Illinois Credit Card Surcharge Law
Illinois credit card surcharge law allows surcharging statewide, with no state cap on the amount. No Illinois statute bans, caps, or otherwise regulates a retail credit card surcharge, so card network rules set the ceiling. Clear disclosure at the door, the counter, and the receipt keeps you inside the rules.
Illinois Allows Credit Card Surcharging
No Illinois statute stands in the way. Card network rules do the governing.
Illinois has no enacted statute that bans, caps, or otherwise regulates a retail credit card surcharge. Lawmakers have floated bills to restrict surcharging over the years, and none of them became law. That leaves Illinois in the same position as most of the country: surcharging is open, and the card networks set the terms.
With no state statute on the books as of July 2026, Visa and Mastercard's own rules are the operative ceiling and the operative disclosure standard for an Illinois dealership. There is no separate Illinois form to follow on top of that. Meet the network rules and you meet the state's requirements too, because there are no additional state requirements.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Status | Allowed |
| Cap | Card network caps |
| State statute | None enacted |
| Disclosure | Card network standard, at the door, the counter, and the receipt |
Illinois is one of 47 states where surcharging is legal. See the full table at credit card surcharge laws by state.
The Card Networks Set the Ceiling
With no state cap on the books, Visa and Mastercard's own rules do the work.
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Visa: 3% Cap
In force nationwide since April 2023. Illinois has no state ceiling of its own.
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Mastercard: 4% Cap
Same network standard as Visa applies, just a higher ceiling.
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Debit Never Surcharges
Debit, prepaid, and gift cards can never carry a surcharge, in Illinois or anywhere else.
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Disclosure Is Mandatory
Post notice at the door and the counter, and show the surcharge as its own line on the receipt.
Two Numbers, No State Layer
With no state statute on the books, Visa's 3 percent and Mastercard's 4 percent are the only numbers an Illinois dealership runs against. A standard 3 percent credit card surcharge sits inside Visa's cap.
The 1 Percent Cap That Never Became Law
A number with no statute behind it, repeated until it sounds official.
Search around and plenty of payment industry sites and guides still list an Illinois surcharge cap of 1 percent, or sometimes phrase it as a cap tied to actual processing cost. It reads like settled law. It is not. A widely cited 1 percent cap comes from a bill that never became law. Lawmakers proposed it, it did not pass, and no version of it has been enacted since.
Illinois has no enacted surcharge cap of any kind, 1 percent or otherwise. What actually binds an Illinois dealership is the same network ceiling that governs every state where the legislature stays out of it: Visa's 3 percent cap, Mastercard's 4 percent cap. Anyone telling you Illinois law caps you at 1 percent is quoting a bill, not a statute.
When Someone Quotes You the 1 Percent Figure
A customer or a controller may bring it up because they read it somewhere. Point to the rules that are actually in force: the network caps, the posted notice at the door and the counter, and the surcharge itemized as its own line on the receipt. That is the whole standard, and it is not 1 percent.
What This Means at the Counter
The counter just needs three things right.
A standard 3% credit card surcharge sits inside Visa's cap and stays disclosed the same way every other surcharging state requires: notice at the point of entry, notice again at the point of sale, and the surcharge itemized as its own line on the receipt. Debit never carries a surcharge, in Illinois or anywhere else, no exceptions and no workarounds. We track the state, not your front desk.
Payments post straight to the repair order in CDK Drive, so the surcharge line shows up where your advisors already work. See the full mechanics on the surcharge program page, or walk through exactly what happens at the terminal on the how it works page.
Straight Answers on Illinois Rules
Yes. No Illinois statute restricts a retail credit card surcharge. With no state law in the way, card network rules set the ceiling and the disclosure standard.
Yes. Visa caps credit card surcharges at 3 percent and Mastercard at 4 percent, and Illinois adds no cap of its own. A standard 3 percent surcharge sits inside the network ceiling.
No. That figure comes from a proposed bill that never became law. Illinois has no enacted state cap on credit card surcharges, so the network caps apply instead.
No. Debit, prepaid, and gift cards never carry a surcharge, anywhere, and Illinois is no exception. That is a card network rule, and it follows the card itself, not the button pressed at the terminal.
There is no Illinois-specific disclosure statute, so the card network standard applies: notice at the point of entry, notice again at the point of sale, and the surcharge shown as its own line on the receipt. For pricing and program questions beyond state law, see the FAQ page.
Straight Answers on Illinois
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