Card payment sucharges banned in Australia from 2026

[Doctore1003]

Business cards still having the same interchange fee is interesting.

I do wonder if there'll be an expanded range of these available to people with an ABN. Or whether the requirements for a "business" card might become looser and instead they become a premium CC for customers still interested in the points?

You’ll still have to show business income. Responsible lending obligations are a big deal for banks.

 

[HMcM]

Nordic countries have extremely low cash suage, and lower rates of tax evasion and crime.

Whilst organised crime might move to crypto etc, your average person buying take away from local chinese restaurant or cigarettes from conveinience store is not going to buy gold bullion or barter for goods - that trade will be forced on books or cease to happen. That can only be good.

Its typical that we get a blunt instrument because the people whinging about surcharges clealery didnt want to use the "free" cash alternative.

The issue isn't buying Chinese food, it's buying things that while legal are more controversial. 3 private companies being in the position to outlaw something by simply saying "we refuse to do any transactions for x" while x is legal is not a position they should be in.

 

[DAC1]

To be clear about the whole “business card” thing, the RBA referenced commercial cards. Are commercial cards and business cards the same thing?

I always thought of commercial cards as being Corporate Amex type cards. I didn’t necessarily group business cards in that category.

 

[oz_mark]

To be clear about the whole “business card” thing, the RBA referenced commercial cards. Are commercial cards and business cards the same thing?

I always thought of commercial cards as being Corporate Amex type cards. I didn’t necessarily group business cards in that category.

The definition from the RBA paper

A commercial card is a business or corporate debit or credit card that is issued to businesses or their employees to make business-related purchases.

 

[mbe1510]

A good outcome that Australia will be like elsewhere where what the price is listed is the price that you will pay regardless of method.

The surcharge seemed to skyrocket after Covid-19 around the same time inflation took off, almost like a "price rise" without saying it is a price rise. No doubt will points credit cards will devalued. Interesting what it will mean for AMEX since they are excluded. Will businesses just not accept AMEX anymore due to it being "too hard".

 

[Mattg]

For anyone interested, I've written an article explaining the changes from an AFF perspective in a bit of detail here:

Surcharges Banned, Lower Interchange Fees: The 2026 RBA Changes Explained

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will ban card payment surcharges and lower interchange fees on credit card payments from 1 October 2026. It knows this will reduce credit card rewards, and it doesn't care.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[am0985]

You’ll still have to show business income. Responsible lending obligations are a big deal for banks.

Does this basically include anyone who works from an ABN?

 

[aaronm]

According to a post elsewhere on AFF passengers on Virgin are finding their credit card fees aren’t being refunded for cancelled flights to Doha.

This has been their policy for a while, when VA cancelled the MEL-CFS route they would only refund me the fare, not the payment fees, which I thought was a bit rough. Held their ground even after escalating a complaint too.

 

[flyguy77]

Some questions...

What do people think are the implications for payment processors like pay. com (who share ownership with AFF). Will they change rates? Close down?

What are the implications for a website like AFF (and it's sister site Point Hacks) which have relied on credit card sign ups for income? Surely this will have an affect on profits.

What are the implications for Qantas/Velocity/Supermarket reward programs? Will we see less points on offer overall or just from the banks?

 

[kpc]

Some questions...

What do people think are the implications for payment processors like pay. com (who share ownership with AFF). Will they change rates? Close down?

What are the implications for a website like AFF (and it's sister site Point Hacks) which have relied on credit card sign ups for income? Surely this will have an affect on profits.

What are the implications for Qantas/Velocity/Supermarket reward programs? Will we see less points on offer overall or just from the banks?

Good questions! Don't know the answers...

 

[justinbrett]

What are the implications for Qantas/Velocity/Supermarket reward programs? Will we see less points on offer overall or just from the banks?

For supermarkets - this change is completely irrelevant. The airline/supermarket relationship has nothing to do with credit cards.

