Card surcharges: can a travel agency pass card fees on to the traveller?
In short
No, in most cases. EU law bans surcharges on Visa and Mastercard consumer cards and on SEPA payments. France, Spain and Italy go further: no surcharge is allowed, whatever the payment method, corporate cards and American Express included. An agency can, however, build the cost of payment into its price, or offer a discount for a cheaper payment method.
An €8,000 trip paid with a corporate card costs more than twice as much to collect as a payment by European debit card. So many agencies have the same reflex: add a "card payment fee" line to the quote.
In France, that reflex is illegal. It is also illegal in Spain and Italy, and the EU rule already bans a large part of it. This article sets out what the texts say, country by country, and what an agency can do instead.
Can you add card fees to the price of a trip?
No, in most cases that concern a European agency.
Two levels of rules apply on top of each other. EU law sets a minimum ban. Each country can then go further, and France, Spain and Italy have done so.
Surcharge
Making the customer pay extra because of the payment method they use, for example 2% more when they pay by card.
What does the EU rule say?
Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services, known as PSD2, deals with the subject in its Article 62.
Its paragraph 4 bans charges in two cases:
- cards whose interchange fees are capped by Regulation (EU) 2015/751, in other words consumer cards on networks such as Visa and Mastercard, debit and credit alike;
- SEPA credit transfers and direct debits in euros.
For other instruments, paragraph 3 allows charges, provided they do not exceed the direct costs borne by the merchant. Above all, paragraph 5 lets countries ban or limit these charges.
A second rule applies to sales to consumers. Article 19 of Directive 2011/83/EU bans charging fees that exceed the cost actually borne. Directive (EU) 2015/2302 on package travel expressly extends it to package holidays.
What about corporate cards or American Express?
This is the most common question, because these are the most expensive cards to accept.
Regulation (EU) 2015/751 excludes two categories from its cap (Article 1, paragraph 3):
- commercial cards, issued to a business and whose payments are charged directly to its account;
- cards issued by a "three-party" scheme, where the network is both issuer and acquirer. This is the traditional American Express model. A card of this type issued by a bank under licence, however, is treated like a Visa or Mastercard card.
These cards therefore fall outside the EU ban. EU law then allows a surcharge limited to the actual cost. But this only holds in countries that have not banned all surcharges. France, Spain and Italy are not among them.
What do France, Spain, Italy and Portugal say?
| Country | Text | Surcharge on a consumer card | Surcharge on a corporate card or Amex |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | Monetary and Financial Code, Art. L112-12 | Banned | Banned |
| Spain | Real Decreto-ley 19/2018, Art. 35 | Banned | Banned |
| Italy | D.Lgs. 11/2010, Art. 3 | Banned | Banned |
| Portugal | Decreto-Lei 91/2018, Art. 101, and Decreto-Lei 3/2010, Art. 3 | Banned | General ban under DL 3/2010 |
In France, Article L112-12 of the Monetary and Financial Code is unambiguous:
« Le bénéficiaire ne peut appliquer de frais pour l'utilisation d'un instrument de paiement donné. »
"The payee may not apply charges for the use of a given payment instrument." (our translation)
The text allows exemptions by decree. We have not found any. According to the official public service website for businesses, surcharging can lead to a fine of up to €75,000 for a sole trader and €375,000 for a company.
In Spain, Article 35 of Real Decreto-ley 19/2018 bans demanding additional charges for the use of "cualesquiera instrumentos de pago", in other words any payment instrument.
In Italy, Article 3 of D.Lgs. 11/2010 bans the payee from charging the payer fees for the use of payment instruments, with no distinction between cards.
In Portugal, Article 101 of Decreto-Lei 91/2018 transposes the EU ban, and refers to Decreto-Lei 3/2010, which bans demanding any surcharge for the use of a payment instrument. We have not found an official position on corporate cards: ask your adviser to confirm before applying a surcharge.
Can you offer a discount for a cheaper payment method?
Yes. It is the alternative the texts themselves provide for.
