Card payment sucharges banned in Australia from 2026

[Warks]

In other news I saw that Amex jacked up its foreign exchange transaction fees from 3 to 3.5%. Trying to get ahead of this? Timing is convenient. I know it's not directly related as it's overseas transactions but still.

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We'd like to provide you with an update on the Currency Conversion Fee on your American Express Card Account.​

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From 4 May 2026, the Currency Conversion Fee will change from 3% to 3.5%. Currency Conversion Fees are charged when you make a transaction in a currency other than Australian Dollars.1​

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This change is effective across all our American Express Card products and you'll receive this notification for each of your Cards.​

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We thank you for your continued Membership.​

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[ceetee]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the benefit to having credit cards is as much a benefit to the merchant as it is the consumer, probably more to the merchant. Can you imagine having to hold enough cash to process 100 people per day checking out of a hotel. In the old days(yes I was around then) a money truck would show up once a day to remove the cash safely. It cost a lot of money to handle cash in a daily basis. But CCs make it more safe and convenient for the merchants, hence a small surcharge to them is fair. But even though these merchant fees have been around for a long time, it was only recently that merchants passed on that surcharge to us. I’m glad they are getting regulated but I know there will be higher costs as merchants pass on any increase in their costs to us.

 

[oz_mark]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the benefit to having credit cards is as much a benefit to the merchant as it is the consumer, probably more to the merchant. Can you imagine having to hold enough cash to process 100 people per day checking out of a hotel. In the old days(yes I was around then) a money truck would show up once a day to remove the cash safely. It cost a lot of money to handle cash in a daily basis. But CCs make it more safe and convenient for the merchants, hence a small surcharge to them is fair. But even though these merchant fees have been around for a long time, it was only recently that merchants passed on that surcharge to us. I’m glad they are getting regulated but I know there will be higher costs as merchants pass on any increase in their costs to us.

Does need to be balanced against the problem of chargeback fraud, which is a big and growing problem.

 

[VZ1_60]

RBA green lights credit card surcharge ban

Surcharges for debit and credit card payments will end on October 1 and banks will lose $660m in revenue according to changes announced by the RBA on Tuesday.

www.afr.com

Praise the Lord! Credit Card surcharges banned from 1st October 2026!

Honestly, our airlines and credit card companies have earned too much, it is time for them to give back to our society!

wait until the price of everything goes up, then you will not be so happy.

 

[Pete98765432]

wait until the price of everything goes up, then you will not be so happy.

There will be no need for the 84% of businesses who do not currently surcharge to raise their prices. In fact they will benefit from the reduced interchange fee (so maybe should reduce their prices ).

For those who do surcharge, any price increase should be less than the current surcharge as it will apply to all customers and they too will benefit from the reduced interchange fee.

Of course businesses could just use this as an excuse to raise prices.

 

[LondonAussie]

wait until the price of everything goes up, then you will not be so happy.

You do realise you’re currently paying the increased price in a less transparent way? The only thing that will change is the surcharge becomes included in the advertised price instead of being added on to the price after you tap.

 

[oz_mark]

There will be no need for the 84% of businesses who do not currently surcharge to raise their prices. In fact they will benefit from the reduced interchange fee (so maybe should reduce their prices ).

For those who do surcharge, any price increase should be less than the current surcharge as it will apply to all customers and they too will benefit from the reduced interchange fee.

Of course businesses could just use this as an excuse to raise prices.

It's also going to depend on how much of the interchange fee reduction feeds through to the Merchant Fee (which is what business actually pay)

 

[Berlin]

We are thinking to AU/NZ focused here. These surcharges exist literally nowhere else, unless they just do it while technically illegal and/or dodgy. So all these whining whinging “small businesses” will just fall in line, like everywhere else in the world.

Might be a few years of transition here but as long as I don’t have to pay $100+ surcharge on pretty much every single hotel stay, I will still be happy.

