Provided by:  Jennifer Kirschenbaum, Esq.

June 4, 2019

 

Question


Hi Jennifer,

Can I charge patients who use credit cards more money so I do not lose on the merchant processing fee?  I heard you can do that now... 

Thanks, Dr. L 




Answer:


Yes!  A recent case clarified NYS law that you can charge patients a higher amount for using a credit card, however, the higher price tag must be on display and open and obvious for the extra fee to be imposed.  The case this came up in is - EXPRESSIONS HAIR DESIGN, et al., v.
Eric T. SCHNEIDERMAN, 32 N.Y.3d 382, 2018.  The main holding states: 

"So long as the total dollars-and-cents price charged for credit card purchases is posted, state law does not prohibit merchants from explaining the difference in price from that of a cash purchase as a “surcharge” attributable to credit card transaction fees they must bear; the process by which the merchant characterizes the higher amount is irrelevant to the statutory requirement, and merchants are free to call the price differential anything they wish without fear of prosecution under the statute. N.Y. General Business Law § 518."  Id. 


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