Adit Pay's Convenience Fees setting (labeled "Pass Through Adit Fees to Patient" in Preferences) lets your practice pass processing costs on to the patient automatically, without having to calculate anything by hand.

Because the words "convenience fee" and "surcharge" are often used interchangeably, this guide explains the difference, and why Adit Pay's implementation is a convenience fee, not a surcharge, under card network (Visa/Mastercard) rules.

How Adit Pay applies the fee

Four principles keep the fee compliant and patient-friendly:

All card types Applies equally to credit, debit, Apple Pay & Google Pay

Fee-free alternatives Cash, check, or Bank/ACH where the practice offers it

Disclosed up front Shown as its own line item before the patient pays

Never on recurring Payment plans & subscriptions are always excluded

Where the fee applies

When the setting is enabled, the fee is added to one-time card payments wherever the card is taken. That includes payments collected in the office on an Adit terminal, as well as online payments, Text to Pay, and payment requests. The rate depends on how the card is presented:

The fee is always shown on its own line and is never folded into the treatment amount. For example:

On card payments your practice receives the full service amount it billed, because the fee covers the processing cost. On Bank/ACH the patient is never charged a convenience fee and the practice pays the ACH processing cost instead.

What is never charged the fee: payment plans and subscriptions, CareCredit, HSA and FSA cards, Bank/ACH payments, and cash or check recorded as offline payments.

Surcharge vs. Convenience Fee

The two answer different questions. A surcharge penalizes the patient for choosing a credit card. A convenience fee recovers the cost of processing the payment, applies the same way to every card, and can be avoided entirely by paying another way.

Why Adit Pay's fee is NOT a surcharge

1. It applies to both credit and debit cards equally. A surcharge legally cannot touch debit cards; Adit Pay's fee applies uniformly to every card payment: credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
2. Patients have a genuine way to avoid it. Cash and check are never charged the fee, and Bank/ACH carries no fee for the patient where the practice offers it. The fee reflects the cost of processing a card payment, not a penalty for choosing a card.
3. It's fully disclosed before payment. The patient sees the fee as its own line item on the payment page and receipt before completing payment.
4. It never applies to recurring payments. Per card network rules, convenience fees are for one-time payments only, so Adit Pay automatically excludes payment plans and subscriptions.

FAQs

Where are convenience fees not available?

Convenience fees are not available in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, or Canada due to regulations and state rules.

Eligibility is determined by your practice location's address (the address on your connected Stripe account), not the patient's billing address. In multi-location organizations, each location is evaluated separately, so a Texas location may offer convenience fees while a Massachusetts location cannot.

Which payments do convenience fees apply to?

When toggled ON, the fee applies to all one-time card payments, card present or not present, including credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

It does not apply to recurring payments (payment plans and subscriptions), CareCredit, HSA/FSA cards, or ACH/bank payments.

Does the fee apply to payments taken in the office on a terminal?

Yes. If Convenience Fees are enabled, a card payment taken on an Adit terminal carries the fee at the card-present rate of 2.25% + $0.20. A $100.00 balance becomes $102.51 for the patient, and your practice still receives $100.00.

Paying in person does not by itself avoid the fee. What avoids it is the payment method: cash, check, or Bank/ACH.

Do convenience fees post to the patient's ledger?

No. Only the service amount posts to your EHR/ledger. The patient's ledger tracks outstanding payments and the actual medical services provided, so keeping convenience fees off the ledger keeps your billing records accurately matched to those services.

How do refunds work when a convenience fee was charged?

You may refund the entire amount the patient paid, including the convenience fee.

Only the refund amount up to the original payment request posts to the ledger. Example: for a $1,000 request with a $30.18 fee, refunding the full $1,030.18 posts $1,000 to the ledger.

What happens to payment requests sent before I turned convenience fees on (or after I turn them off)?

Requests that were already sent and are still unpaid remain fee-free. The fee setting is stored on each request when it's created, so patients never see an unexpected charge.

You can open an unpaid request and add the convenience fee to it, then re-send. If you later disable convenience fees globally, applied fees on open requests are removed.

Can I accept partial payments with convenience fees enabled?

No. Partial payments are automatically disabled while convenience fees are on, so the fee always corresponds to one complete transaction.

How can a patient avoid the fee?

By paying with something other than a card. Cash and check are never charged a convenience fee, and Bank/ACH payments (where enabled) carry no fee for the patient.

Card payments carry the fee wherever they are taken, including on a terminal in your office.