Nebraska Credit Card Surcharge Law
Nebraska credit card surcharge law allows surcharging. No state statute bans, caps, or sets disclosure rules for it at a private business like a dealership. The one cost cap guides keep pinning on Nebraska lives in two government payment laws that never reach a dealer's counter. This page shows what actually governs, where that cap really comes from, and what a Nebraska dealership needs to get right.
Nebraska Allows Credit Card Surcharging
No statute bans it, caps it, or sets disclosure rules for it, not for a private business like a dealership.
Search "Nebraska credit card surcharge law" and you will often read that the state limits a surcharge to the merchant's actual cost. It does not. As of July 2026, a Nebraska dealership's front counter answers to no state surcharge statute of any kind: no ban, no cap, no disclosure rule written for a private business. The national reference lists Nebraska as having no surcharge statute at all. The real ceiling comes from the card networks, walked through next, and the true home of that actual cost cap, two government payment laws, gets its own section below.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Status | Allowed |
| State cap | None, network rules apply |
| Disclosure | Card network rules |
| Debit | Never surcharged |
Credit card surcharging is legal in 47 states; Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts ban it. See the full table at credit card surcharge laws by state.
The Card Networks Set the Ceiling
Nebraska's only surcharge cost limits were written for government cashiers, not car lots, so the ceiling a dealership actually answers to comes from Visa and Mastercard, not Lincoln.
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Visa: 3% Cap
In force nationwide since April 2023. Nebraska has no lower state ceiling.
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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 Nebraska 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.
There Is No Federal Surcharge Cap
Some guides tell Nebraska merchants that the federal government caps a surcharge at 4 percent. No federal law caps a credit card surcharge at 4 percent or any other figure. The real ceilings are the Visa and Mastercard network rules above. The one federal rule that does apply is the reason debit can never carry a surcharge at all.
Where That Cap Actually Lives
A real cost limit, in real Nebraska statutes, that applies only to government offices and never to your dealership.
Processing guides and surcharge directories repeat a tidy claim: Nebraska limits a credit card surcharge to the merchant's actual cost of accepting the card. It reads like settled state law. It is not. As of July 2026, no Nebraska statute limits what a private business may add to a transaction for accepting a credit card. The cost cap those guides are describing is real, but it lives in two laws written for government payments, not private commerce.
The first is Nebraska Revised Statute 81-118.01. It lets a state official or state agency add a surcharge or convenience fee when someone pays the state by credit card, and it caps that fee so it "shall not exceed the surcharge or convenience fee imposed by the credit card or charge card companies" that contract with the state. It is a real cost based limit, written into a real Nebraska statute. It applies only to a payment made to a state office. It has never applied to a private business, and it does not apply to a dealership.
The second is Nebraska Revised Statute 13-609. It does the same thing one level down: a county treasurer, county official, or political subdivision may add a surcharge or convenience fee to a credit card payment owed to that office, capped again at no more than what the card companies charge that government entity. Same cost based limit, same government only reach. It says nothing about what a car dealership may charge a retail customer.
So the actual cost figure that circulates as Nebraska's merchant surcharge cap is a real number pulled from the wrong statutes. Neither law governs a private sale. Until Nebraska passes a statute that reaches private businesses, the only ceiling on a Nebraska dealership's credit card surcharge is the one set by Visa and Mastercard, covered above.
What Actually Applies
No Nebraska statute caps what a private business can surcharge. The cost limits in Nebraska Revised Statutes 81-118.01 and 13-609 apply to payments made to state and local government offices, not to a dealership's customers. Visa's 3 percent and Mastercard's 4 percent are the real ceilings for a Nebraska dealership.
What This Means at the Counter
The counter just needs the disclosure and the receipt line handled.
Your front desk never has to work out which Nebraska statute does or does not reach a dealership; that question is already settled above. Disclosure runs the way the card networks require it: notice at the point of entry, notice at the point of sale, and the surcharge itemized as its own line on the receipt. The program is credit only, so the debit prohibition that applies everywhere never turns into a judgment call at the terminal. We track the state, not your front desk.
That handling is not bolted on to the side either. Every surcharge posts straight to the repair order inside CDK Drive, right where your advisors are already looking, instead of living on a note tied to a pair of government statute numbers. See what that looks like at the terminal on the how it works page, or the complete program mechanics on the surcharge program page.
Straight Answers on Nebraska Rules
Yes. As of July 2026, no Nebraska statute bans or caps a private business surcharging a credit card. The actual cost limit often cited online is not a merchant rule; it comes from two government payment laws covered above.
No, not for a private business. That cost cap lives only in Nebraska Revised Statutes 81-118.01 and 13-609, which govern payments made to state and local government offices. Neither reaches a dealership, so no state cost cap applies to your counter.
No. No federal law caps a credit card surcharge at 4 percent or any figure. The real ceilings are the Visa 3 percent and Mastercard 4 percent network rules. The only federal rule in play is why debit can never be surcharged.
The card network rules set the standard: post notice at the point of entry, post notice at the point of sale, and show the surcharge as its own line on the receipt. Nebraska has no separate state disclosure statute for private merchants.
Never. Debit, prepaid, and gift cards simply cannot be surcharged, a card network rule that follows the card regardless of state or terminal. For pricing and program questions beyond state law, see the FAQ page.
Straight Answers on Nebraska
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