Service and convenience fees on card payments in Canada.

The short answer

• A surcharge is for credit cards only. It is capped at your cost of acceptance and never more than 2.4%. Our surcharging guide covers the rules.
• Visa says convenience fees are not permitted in Canada. Its rules for convenience fees are written for the Asia Pacific and US regions only.
• Visa allows service fees in Canada in eight merchant categories. They include utilities, rentals, schools, colleges and childcare. The cap is 1.5% on debit and 2.5% on credit and prepaid.
• You cannot combine them. A merchant that charges a service fee cannot also surcharge the same payment.
• Québec bars card fees on consumers. The consumer protection office says a sign or a warning does not make one legal.

Three fees, three rule sets

Visa defines a convenience fee as a fee for a real convenience, such as an extra payment channel, not charged only for taking the card. It defines a service fee as a fee on a card payment in a permitted merchant category.

Visa's service fee rules for Canada

Visa lists, country by country, the merchant categories where a service fee may be charged. Your category is your merchant category code (MCC). Visa's rules say your acquirer must assign the MCC that most accurately describes your business.

In Canada, a merchant in one of these categories, or its third party, may charge a service fee if it:

• accepts Visa in every card-not-present channel where it takes payments, such as online and by phone;
• calls it a service fee and shows it before the payment is complete, with a way to cancel at no cost;
• does not present it as a fee charged by Visa;
• keeps it a reasonable reflection of the cost of the payment, and never above 1.5% on debit or 2.5% on credit and prepaid;
• charges it on the final amount, after discounts;
• charges no more than on a similar payment with a similar card, and the same for every issuer's similar cards;
• does not also add a surcharge.

A third party collecting the fee may process it as a separate transaction.

Mastercard, Interac and debit

Mastercard. The Mastercard Rules (June 2026) set out no Canadian service fee program like Visa's. The global rule allows a fee such as a convenience fee only if it applies to all like payments, whatever the payment method, or if Mastercard has agreed in writing. A credit card surcharge cannot be added on top of a convenience or service fee.

Interac debit. Interac allows a surcharge of up to $0.25 on an in-person Interac payment. Only your acquirer can apply it, and the customer must be able to cancel. Merchants may not add one themselves. Interac does not allow it on in-app or in-browser debit payments. Its fee page describes no service fee program. See Interac debit.

Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard. Neither can be surcharged. A Visa service fee can apply to Visa Debit, within the 1.5% cap.

FCAC. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says customers must see any fee before paying, be able to cancel, and be able to pay another way.

Québec: no card fees on consumers

Section 224 of Québec's Consumer Protection Act bars charging a consumer more than the advertised price. The Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC) applies this to card payments. It says merchants may not charge consumers a fee for paying by debit or credit card. A sign or verbal warning does not change the rule.

Visa and Mastercard both say provincial law comes first. Whether the Act covers a particular school, agency or landlord is a legal question. Check with your lawyer before charging any card fee to Québec customers.

Setting up a fee the right way

Where CleverPays fits

Visa, Mastercard and Interac write the network rules. Your acquirer assigns your MCC and can tell you whether you are eligible. Provincial law sits above all of them. You decide whether to charge a fee and how it is shown. CleverPays does not set network rules or give legal advice.

We can explain which model fits how you bill. We can set up the account and the fee display at checkout, test it with you, and review your statement afterwards to check the fee matches your cost. We do not promise that a fee program is permitted for your business. For legality in your province or industry, check with your lawyer and your acquirer. We answer in English and French.