The Reserve Bank of Australia has made a decision to ban excess surcharges, which means merchants can no longer impose surcharges on customers making card payments in-store.
MasterCard vice president of strategy and corporate affairs, David Masters, welcomes the decision and says it will stop merchants unfairly bolstering revenues.
“To describe this as a win for consumers is really an understatement. Here in Australia, MasterCard has long argued that, to the extent surcharging is allowed, it should only be allowed up to a level that reflects the merchant’s cost of accepting that card,” he said.
“We support the RBA’s decisive move to stamp-out the practice of profiteering through surcharges. This change will provide welcome relief for consumers who have been subject to unfair fees or gouging by some merchants when they’ve used their MasterCard cards to pay.”
According to Masters, the decision comes after two rounds of consultation on card surcharging over a period of about 12 months. It now allows MasterCard to limit a merchant’s ability to surcharge to reasonably reflect the cost of acceptance to the merchant.
This story was first published on www.ttmag.com.au