Card minimums are legal in one direction only. A store can require you to spend at least a certain amount before it will accept a credit card, but that minimum cannot exceed $10. For debit cards, no minimum is allowed at all, no matter how small the purchase. Both rules come from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
The $10 Cap on Credit Card Minimums
Federal law gives merchants the explicit right to set a minimum purchase amount for credit card transactions, capped at $10. A posted minimum of $5 or $8 is fine. A posted minimum of $15 is not.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693o-2 – Reasonable Fees and Rules for Payment Card Transactions
Whatever minimum a merchant sets has to apply equally across every credit card brand they accept. A shop cannot demand $10 on American Express purchases while waiving the minimum for Visa and Mastercard. Same threshold, every card.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693o-2 – Reasonable Fees and Rules for Payment Card Transactions
The Federal Reserve has authority to raise the $10 ceiling through rulemaking. It has not done so since the law took effect, so $10 is still the hard federal limit.
Debit Card Minimums Are Never Legal
Merchants cannot impose any minimum purchase amount on debit card transactions. Swipe, tap, or insert a debit card for a 99-cent item and the merchant is required to accept it.
The reason lives in the Durbin Amendment, part of the same 2010 statute, which capped the interchange fees banks with $10 billion or more in assets can charge merchants on debit transactions at roughly 21 cents plus 0.05% of the sale. Because that cap sharply reduced merchant costs for debit compared with credit, Congress did not extend the minimum-purchase option to debit cards.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693o-2 – Reasonable Fees and Rules for Payment Card Transactions
Pressing “Credit” on a Debit Card Does Not Change It
At checkout, a terminal will sometimes ask whether to run a debit card as “debit” (with a PIN) or “credit” (with a signature). The card is still a debit card either way. Choosing the credit option does not convert the transaction, and the merchant still cannot enforce a minimum. Visa’s merchant rules say so directly: even when the cardholder pushes the credit button after swiping a debit card, the card type remains debit and no minimum applies.2Visa. Minimum Transaction Amount on a Visa Credit Card
Federal Agencies and Universities Can Set Maximums Instead
The statute treats federal agencies and institutions of higher education differently. These entities are allowed to set a maximum credit card transaction amount, meaning they can refuse credit cards for purchases above a chosen threshold. That is the opposite of the ordinary merchant rule, and the same nondiscrimination requirement applies: the cap cannot single out one card network or issuer.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693o-2 – Reasonable Fees and Rules for Payment Card Transactions
Minimums Are Not the Same as Surcharges or Cash Discounts
These three practices get lumped together and shouldn’t be. A minimum controls whether you can use the card. A surcharge and a cash discount both adjust the price based on how you pay.
A credit card surcharge is a fee added on top of the listed price when you pay with a credit card. Surcharges are governed by state law rather than federal law. Roughly ten states and Puerto Rico ban them outright. Where surcharges are allowed, card network rules require the merchant to post them at the entrance, display them at the point of sale, and print them as a separate line on the receipt.3Visa. Surcharging Credit Cards – Q&A for Merchants Surcharging a debit card transaction is prohibited by federal law nationwide.
A cash discount runs the opposite direction: the listed price is the card price, and cash buyers pay less. Federal law protects a merchant’s right to offer one, provided the discount is available to all buyers and clearly advertised rather than tacked on at checkout.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666f – Inducements to Cardholders by Sellers of Cash Discounts A sign reading “4% fee for credit” is a surcharge. A sign reading “4% off for cash” is a discount. The math may match. The legal status doesn’t.
What to Do if a Merchant Breaks the Rule
If a store posts a debit card minimum, or a credit card minimum above $10, you have a few ways to push back.
Reporting the merchant to the card network is often the most effective move. Networks enforce their own merchant agreements, and businesses that violate the rules can face fines or lose the ability to accept that network’s cards. Visa has an online form for reporting purchase issues such as illegal minimums or undisclosed surcharges.5Visa. Report a Purchase Issue Mastercard routes complaints through the “Problems shopping” section of its website. Have the business name, address, date, and a short description ready.
Your state attorney general’s office handles consumer protection complaints and can investigate deceptive or unfair pricing practices, including improper surcharges in states where surcharging is banned. Most AG offices take complaints through an online portal. A single report about a corner store’s $10 minimum is unlikely to prompt action on its own, but repeated complaints about the same business can.
You can also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov or by calling (855) 411-2372. The CFPB’s authority over individual merchant pricing is limited compared with the networks and state regulators, but the complaints help identify broader patterns.