# Payment Choice Act of 2025: What It Means for You

This bill requires physical retail stores to accept cash as payment for purchases up to $500 per transaction. Right now, some businesses refuse cash entirely—think of stores that only take credit cards or digital payments. This law would make that illegal. If you walk into a store that accepts in-person payments, you'd have the legal right to pay with cash, and the store can't charge you extra for doing so or give you a worse deal than customers paying with cards.

The law applies to any brick-and-mortar business that takes payments in person, including stores that also sell things online but have a physical location where you can pay face-to-face. For the first five years, stores can refuse $50 bills and larger denominations, but they must accept $1, $5, $10, and $20 bills. After five years, the Treasury Department will decide whether stores need to accept bigger bills too. There are a few exceptions: stores don't have to accept cash if their payment system temporarily breaks down or they don't have enough change on hand. Alternatively, stores could offer a machine that converts your cash into a prepaid card with no fees and no personal information required.

If a store violates this rule, you could sue them. You'd need to send them a written notice giving them 45 days to fix the problem. If they don't, you can take them to court and potentially recover damages (at least $250 even if your actual loss is smaller) plus a penalty of up to $500 for a first offense or $1,500 for repeat violations. The court can also award attorney's fees. This enforcement mechanism puts the power directly in customers' hands rather than relying on government agencies to police the rule.

Payment Choice Act of 2025

Rose, John W.

Payment Choice Act of 2025This bill requires retail businesses to accept cash as a form of payment for on-site sales of $500 or less and it prohibits them from charging cash-paying customers a higher price compared to customers not paying with cash. Businesses covered by this bill are those engaged in the business of selling or offering goods or services at retail to the public that accept in-person payments at a physical location.The bill establishes exceptions for this requirement, including by allowing a business to provide a device to provide prepaid cards on site for customers to use as payment. Among other requirements, such a card must not have a fee associated with its use and must not require a minimum payment of more than $1.The bill provides for enforcement through preventative relief, damages, and civil penalties.