Connecticut Credit Card Surcharge Law (C.G.S. 42-133ff)

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This page is general information, not legal advice. It is current as of September 16, 2026, and quotes or summarizes the primary sources listed at the end. Surcharge rules change through new laws, amendments and court cases, so check current rules with your processor and your own counsel before you add a card fee. CELER Merchants is an independent merchant services agent, not a law firm or a processor. The statute text quoted here is from the Connecticut General Assembly's online General Statutes, which it describes as revised to January 1, 2026.

What section 42-133ff says

Subsection (b) is one sentence: "No person may impose a surcharge on any transaction." Subsection (a)(6) defines a surcharge as any additional charge or fee that increases the total amount of a transaction for the privilege of using a particular method of payment. A transaction is the sale, lease, rental or distribution of services or property for a certain price in Connecticut. The ban is not limited to credit cards: it covers an extra fee for any particular method of payment. The definitions of credit card, charge card and debit card each include software applications that store a digital form of the card, so mobile wallets are covered too. Payments of certain fees, taxes and fines to state agencies, the Department of Revenue Services, municipalities and the Judicial Branch under other statutes are excluded from the definition of transaction.

Discounts are allowed, with notice

Subsection (c)(1) says nothing in the section prohibits a discount on any transaction to induce payment by cash, check, debit card or similar means rather than by charge card or credit card. The discount has to be disclosed. The statute says the business must clearly and conspicuously post the notice on its premises for in-person sales, display it on the website or digital payment app before an online or app transaction is completed, and say it out loud before completing an oral transaction such as a phone order. Subsection (c)(2) adds that no agreement or contract may prohibit a gasoline distributor or retailer from offering a discount based on how a buyer pays for gasoline.

Card minimums and agent commissions

Subsection (d) says a business may not require a minimum transaction amount before accepting a credit or charge card unless it discloses that requirement, clearly and conspicuously, in the same three ways: posted on the premises, displayed online or in the app before checkout, and stated verbally for oral transactions. Subsection (e) says a person may not reduce an agent's commission because a charge card or credit card was used to pay. The statute's definition of agent includes travel and cruise sellers acting for others.

Penalties and enforcement

Under subsection (f), a violation of any provision of the section is deemed an unfair or deceptive trade practice under section 42-110b(a), part of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA). The Commissioner of Consumer Protection may, after notice and hearing under chapter 54, impose an additional civil penalty of up to $500 per violation, paid into the consumer protection enforcement account. Subsection (g) lets the Commissioner adopt regulations to implement the section. Other CUTPA remedies are set out elsewhere in chapter 735a and are not summarized here; ask counsel how they apply to your situation.

Recent changes to the statute

The statute's history note says Public Act 22-104, effective May 24, 2022, rewrote the section: it added the definitions, made the ban apply to any transaction, added the discount notice rules, the card minimum disclosure rule, the agent commission rule, the CUTPA penalty and the regulation authority. Public Act 24-142, effective June 6, 2024, made wording changes to the surcharge and transaction definitions and added the notice-and-hearing requirement for the Commissioner's penalty. We could not find or verify any Department of Consumer Protection regulations adopted under subsection (g), so check with the Department or counsel.

What Connecticut merchants can do instead

1. Build your card acceptance cost into your regular prices, the same for every payment method. 2. If you want to reward cheaper payment methods, offer a discount for cash, check or debit, and post the notice in store, on your website or app before checkout, and verbally on phone orders. 3. Do not relabel an added card fee as a service, convenience, technology or non-cash adjustment fee: the statute's definition covers any additional charge or fee for using a particular payment method. 4. Do not describe a dual pricing or cash discount program as legal in Connecticut unless it works as a real discount from your regular price and counsel has reviewed it. The statute allows discounts; it does not mention dual pricing. 5. If you set a card minimum, disclose it the same three ways.

How card network rules fit in

Every US merchant who accepts Visa also has to follow Visa's rules, whatever state law allows. Visa's U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q&A says to notify your acquirer at least 30 days before you start surcharging, to limit surcharging to credit cards (debit and prepaid cards cannot be surcharged, even when a debit cardholder selects "credit"), to keep the amount at or below your merchant discount rate for that card or 3%, whichever is lowest, and to disclose the surcharge at the point of entry, at the point of sale and on every receipt. Mastercard, American Express and Discover set their own conditions, so check current rules for each network you accept. Where a state rule and a network rule differ, follow the stricter one. Visa's surcharge rules describe when a surcharge is allowed at all; in Connecticut the state ban means a credit card surcharge is off the table regardless of network rules, so the relevant question for Connecticut locations is how any discount program is set up and disclosed.

If you also sell in other states

1. List every state where you sell in person, online or by phone. 2. Do not copy a surcharge setting from one location to another: New York requires the card price to be posted (GBL 518), Colorado caps surcharges at 2% or the merchant discount fee with statutory sign wording (C.R.S. 5-2-212), and California's statute and enforcement need counsel review. 3. Ask your processor whether surcharging can be switched off per location or per website. 4. Re-check each state's rules at least once a year. Massachusetts also bans credit card surcharges while allowing cash discounts, but its wording is different, so do not assume the same notice rules apply there.