Article 62 of PSD2 allows the merchant to offer a discount or to steer the customer towards a given payment instrument. In France, Article L112-12 also allows it, on one condition: tell the payer about the discount before payment. Spain and Portugal provide for the same option. For Italy, we have not found an express provision: check before applying it.
In practice, an agency can show a single price, then offer a few tens of euros off to a traveller who pays their balance by SEPA direct debit rather than by card. The traveller keeps the choice. The agency recovers part of the fee gap.
What is allowed, what is not
- Adding a ‘2% card fee’ to the quote
Banned in France, Spain and Italy, whatever the card.
- A single price that includes the average cost of payments
Allowed: the price is the same whatever the payment method.
- An announced discount for paying by SEPA direct debit
Allowed under PSD2 and, in France, provided the traveller is told before payment.
How do you build the cost of payment into your prices?
By treating it like any other cost of the trip: you estimate it, then spread it across the selling price.
The gap between cards is real. European debit cards are the cheapest. Corporate cards, American Express and cards issued outside Europe are significantly more expensive. SEPA direct debit costs even less than a debit card.
| Payment method | €3,000 | €8,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Visa / Mastercard · DebitEurope (EEA) · 1,19 % | €36.00 | €95.50 |
| Visa / Mastercard · CreditEurope (EEA) · 1,39 % | €42.00 | €111.50 |
| Visa / Mastercard · CorporateEurope (EEA) · 2,79 % | €84.00 | €223.50 |
| Visa / Mastercard · DebitOutside Europe · 3,29 % | €99.00 | €263.50 |
| American Express · Personal & CorporateEurope (EEA) · 3,49 % | €105.00 | €279.50 |
| SEPA Direct Debit0,3 % | €9.30 | €24.30 |
| Gap between the cheapest European card and SEPA direct debit | €26.70 | €71.20 |
Rates in force on the publication date. For current terms, see the Pricing.
To set a margin, the simplest approach is to start from your own history: the share of card payments, the share of corporate cards, the average amount. An agency that mostly sells to European consumers does not have the same average cost as a DMC paid by foreign businesses. The full rate card is on the pricing page.
Choosing between card and SEPA according to the amount is covered in our comparison Card vs SEPA for travel payments.
Is the rule going to change?
An EU regulation on payment services, intended to replace part of PSD2, is in the process of being adopted. The compromise text published by the Council in April 2026 keeps the same logic for cards. It extends the ban to all credit transfers, instant ones included, and to all direct debits in the Union, not only those in euros.
In October 2026, this regulation had not yet been published in the Official Journal. It would only apply around 21 months after it enters into force. For an agency in France, Spain or Italy, it does not change the answer: surcharging is already banned there.
How does Ezus Pay handle fees?
The traveller pays exactly the amount the agency asks for. Ezus Pay adds no surcharge on the payment page, whatever the method chosen.
The fee is deducted from the payout to the agency. It follows the card actually used: network, card type and issuing region. The final amount is therefore only known at the time of payment.
To estimate this cost in advance, the form for creating a payment link includes a simulator. The agency picks a payment method and a card type, and sees the fees and the net amount before sending the link.
Visa / Mastercard
| Card type | Europe (EEA) | United Kingdom | Outside Europe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debit | 1,19 % | 2,49 % | 3,29 % |
| Credit | 1,39 % | 2,79 % | 3,89 % |
| Corporate | 2,79 % | 3,49 % | 4,09 % |
American Express
| Card type | Europe (EEA) | Outside Europe |
|---|---|---|
| Personal & Corporate | 3,49 % | 4,19 % |
SEPA Direct Debit
By direct debit
Additional fees
Rates in force on the publication date. For current terms, see the Pricing.
To go further, our guide to online payments for travel agencies covers every payment method. How the payment link works is covered in a dedicated article.
Ezus Pay is the payment solution built for travel agencies, DMCs and tour operators. It lets you collect by card or SEPA direct debit and track every payment on the right booking, with or without Ezus.