Is Dual Pricing Legal in Louisiana? What Act 751 Changed

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This page is general information, not legal advice. It is current as of October 13, 2026, and summarizes the primary sources listed at the end: the enrolled text of Act 751, the Legislature's bill history, two federal statutes and the Visa and Mastercard surcharge rules. We found no court decision or Attorney General opinion yet that applies Act 751 to a dual pricing program, so parts of this page describe how the words of the statute read, not how a court has ruled. CELER Merchants is an independent merchant services agent, not a law firm or a processor. Have your own counsel review any card pricing program before you launch it or keep it running.

Why most dual pricing guides miss Louisiana

Many processor pages say dual pricing is legal in all 50 states and that debit cards simply pay the card price. That line was written before Louisiana changed its law. Senate Bill 254 was signed by the Governor on June 2, 2026, became Act 751, and took effect August 1, 2026. It created a new chapter of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, R.S. 51:3081 and 51:3082, aimed only at debit cards. If your terminal was set up by a provider that uses one national template, it may still treat debit like credit.

What R.S. 51:3081 says

The core rule is one sentence: "In a sale of goods or services, a retail business shall not impose a surcharge on a cardholder who uses a debit card instead of cash, check, credit card, or any other similar means of payment." The definitions are what matter for dual pricing.

Discount or surcharge: how three common setups read

Federal law gives a useful test. 15 U.S.C. 1693o-2, part of the Durbin Amendment, defines a discount as "a reduction made from the price that customers are informed is the regular price" and says it "does not include any means of increasing the price that customers are informed is the regular price." Louisiana's definition of a surcharge looks at the same thing from the other side: an amount added at the time of the transaction that raises what a debit card user pays. Here is how the usual setups line up against that wording.

Credit card surcharges are a separate question

Act 751 is written only about debit cards. It does not ban, cap or set a sign rule for credit card surcharges. Those come from the card networks and your processing agreement. Visa's Merchant Surcharging Considerations and Requirements limit a credit surcharge to your cost of acceptance and never more than 3%, require 30 days' notice to your acquirer, require disclosure at the point of entry and the point of sale, and require the surcharge as a separate line on the receipt. Mastercard requires at least 30 days' written notice to Mastercard and your acquirer, caps the amount, and requires store-entry and point-of-sale disclosure plus the amount on the receipt. Both networks already prohibit surcharging debit and prepaid cards in the US, so Louisiana's law and the network rules point the same way.

What happens if a customer complains

A business that violates R.S. 51:3081 is liable to the cardholder for actual damages. Before suing, the cardholder must send written notice. If the business stops the practice and refunds the surcharge within 30 days of receiving that notice, no private lawsuit arises; suits are limited to willful violations, repeated violations, or violations not corrected within the 30 days. Separately, R.S. 51:3082 lets the Attorney General sue. A business that violates an administrative or court order faces a civil penalty of up to $500 per violation, and a court that rules for the Attorney General must award attorney fees, court costs and investigative costs. The Attorney General must run a toll-free number and an online system where cardholders report debit surcharges, with the business name and address, the date, the amounts and a receipt. A receipt that shows a fee on a debit sale is exactly the evidence that system asks for. Train staff to send any written complaint to the owner the same day so the 30-day window is not missed.

A setup check for Louisiana merchants

1. Pull a recent receipt for a debit sale and a credit sale on each device. If the debit receipt shows any added fee, adjustment or higher total than cash, fix it first. 2. Ask your processor in writing whether your program can price debit like cash, and whether the terminal checks the card type before applying any fee. 3. Make sure that check works for tapped phone wallets and for cards that carry both debit and credit functions. 4. If you post two prices, label them cash and debit price and credit price, not cash price and card price. 5. Keep any credit surcharge within Visa's and Mastercard's rules, with the required notice to your acquirer, signs and receipt line. 6. Repeat the check on backup terminals, mobile readers and your online checkout, which are often set up separately for festivals, events and delivery. 7. Keep the written answers from your provider with your records and recheck when your provider updates your terminal software.

Louisiana's French-speaking customers

If you serve customers in Acadiana or elsewhere in French, put the price labels and fee notices in both languages so every customer sees the same price information before paying. Our French coverage page, linked below, explains card processing for francophone businesses in Louisiana and Canada.

How CELER Merchants can help

We are an independent merchant services agent: we take your statement to the market, make providers compete for your account, and bring back the best of what they offer. If you run a dual pricing or cash discount program in Louisiana, send us a recent monthly processing statement, all pages, and tell us which program you use. We will point out how your current setup handles debit cards and compare it with providers that can price debit like cash. We do not give legal advice, so we will also tell you what to confirm with your counsel.