Gov. targets unfair credit card surcharges

[wandering_fred]

Maybe we can hope that the ACCC (or similar) will place time limits on associated fees. It would be nice if after three/six months the fees had to rolled into the published fares (or eliminated). And fuel surcharges limited to "agreed amounts" in manner like Hong Kong has applied.

Or is that too customer friendly?

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[Isochronous]

Interchange fee regulation is dumb and it is perplexing to see so many points chasers supporting it.

 

[JohnK]

Interchange fee regulation is dumb and it is perplexing to see so many points chasers supporting it.

In a way it's not that dumb. Non points chasers have been subsidising points chasers for a while.

You just need to find a smarter way to chase points.

 

[Quickstatus]

Something wrong in AFF - a lot of posts are now vertically oriented and very difficult to read this

 

[ausfox]

I am also having problems with single columns of about 15 characters. Not all replies but low down on the pages.

 

[ausfox]

I have looked back and it seems that the pages are not fully loading.

 

[Flying Fox]

QF will probably reduce the CC surcharge but increase the fuel surcharge a commensurate amount!

 

[JohnK]

Something wrong in AFF - a lot of posts are now vertically oriented and very difficult to read this

I started a thread in Suggestions and Feedback forum. Font has changed causing issue on smartphones.

 

[Pleb Status]

Interchange fee regulation is dumb and it is perplexing to see so many points chasers supporting it.

I am in this camp. Just because it may be against my personal self interest, the reduction of interchange fees (along with payment surcharges) is by far the best path forward for the entire community.

The use of cash is declining at a very rapid rate and therefore cashless payment systems will become the only way you will be able to pay for things in the future. The 'middlemen' will take advantage of this change (as they currently do with interchange fees) by skimming their % amount of the transaction (which someone will not be able to avoid) to provide a service which actually costs them a very small amount of the fee that they charge (the rest is pure profit). Look at Apple Pay for example, they do absolutely nothing, but want a slice of the interchange pie because they know there is big money in it to do absolutely nothing.

As the big players (Banks and the 3 CC companies) have 99% of the market share now and the barriers to enter the market are extremely high, there is no incentive (or competition) for them to reduce this % skim in the future. There is only a big incentive to increase their % skim in the future (increased profits). Regulation is therefore required to force change as it will not happen using 'market forces'.

Realistically, the interchange fees should be capped at the actual cost of providing the service plus a small profit margin to make performing the service worthwhile. This would probably be in the 0.1-0.2% range maximum (as debit card CC interchange is going to be capped at 0.2%). Payment surcharges could then be banned as well (like most other countries).

If this change comes at a reduction or elimination of points earning on my CC, so be it. The community as a whole will be better off. Unfortunately, with the current legislation, payment surcharges will remain at about current levels and I will also get a reduction in points earning. So the current legislation is very poor but could be made far better if someone had the guts to stand up to the big market players (and not take their bribes... or should I say 'political contributions').

 

[Melburnian1]

As the big players (Banks and the 3 CC companies) have 99% of the market share now and the barriers to enter the market are extremely high, there is no incentive (or competition) for them to reduce this % skim in the future. There is only a big incentive to increase their % skim in the future (increased profits). Regulation is therefore required to force change as it will not happen using 'market forces'.

So the current legislation is very poor but could be made far better if someone had the guts to stand up to the big market players (and not take their bribes... or should I say 'political contributions').

There are multiple banks, credit unions (and even building societies if I recall) - not just the 'big four' so they are not just a duopoly as we see with the airlines (QF/JQ v VA/TT domestically, although far from a duopoly internationally).

When you talk of 'standing up' to the 'big market players', are you referring to the banks and credit card providers as the latter, or the airlines?

The airlines appear to have a lot of pricing power (unless exogenous factors such as a downturn in business investment or consumer sentiment occur, n which case seat occupancy or yields, or both, may decline) and have mostly become very good at imposing surcharges and extra charges (ancillary revenue).