For the airline programs, probably a loss of some revenue to the airlines selling points for the cards that terminate the relationship or offer points at a reduced rate.

So I actually think this will lead to an expansion of ground partners, not a reduction, in an effort to make up the shortfall. If Amex is allowed to continue as is then those cards will be the money spinners for the airlines (which is pretty much already the case after the recent devaluations in other cards).

 

[flyguy77]

For supermarkets - this change is completely irrelevant. The airline/supermarket relationship has nothing to do with credit cards.

Appreciate the reply.

I wonder if they will look into that next. Surely the points and reward programs are also baked into the costs of our groceries. Although unsure if that's something that can be regulated....

 

[MelbFlyer]

Even with surcharges being banned later in the year, the price of everyday things will just go up anyway, as is seen right now.

Couple that with :
- Increased inflation in the months to come
- Interest rates also expected to rise
- CCs offering less points with higher spend criterias / longer blackout periods and lastly
- Airlines offering less and less premium reward seats

... it's only going to get worse.

 

[Berlin]

Finally, Australia is joining the rest of the world on this! The amounts I pay on cc surcharges for hotel stays alone is staggering- and it’s only the stats here in Australia or NZ.

I wonder what this will mean for Amex which is my primary card. Small vendors pulling out altogether and only accepting VISA/Mastercard which means losing my business altogether, where there are alternatives. Or Amex still attracts fees, posing a choice between no fees and less points on Visa/MC or more (and more flexible) points but a fee using Amex? I think overall and after some transition time, this change will still be net positive. Competition will sort out some of the possible Amex rejections and at many large places like supermarkets, there have never been surcharges on any cards anyway.

Any thoughts from the community? I’m not quite sure what the effects will be tbh.

 

[SYD]

Finally, Australia is joining the rest of the world on this! The amounts I pay on cc surcharges for hotel stays alone is staggering- and it’s only the stats here in Australia or NZ.

I wonder what this will mean for Amex which is my primary card. Small vendors pulling out altogether and only accepting VISA/Mastercard which means losing my business altogether, where there are alternatives. Or Amex still attracts fees, posing a choice between no fees and less points on Visa/MC or more (and more flexible) points but a fee using Amex? I think overall and after some transition time, this change will still be net positive. Competition will sort out some of the possible Amex rejections and at many large places like supermarkets, there have never been surcharges on any cards anyway.

Any thoughts from the community? I’m not quite sure what the effects will be tbh.

No change to AMEX for now.

It’ll be like the old days: no charge for VISA/MC (and Bankcard!) and whatever fee for AMEX (and Diners)….

 

[justinbrett]

Appreciate the reply.

I wonder if they will look into that next. Surely the points and reward programs are also baked into the costs of our groceries. Although unsure if that's something that can be regulated....

Nothing wrong with having a reward program - that would be a massively authoritarian law to ban reward programs completely. Supermarkets compete so if one bakes in the price the others don't have to. Banning reward programs would just mean all the retailers keep the profit and don't pass on the savings.

The supermarkets routinely offering 50% off a wide range of products are more of a concern than the base loyalty programs. That said, the generous points offers (10K for x weeks etc) might dry up a bit, and IMO, already have with Woolworths. There has already been an inquiry into supermarkets.

 

[mbe1510]

If surcharges are outlawed it just means businesses will either absorb the cost or increase prices by 1-2 per cent and built it in. Card issuers will still charge a processing for their platform right?

 

[oz_mark]

Appreciate the reply.

I wonder if they will look into that next. Surely the points and reward programs are also baked into the costs of our groceries. Although unsure if that's something that can be regulated....

But where would that stop?

the buy 10 coffee get 1 free is baked into the coffee price....should they go after that as well?


At the end of the day, what the RBA is interested in is the efficiency of the payment system. They just want that to be as efficient and low cost as possible. Whether you get points for paying one way or another is really here nor there to them.