Decoding Drip Pricing: Legal Risks in Card Surcharges, Cash Discounts, and Hidden Fees

Businesses that add fees to payment transactions face legal exposure from multiple directions, and the terminology matters. Regulators and courts draw sharp distinctions between a cash discount, which reduces the stated price for non-card payment, and a surcharge, which increases the stated price for card payment. A growing category of fees under names like convenience fees, processing fees, non-cash adjustment fees, and technology fees occupies contested legal ground, with enforcement authorities treating many of them as disguised surcharges regardless of what they are called. The presenters walk through how federal and state pricing transparency laws apply to each category, where liability turns on labeling versus substance, and what disclosure practices hold up under regulatory and litigation scrutiny. Attendees will leave with a clear framework for evaluating their clients' fee structures against current law.

Ellen T. Berge
Leonard L. Gordon