Stop paying for the cost of card acceptance. KAJA's Cash Discount Program offers your customers a built-in discount when they pay with cash, check, EBT, or HSA/FSA — and a posted credit price that reflects the true cost of the sale. It's a true Durbin-compliant discount, legal in all 50 states, and there's no card brand registration to file.
Your posted price — on the menu, the shelf tag, the website — is the credit card price. When a customer pays with cash, check, EBT, or HSA/FSA, the terminal applies an automatic discount at checkout and prints it on the receipt as a negative line item. Credit cards and debit cards pay the posted price. The credit price absorbs your processing cost, the cash discount rewards the cheaper tenders, and your net cost to accept payments drops close to zero.
The legal basis is the Durbin Amendment of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act (15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2), which explicitly permits merchants to offer a discount based on the form of payment used. Because the program is a true discount — not a fee bolted onto a credit transaction — it does not require Visa or Mastercard registration, has no 3% cap, and is not restricted by any state.
Your menu, shelf tags, and online catalog list the credit price. The discount comes off at checkout for non-credit tenders — which is the exact mechanic the Durbin Amendment authorizes.
Unlike surcharging — which is banned in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico and capped in several others — a true cash discount is permitted nationwide. No state lines to worry about, no map to monitor.
Surcharging requires 30 days' notice to Visa and Mastercard before you can go live. Cash discount doesn't — because legally it isn't a fee on credit, it's a reward for cheaper tender. We get you live in days, not a month.
The discount is applied at checkout for cash, EBT, and HSA/FSA payments only. Debit and credit cards pay the posted (credit) price. The terminal identifies the tender automatically and applies the correct pricing, so the rule is enforced at the device.
Every receipt prints the posted credit price and the cash discount as a separate negative line item — exactly what acquirers and auditors expect to see. No ambiguity, no language that could be mistaken for a surcharge.
We ship the point-of-entry and point-of-sale signage that the card brands require, with the disclosure language pre-written. Hang the sign, plug in the terminal, and you're set.
Most KAJA merchants are running a cash discount program within a few business days of signing — there's no 30-day waiting period the way there is for surcharging.
Send us a recent processing statement. We'll calculate exactly how much you're paying in interchange, dues, and assessments — and project how much of that disappears once a cash discount is in place. No obligation, no pitch.
We configure your terminal or POS to apply the cash discount automatically, route EBT and HSA/FSA to the discounted tier, and print the negative line item on receipts. Your point-of-entry and point-of-sale signage ships at the same time.
Plug in, post the signage, and start ringing sales. Cash, check, EBT, and HSA/FSA customers get the discount automatically. Debit and credit card customers pay the posted price. The processing cost that used to come out of your margin now sits in your bank account.
Three ways to handle the cost of card acceptance. Here's how they actually compare.
| Cash Discount | Surcharge | Traditional Processing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net cost of card acceptance | Near zero | Near zero on credit only | 2.5%–3.5% of every sale |
| Posted price is the… | Credit price (discount subtracted at POS) | Same on every payment method | Same on every payment method |
| Card brand registration | Not required | 30-day Visa/MC notice | Not required |
| Maximum amount | No cap | 3% (Visa) or actual cost | — |
| State restrictions | Legal in all 50 states | Banned in CT, MA, PR; capped in CO, IL, NY | Legal in all 50 states |
| Debit cards | Pay the posted (credit) price | Cannot be surcharged (Durbin) | Processed normally |
| Time to go live | A few business days | ~30 days (registration window) | A few business days |
| Best for | Restaurants, retail, salons, auto, professional services | B2B and high-ticket where surcharge is industry-standard | Merchants whose customers expect identical pricing |
Not sure which one fits your business? Send us a recent statement and we'll model out the savings under each program before you commit.
Any merchant with steady card volume can run a cash discount program. These are the categories where we see the strongest results.
Yes — in all 50 US states. The Durbin Amendment of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2(b)(2)) explicitly permits merchants to offer a discount based on the customer's form of payment. Because a true cash discount is a discount and not a credit-card fee, it isn't restricted by the state-level surcharge bans that apply in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico.
A cash discount posts the credit price and subtracts a discount when a customer pays with cash, check, EBT, or HSA/FSA. A surcharge adds a fee to a credit card transaction. The economics can look similar, but the legal frameworks are very different: surcharging is capped at 3% (Visa), requires 30 days' notice to Visa and Mastercard, is banned in CT, MA, and PR, and cannot be applied to debit cards. Cash discount has none of those constraints.
Under KAJA's program, the discount applies to cash, check, EBT, and HSA/FSA payments only. Debit cards pay the posted (credit) price, the same as credit cards. The terminal identifies the tender by BIN at swipe and applies the correct pricing automatically, so the policy is enforced at the device — not by your staff.
Most won't notice — and the ones who do almost always appreciate that paying with cash earns them a discount rather than feeling penalized at the register. The mechanic is the same one gas stations have used for decades: one posted price for cards, a lower price for cash. Clear signage and a one-line message on the terminal make it intuitive.
You need visible disclosure at the point of entry (storefront sign or website banner), at the point of sale (terminal screen or checkout page), and on the receipt as a separate, clearly labeled line item showing the cash discount amount. KAJA ships the signage and configures the terminal text and receipt formatting so all three are in place when you go live.
No. Card brand registration is only required for surcharging because that program adds a fee to credit transactions. A cash discount is a discount offered for non-credit tender, which the Durbin Amendment authorizes outright — so there's no 30-day waiting period, no acquirer notice, and no risk of being suspended from a network for procedural reasons.
"Non-cash adjustment," "service fee," and similar labels are commonly used to dress a surcharge up as a cash discount — the posted price is the cash price, and a fee gets added when a card is presented. That's a surcharge regardless of what it's called, and Visa began actively auditing and fining these programs in 2023, with penalties starting at $1,000 per violation and escalating. KAJA only deploys true Durbin-compliant cash discount: the posted price is the credit price, and the discount is subtracted at the register.
Most merchants running a 3.99% cash discount see their effective net processing cost drop close to zero — the credit price absorbs the interchange, the discount rewards cheaper tender, and the difference goes back to the business. For a merchant doing $50,000/month in card volume, that's roughly $12,000–$17,000 a year staying in your bank account instead of going to the card networks. Send us a recent statement and we'll model your actual numbers.
Most KAJA cash discount accounts are live within a few business days of signing — there's no 30-day Visa/MC notification window because no registration is required. Once your terminal is reprogrammed and signage is in place, you can run your first discounted sale that day.
Send us a recent processing statement and we'll show you what a Cash Discount Program would save your business — under your actual interchange profile, not a generic estimate.