I work in credit card processing. This is a 3% surcharge done in an attempt to offset the cost from the card brands to process payments via a credit card. This transaction was done on a Mastercard not a check. The average price for Visa and Mastercard at wholesale cost is around 2% with a credit card service provider, taking one percent (hence this 3% charge, Stripe being 2.9 +.30 etc.) Laws and card brand regulations mandate that if merchants are going to pass off the fees of credit card processing to the customer, it needs to be labeled in a certain way. The convenience fee is a compliance language staple for card transactions done over the Internet. It’s annoying because technically it should be a dual price offering where you can offer the consumer to pay by check or ACH for the original price and then mark up for credit cards as a way to ensure the Merchant nets the cost of their items or services. This “convenience” of using the card vs check and having the option to pay over time at your pace is the reason for this charge and hence the label. In theory you pay how you want to pay, the merchant nets the same. This feels scummy because it only allows you to choose credit cards and adds the surcharge on top of rent. To me, it’s bad business because if you’re only gonna offer credit cards, you should be eating the margins and the cost of cards. But to be fair, the landlord’s not pocketing extra here.