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Starting from a $3,500 average transaction and the card mix typical for law firms.
Legal invoices are high-value and frequently paid on business cards, and many jurisdictions have specific rules about how client funds and trust accounts may be handled.
Paydude surcharges Amex at +0.3%
Excluding Amex, counted above
Stripe surcharges these; Paydude does not
Take these shares from a real statement rather than estimating. Card mix moves the answer more than the headline rate does, which is the entire reason this calculator asks for it.
Paydude is cheaper here at any card mix — even if every single transaction were on a surcharged card, the base rate difference would still cover it.
Annual saving at other Amex + premium shares
Excludes chargeback and dispute fees, where Paydude charges $12 against a $15–$25 norm. Those depend on your dispute rate rather than your volume, so they are left out of the comparison above.
Trust accounting rules mean fees must generally not be deducted from client trust funds, which constrains which processors are workable.
| Fee | Effective rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ | $101.80 | 2.91% |
| Paydude 2.6% + 25¢ | $91.25 | 2.61% |
Many jurisdictions require that processing fees are never taken from a client trust account, and that operating and trust funds are separated. That requirement narrows the field before rates are even considered — check it before comparing anything else.
This is a case where the cheapest rate is not automatically the right answer. Confirm compliance first, then compare.
GOOD QUESTIONS
At a typical $3,500 transaction, a standard 2.9% + 30¢ rate works out at 2.91%. At that ticket the fixed fee is almost irrelevant — the percentage and your card mix decide the bill. Corporate and Amex cards, which are common in this industry, cost more to accept everywhere.
Check trust-accounting compatibility before rate. Several legal-specific providers handle the separation of operating and trust funds automatically, which general-purpose processors may not.
Because their interchange is higher — the rewards and expense-management features those cards offer are funded from the fee the merchant pays. Some providers surcharge them explicitly; others fold the cost into a higher base rate that every merchant pays regardless of card mix.
Frequently, at this ticket size. ACH is typically a flat fee of under a dollar rather than a percentage, so on a $3,500 payment it can cost a fraction of card processing. The trade is settlement speed and a longer dispute window.