By: Lujan (Senate Sponsor - Menéndez) H.B. No. 4134

(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2025; April 30, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce; May 26, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 26, 2025, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a convenience fee for processing electronic payments for motor vehicles.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 348, Finance Code, is amended by adding Section 348.416 to read as follows:

Sec. 348.416. CONVENIENCE FEE FOR PROCESSING ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS AUTHORIZED. (a) In this section, "electronic payment" means a payment made by credit card, debit card, electronic funds transfer, electronic check, or other electronic method.

(b) A holder of a retail installment contract or the holder's agent may collect a fee for processing a retail buyer's electronic payment under the contract only if:

(1) the fee is reasonably related to the expense incurred by the holder or holder's agent in processing the electronic payment;

(2) the fee does not exceed the lesser of $10 or five percent of the amount of the payment; and

(3) the holder or holder's agent:

(A) allows the buyer to make a payment by a method other than an electronic payment that does not incur a fee;

(B) does not establish electronic payment as the expected form of payment; and

(C) informs the buyer of the following before the buyer agrees to make an electronic payment:

(i) the amount of the fee to be charged under this section;

(ii) that the buyer may make a payment by an alternative method that does not incur a fee, including by check, cash, or money order; and

(iii) that the holder or holder's agent may not establish electronic payment as the expected form of payment.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

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