HB4134

HB4134 allows the holder of a motor-vehicle retail installment contract, or its agent, to collect an electronic-payment processing fee only if it meets cost, dollar-limit and consumer-choice conditions. Electronic payments include credit cards, debit cards, electronic transfers, electronic checks and other electronic methods. The bill became law without the governor’s signature June 20, 2025, and took effect September 1, 2025. Final law · History

The fee must be reasonably related to the holder’s or agent’s processing expense and cannot exceed the smaller of $10 or 5% of the payment. For example, the dollar/percentage ceiling is $5 for a $100 payment and $10 for a $300 payment; the separate processing-expense condition still applies. These are maximums, not required charges. Section 348.416(b)(1)–(2)

The holder or agent must offer a nonelectronic payment method without a fee and may not make electronic payment the expected form of payment. Before the buyer agrees to pay electronically, it must disclose the fee amount, the availability of a fee-free alternative—including check, cash or money order—and the restriction against making electronic payment the expected method. This does not require all electronic payment options to be free. Section 348.416(b)(3)

The provision concerns payments under covered retail installment contracts, not every vehicle-related payment, DMV charge or unrelated loan. The existing definition of “holder” includes a retail seller and an assignee or transferee of the contract. Finance Code 348.001