Credit Card Surcharges: Why They're Still Illegal in Quebec

Since 2022, a merchant elsewhere in Canada has been able to add an amount to the bill when a customer pays by credit card. A sales rep, a terminal provider, or even a colleague in another province might describe it as a simple way to offset your processing costs. In Quebec, the practice is still against the law, no matter how it's presented to the customer.

Here's what changed elsewhere in the country, why Quebec is the exception, and what you risk if you go along with it anyway.

What changed elsewhere in Canada in 2022

On October 6, 2022, Visa and Mastercard changed their network rules to let Canadian merchants add a fee to transactions paid by credit card, a practice known as surcharging. Before that date, both networks' rules banned it everywhere in the country, with no provincial exception.

The amount a merchant can add isn't unlimited. According to Visa, the fee can never exceed 2.4% of the transaction amount. It's also capped at the merchant's own actual cost of accepting credit cards, if that cost is lower than 2.4%. The fee only applies to credit cards: it remains banned on debit and prepaid cards.

In practical terms, on a $100 bill, a merchant applying the maximum rate would add $2.40, provided their actual cost of accepting credit cards is at or above that rate. A merchant whose actual cost is lower has to stick to that lower rate, not the 2.4% ceiling.

The federal government groups this practice together with two other labels you might see on a terminal or an invoice: service fees and convenience fees. All three come down to the same thing, an added amount that depends on how the customer pays, and all three are subject to the same conditions.

The federal government sets these conditions for a merchant who chooses to add such a fee:

• clearly disclose the amount to the customer before the transaction is completed
• let the customer cancel the purchase without penalty once they see the fee
• offer another way to pay, such as debit or cash

Why Quebec is the exception

None of this applies in Quebec. The Consumer Protection Act requires a merchant to honour the advertised price and forbids charging a higher amount at checkout because the customer is paying by debit or credit card.

Costs related to using a payment terminal are part of a business's operating expenses and cannot be passed on to the customer at the time of purchase.

That's the position of Quebec's consumer protection office, the Office de la protection du consommateur. Telling the customer in advance doesn't change anything. The office is explicit that a verbal warning or a sign near the till doesn't make the practice compliant.

Renaming the fee doesn't help either. Whether it shows up as a "card fee," a "service fee," or a "convenience fee," what matters under Quebec law is that the amount paid changes depending on how the customer chooses to pay. The only thing a merchant can do is absorb the cost, or build it into the posted price ahead of time, never add it separately at the register.

What you risk

Breaking this rule is a penal offence, not just a matter of optics. According to the OPC, fines under the Consumer Protection Act can reach $87,500 for an individual and $175,000 for a business. A customer who gets charged the fee can also simply file a complaint with the office, which can then investigate and prosecute the merchant.

If a provider offers to turn this fee on for you

Several terminals and payment platforms sold in Canada now include an option to automatically add a credit card fee, because the feature is legal in the rest of the country. Nothing stops it from being switched on by default for a Quebec business, regardless of province, or from arriving already enabled in a system update.

Before accepting such an offer, or if you find the option already active on your terminal, ask your provider directly: is this setting turned off for a location in Quebec? Ask for the answer in writing.

Check your invoice and receipt templates too. If a separate line reads something like "card fee," "service fee," or "convenience fee" and its amount changes with the payment method, it's the same problem, whatever the label says. It's the simplest check you can make, and it can save you a fine for a setting you may not have turned on yourself.