 

[SYD]

We are thinking to AU/NZ focused here. These surcharges exist literally nowhere else, unless they just do it while technically illegal and/or dodgy. So all these whining whinging “small businesses” will just fall in line, like everywhere else in the world.

Might be a few years of transition here but as long as I don’t have to pay $100+ surcharge on pretty much every single hotel stay, I will still be happy.

Ah, they do!

Canada - up to 2+%
USA - 2 to 4%

Not universally passed on but they exist.

I went to a place in Chicago that was cashless but passed on 3% card surcharge…

 

[Berlin]

Ah, they do!

Canada - up to 2+%
USA - 2 to 4%

Not universally passed on but they exist.

I went to a place in Chicago that was cashless but passed on 3% card surcharge…

Really? I never saw any of this in Hyatt or Marriott hotels but I might have missed it…

Unless they were in my personal “dodgy” category like not chain operated or not 4Star plus. I am too old to stay in hostels or BnBs…

 

[dajop]

Ah, they do!

Canada - up to 2+%
USA - 2 to 4%

Not universally passed on but they exist.

I went to a place in Chicago that was cashless but passed on 3% card surcharge…

In restaurants at least a 2-4% surcharge in the US is trivial compared to the 8-10% tax plus 18-25% tip!

Haven't seen a CC surcharge in hotels, some just add a $20-$70/night destination fee instead.

 

[SYD]

In restaurants at least a 2-4% surcharge in the US is trivial compared to the 8-10% tax plus 18-25% tip!

State taxes and tipping isn’t exactly new.

Whacking on a CC surcharge is another thing (mind you, there’s a whole other ketfuffle about places that don’t pass on CC surcharges but deduct them from the the tip amount ie stiffing the staff…).

Haven't seen a CC surcharge in hotels, some just add a $20-$70/night destination fee instead.

Resort fees have been outlawed - supposedly…

 

[LoaderTosh]

… will result in reduced points, “… but they don’t care …”. Good, neither do I. A quick search indicates the around 25% of points/values accumulated are never claimed and worse, with regard to heavily promoted ‘air points’, only a small estimated 10% to 25% of accumulated values result in flights being taken (and I’d guess that 90% of those would have been taken in any case).

Rip off. Best way to control the profit bloated commercial banking system is to ensure the charges for their profit enhancing ‘gimmicks’ are included in the retail merchant’s advertised/displayed retail price, making the retail merchant appear unnecessarily expensive … i.e. ‘pushback’ on the Banks from ‘their’ commercial customers … far more effective than individual consumer whining.

 

[Zero]

So the poll shows roughly one third of people are against this, which is also the case on other forums.

I would wager that in 10 years time almost nobody is going to be pining for the "good old days" when surcharges were allowed. Nobody in the UK/Europe is clamouring for surcharges to return (not that they were that common before the official ban anyway).

I've heard from several sources that in the UK car dealers seem to be getting away with having card surcharges, for buying cars. If you want to pay by card (including Amex) they will allow it provided that you agree to pay the merchant fee as well. When you point out that surcharging is not legal, they will then say that they don't accept card payments for vehicle purchases, only bank transfer. I'm not sure whether this is strictly legal and I wonder if merchants in Australia will try it on too.

I bought a car (in Aus) 2 years ago and the dealer said they would absorb the card fee for the first $3000, but when I asked if that meant I could get 1.5% off = $45 if I paid the whole thing by bank transfer they said no.

 

[Kangol]

I've heard from several sources that in the UK car dealers seem to be getting away with having card surcharges, for buying cars. If you want to pay by card (including Amex) they will allow it provided that you agree to pay the merchant fee as well. When you point out that surcharging is not legal, they will then say that they don't accept card payments for vehicle purchases, only bank transfer. I'm not sure whether this is strictly legal and I wonder if merchants in Australia will try it on too.

The good ol': "the surcharge does not identify as a surcharge and therefore is not one"
Or call it an "administration fee", haha.