As of August 1, 2026, Louisiana businesses can no longer add a fee when a customer pays with a debit card. If your terminal charges a card fee, this probably affects you — and the fix is usually a simple settings change. Here's the law in plain English, plus a free way to make sure you're set.
Act 751 — introduced as Senate Bill 254 and now codified at La. R.S. 51:3081 — does one specific thing: it ends the practice of adding an extra charge when a customer pays with a debit card. Everything else about how you price and take payments stays the same.
A customer paying with a debit card pays the posted price — no card fee, service fee, or "non-cash adjustment" added on top.
The law covers retail sellers broadly — restaurants, shops, salons, and service businesses. If you sell to the public and take debit cards, plan on it applying to you.
Single pricing, true cash discounts, and credit-card surcharge programs (with debit properly excluded) all continue exactly as before.
Plenty of Louisiana businesses offset processing costs, and you still can. What matters now is how the math is structured on the receipt.
Why it works: there's one posted price, and paying cash earns a discount off it. Nothing extra is ever added for using a debit card — so Act 751 never comes into play.
Why it doesn't: this starts from a base price and adds an amount at checkout for paying by card. When that added amount can reach a debit card, it's the structure Act 751 ended.
The customer can end up paying the same either way — the difference is whether the cash price is a discount or the card price is an add-on. If you like your current program, it can usually be restructured the compliant way without changing your margins.
This usually isn't anyone being sneaky. Two quirks of how card payments work catch people out.
A debit card can run as PIN debit, or route through a credit network as "signature debit" — just a tap or swipe, no PIN. It looks like credit at the counter, but legally it's still a debit card, however it's processed.
Many surcharge programs were set up by a processor years ago, configured to add the fee to every card. If nobody ever told the terminal to treat debit differently, it doesn't — and the owner rarely knows.
In most cases it's a configuration change or a switch to a compliant cash-discount structure — often done the same day, with no change to your effective margins. That's the kind of adjustment we handle for Lafayette businesses all the time.
Act 751 was written with a built-in path to make things right. Here's how it works, factually and without the drama.
If a customer sends written notice, a business has 30 days to correct the issue and refund the surcharge. Doing so resolves that private claim — the law rewards fixing problems promptly.
Customers can raise unresolved issues with the Louisiana Attorney General's Consumer Protection Hotline (1-800-351-4889) or its online form. Continued violations of an order can carry civil penalties of up to $500 each.
Customers can pursue actual damages for violations that are willful, repeated, or left uncured. In practice: fix issues when you learn about them, and this provision stays theoretical.
The takeaway isn't alarm — it's that checking your setup once beats finding out from a customer letter. A five-minute look at a statement or receipt usually settles it.
Answer based on how you take card payments today and we'll tell you where you likely stand — and what, if anything, is worth doing next. Nothing is stored or submitted.
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It sounds like a fee is reaching debit cards, which is what Act 751 ended. The good news: this is normally a configuration change or a restructure to a compliant cash discount — quick, and usually neutral to your margins. We'll confirm exactly what's happening from one statement, free.
Get my free review →Your program may be set up correctly, but "the processor said so" isn't the same as seeing it on a receipt. One test transaction on a debit card, plus a glance at your statement, settles it for good. We're happy to do that look for you, free.
Verify it for free →Single pricing or a true cash discount keeps you clear of Act 751. If you'd ever like a second set of eyes on your processing costs — that's our specialty — our Lafayette team reviews statements free, no strings.
Get a free statement review →The bill was authored by Senator Beth Mizell of District 12, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and International Affairs. It was positioned as a consumer-protection measure bringing Louisiana in line with the federal Dodd-Frank framework on debit transactions, and it drew support from both parties — passing the Senate without a single no vote before Governor Jeff Landry signed it on June 2, 2026.
Scope check: Act 751 is about debit cards only. It doesn't change the rules for credit-card surcharges or cash discounts.
In other words: this is settled law, not a proposal to watch. The practical question for a business owner is simply whether your card processing and POS setup reflect it — and that's a five-minute check.
Read the full bill text →We're HD Processing, a payments company at 1027 Johnston St here in Lafayette. Show us one piece of how you take cards today and we'll tell you plainly whether Act 751 touches your setup — and if it does, what the fix looks like. No cost, no contract, no pressure either way.
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This page is general information from a Lafayette payments company, based on the text of Act 751 (SB 254) — it isn't legal advice, and we're not affiliated with the State of Louisiana or the Louisiana Legislature. For advice about your specific situation, talk to a licensed Louisiana attorney. We update this page as further guidance is published.