In Australia the A.C.C.C. (Australasian Competition and Consumer Commission) has made it illegal for businesses to charge extra on a surcharge for credit card and debit card purchases. This means that only the surcharge itself, say 1.5 percent of transaction, can be legally charged and that any additional fees the business is charged by a financial institution has to be paid by the business and not the consumer. This is effective for Visa, Mastercard and American Express credit and or debit cards as well as EFTPOS cards for Australian based banks.
Key Takeaways:
- This ban was originally placed on large businesses, however it is now implemented across all businesses.
- Businesses now can only charge the external processing costs, they can not add on any internal costs on the consumer’s debit or credit card.
- If any business does not comply to the rules they can be fined up to $126,000.
“From the 1st of September, every business in Australia was banned from charging excessive surcharges to customers making purchases.”
Read more: http://c-store.com.au/2017/09/05/unnecessary-credit-card-charges-made-illegal/
Leave a Reply