Frequently Asked Questions for Card Processing


What are Dual Pricing and Compliant Surcharging(Credit)?

Dual Pricing - Consumers are empowered with a choice as they receive a cash and card price. The cash price is just as it sounds, and the card price includes up to the merchant's exact flat-rate cost of processing a card transaction. This is NOT considered a surcharge program in the eyes of the card brands or law.

Compliant Surcharging (credit cards only)- Similar to Dual Pricing's effect of passing on the fee, with the exception that this program has a price surcharge on credit cards up to 3%, but not on debit cards. The merchant will pay the fee for debit cards but at a discounted rate. This program is targeted at merchants with a larger ratio of credit to debit and may not want to pass on everything they can.


My customers will hate this. I am going to lose business if I offset fees, won't I?
This is a common thought among merchants. However, there are two things that will alleviate this concern:
  • Consumer behavior is on our side. These types of programs, though they may be new in the last few years to your industry, have been around for a long time. One such industry is gas stations. If you have travelled around the country, you will have likely paid a surcharge or "card price" to use a card at some of these places. Like many others, you probably opted to use the card anyway due to its convenience. Most consumers understand that merchants have an increased cost to accept a card and see why there is a different cost than using cash at checkout.
  • These programs are positive for 95% of businesses. YES, this program may not be for you. You may be part of the 5%. The good news is that we won't lock you into these programs. If you try these programs for a few months and decide that it isn't for you, we can easily switch you back to traditional processing. The best part of that is that since you gave these programs a shot, your pricing will be at a steep discount. We will put you back to a solution you currently use, at a price other processors will have difficulty beating. Your savings won't be near what they were under the programs, but in the end, you win either way.


I'm already on a cash discount program. How is your program compliant with the law and regulations, but mine is not?

While dual-pricing will have the same result as legacy cash discounting(non-cash adjustment) and other surcharge programs, ours is compliant for two reasons:
  • Unlike legacy cash discounting, dual pricing does not place separate line items on receipts; these are not compliant with the Durbin Amendment or card regulations(particularly Visa).
  • Legacy cash discounting is seen as non-compliant surcharging because consumers know that using a card with the program is a 3-4% penalty increase/non-cash adjustment due to the wording of notices and how the program itself is implemented. With dual pricing, merchants will raise their advertised price to the card price, giving a true discount for paying with cash. They are then free to pass the costs to the cardholders without the worry of Visa's watchful eye and heavy-handed enforcement.

Anyone who has spent time with government or regulatory entities knows that 9/10 times, it is not what you are doing, it is how you are doing it that dictates if you are in compliance.


NOTICE: As of April 15, 2023, Visa began stepping up enforcement of programs that they see as non-compliant as well as capping compliant surcharging at 3%. Any cost over 3% will fall to the merchants. Regardless if you decide to work with AMST, please work with your processor to ensure you are in compliance. While we want your business, we care more about your success!


If I want to offset the costs to process cards, I can just surcharge or raise the prices to cover it myself. Why do I need you?
You can use other methods to cover the cost to process card transactions. However, you may inadvertently create two problems for yourself:
  • Merchants cannot profit from surcharging credit card transactions and may only charge enough to cover some processing costs. Due to interchange costing different rates(credit vs debit, card brand vs card brand, type of rewards card, consumer card vs business card, merchant type vs merchant type), merchants will not be able to predict the rates exactly and will inadvertently overcharge, thus running afoul of the regulations. Merchants may never surcharge debit cards. If you are manually adding a surcharge, an employee may accidentally surcharge a debit card. Our systems check the card bins and always categorize them automatically when run.
  • Taxes! Simply put, you give the tax man more money. On our programs, you never see that extra fee and thus it doesn't add to your taxable income. By trying to surcharge or raise costs to collect the fees yourself and pay at the end of the month with traditional processing, you will always be spending something to process each card transaction. Only this time you give the money to Uncle Sam as income tax.

You're the umpteenth company today to offer processing to me and say you will save money; what makes you different?
Saving your overhead and putting money back into your discretionary income is the immediate effect that you will see. However, in doing so, we ensure you are not sacrificing service or solution quality. AMST is a local company who is specializing in working with small businesses and meeting their needs. Unlike many bigger companies, we live and work in the Wabash Valley. We patronize businesses here and send our kids to school here. We will seek a solution that not only saves overhead, but improves efficiency and makes your job easier/alleviates workload (even if that means searching for a niche solution to meet your needs). Because we are local, because we believe in small business, and because we care for your success, we will work to ensure you save without sacrificing quality and service.