NYS Credit Card Surcharge Law

Questions about how to comply with the credit card surcharge law have recently resurfaced. There is information from NYS on the NYSFDA’s website Compliance page. But, for ease of reference, here is information provided by the NYS Division of Consumer Affairs based on our conversations with them on how funeral service can comply with the law.

As you may recall, the 2023 law prohibits a seller from including a credit card surcharge as a separately listed charge. It also prohibits a seller from imposing a percentage charge on consumers. Instead, the law authorizes a seller to have both a credit card and cash/check price but when doing so, each price must be listed as a single total charge in dollars and cents.

For funeral services, since the total cost for a consumer cannot be determined until after selections are made, a funeral home can wait until that time before providing the credit card price to a consumer. When doing so, the total cost should be listed as the ‘credit card price’ and simply include the total cost/price. The calculation used to get to the credit card price should be done separately and is not part of what is shared with the consumer. For example, a funeral home should determine a percentage or fixed dollar amount it will add to a total cost to come to a credit card price (i.e., add 3% to the total selected since that is what the credit card company charges the funeral home as a processing fee). If a consumer’s total charges based on merchandise and services selected is $5,000, the funeral home can add 3% ($150) to that cost and present the consumer with a credit card price of $5,150. In this example, the cash/check price would be $5,000.