card costs you.
- General overheads can't be included in a surcharge.
- A flat card fee on every card is likely to break the rules.
- Unlawful fees don't have to be paid and must be refunded.
Which payments you can add a fee to
The rules are in the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012. Since 13 January 2018, regulation 6A has banned any fee for paying by a card that isn't a commercial card.
| Payment | Can you add a fee? |
|---|---|
| Personal debit, credit or prepaid card | No |
| Commercial or corporate card | Yes, up to what accepting that card costs you |
The ban follows the card, not the customer. It applies to you as the business taking the payment, whoever is paying. So a sole trader or a company director who pays your invoice on their personal card can't be charged a fee, even though the purchase is for their business. Personal and commercial cards carry the same Visa and Mastercard brands, so you can't tell them apart by the logo.
A commercial card is one issued to a business, public body or self-employed person for business expenses, with payments charged straight to the business's account. It can be a credit or debit card. A corporate card given to an employee for business spending is the usual example.
Commercial cards are outside the UK's caps on interchange, the fee the card-issuing bank receives, so they cost more to accept. That's why the law leaves them surchargeable, and why a card fee is common in professional services where clients pay on a company card.
How much you can charge on a commercial card
A surcharge on a commercial card is a way of recovering a cost, not making a margin. It can't be more than the cost you bear for that specific type of card.
Government guidance says that cost can include the merchant service charge, which is what your payment provider charges you for the transaction, and fees you pay to other intermediaries to process that same payment. It can't include the general costs of running your business: your accounting software, your credit controller's time, staff training or your bank charges. Those aren't caused by the customer choosing to pay on a commercial card.
Say your provider charges 2% + 20p on commercial cards. On a £1,000 invoice, the most you could add is £20.20. A flat 3% surcharge on the same payment would be £30, which is more than the card costs you, and your customer could refuse to pay the extra £9.80.
Why a flat card fee causes problems
Many businesses set one "card fee", such as 2.5% on any card payment. It's simple, and it tends to break the rules in two ways.
First, it charges a fee on personal cards, which is banned outright. Second, it averages costs across cards that cost you different amounts, when the cap is set by what the specific card used costs you. The guidance allows averaging within a single payment method, so you can average your commercial card costs over a year and apply one percentage to every commercial card payment. It doesn't allow you to average costs across different payment methods and charge the result as a flat fee.
To charge a lawful card fee, your checkout needs to know whether the card is a commercial one before it adds anything, and charge nothing when it's a personal card. Renaming the fee doesn't help either: a "handling" or "admin" fee that only card payers pay is still a fee for paying by card.
Bank payments, enforcement and setting it up
The rules don't stop at cards. For most sales to consumers, any fee for a particular payment method is capped at what that method costs you, and the ban in regulation 6A also reaches other personal payment instruments, not just cards. The rules don't mention open banking by name, and a pay by bank payment from a personal account may fall within the ban, so take advice before adding a fee to bank payments.
If a surcharge breaks the rules, your customer doesn't have to pay it, or the part above your cost, and anything already paid has to be refunded. Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority can also take action to stop the practice. If you've been charging a flat card fee for a while, that refund exposure covers every personal card payment in that time.
If you surcharge business cards, these steps keep it tidy:
- Apply the fee to commercial and corporate cards only.
- Set the rate from what your provider charges you for those cards, write down the arithmetic, and review it when their prices change.
- Tell customers about the fee before they pay, in your terms and on the payment page, with the amount shown as a separate line.
- Always offer a fee-free way to pay, such as pay by bank, bank transfer or direct debit.
Adfin can add the card fee to business card payments and collect it with the payment, for selected customers or for all of them, as one of the things its collection agents can do within rules you set. Which customers it applies to stays your decision. The same Adfin payment page offers pay by bank and direct debit, so the fee-free option sits right next to the card.
Common questions
Can I charge a card fee to my customers in the UK? Only on commercial and corporate cards, and only up to what that card costs you to accept. Fees on personal debit, credit and prepaid cards have been banned since January 2018.
Which law bans card surcharges? Regulation 6A of the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012. It was added by the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and took effect on 13 January 2018.
How much can I charge on a commercial card? No more than the cost you bear for that type of card, such as your provider's charge and fees paid to other intermediaries. General overheads can't be included.
Can I apply one flat fee to every card payment? That's likely to break the rules, because it charges a banned fee on personal cards and averages costs across different payment types.
What happens if I charge a surcharge I shouldn't have? Your customer doesn't have to pay the unlawful fee, or the part above your cost, and anything already paid is refundable. Trading Standards and the CMA can also take action.
Can I add a fee to pay by bank payments? The rules don't name open banking, and the ban reaches personal payment instruments beyond cards, so take advice before adding a fee to bank payments.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk - The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/3110
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012: guidance (accurate as of October 2026) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b2d09bae5274a55bb5790cb/payment-surcharges-guidance-update.pdf
- legislation.gov.uk - Regulation (EU) 2015/751 on interchange fees, article 2 (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2015/751/article/2
- Adfin - Accept payments (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/accept-payments
