HOUSTON — The cost of gas may be falling but we’re still looking for ways to save when we fill up.
A viewer in Spring reached out to our VERIFY team when he thought he caught some gas stations breaking the law and charging more for gas.
Stephen Goss wrote to the VERIFY team, "recently multiple gas stations are charging a surcharge of 10 cents for paying with plastic. According to Texas law, this is illegal. Could Verify clarify please?"
Sources
First our sources – the Texas Business and Commerce Code and the United States District Court Western District.
According to the Texas Business and Commerce Code, Stephen is right. There is a law on the books that says most businesses are not allowed to charge a credit card surcharge. We dug into this a little more and found that law can't actually be enforced.
U.S. court ruling on credit card surchage
According to a decision by the U.S. District Court Western District, that law is unconstitutional.
So we can verify since that 2018 decision most businesses in Texas can't get in trouble for charging a credit card surcharge.