RBA to ban "excessive" credit card fees

[JohnK]

I am not holding my breath.

Personally I feel the solution would be for people to stop using credit cards all together and only pay in cash, the smaller the denomination the better, and we shall soon see if businesses still feel the need to surcharge.

But unfortunately the human race has become so weak they are easily manipulated....

 

[Simo]

As a business owner I prefer CC or electronic transaction because then I don't have as much cash in my business which makes security safer for my staff.

That is part of the reason I don't charge a CC surcharge.

On a personal note I prefer to pay with cash and have been asked once if I could pay with a CC or a cheque.

I was buying a car and was paying a 7K deposit and the car yard said we will charge a CC surcharge so just bring in a bank cheque and then the bank wanted to charge a few dollars for the cheque so I just took the cash to the car yard and then they said to me will will take CC if you want and don't worry about CC surcharge.

I made them take the cash.

 

[travelislife]

A bit OT, but thanks to this board I have avoided the CC fee on Qantas through the use of the gift voucher system. Find the flights I want and then just buy myself a gift voucher and use that to purchase the flights, thus avoiding the credit card fee. Makes the justification by Qantas even harder to take when it is charged on one product but not another (though I'm not complaining!).

 

[Moopere]

A bit OT, but thanks to this board I have avoided the CC fee on Qantas through the use of the gift voucher system. Find the flights I want and then just buy myself a gift voucher and use that to purchase the flights, thus avoiding the credit card fee. Makes the justification by Qantas even harder to take when it is charged on one product but not another (though I'm not complaining!).

A good idea to save some fees. I'd be a bit cautious though if you need to rely upon CC travel insurances as many require you purchase tickets with the insuring card ... I know you still are, in a roundabout way, but I'm not sure at all that this method would trigger the insured clause of many CC's.

 

[Stephen65]

Not sure if this has already been linked but it's an interesting paper by the RBA discussing the credit card market, the reforms introduced in 2003 and the rise in use lately of co-branded Amex cards and premium (ie Platinum) and superpremium (ie Citi Select and Signature and CBA Diamond) cards with their
much higher interchange fees:

http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2012/mar/pdf/bu-0312-7.pdf

 

[drewbles]

Neither do Travel agents, which still account for a good part of the business.

Whenever I book my QF flights through a travel agent, they certainly do charge the CC fee. QF also ticket it and charge my card directly 'QANTAS MASCOT' on the statement.

They're just doing it via Sabre and getting their commission from it, but it's all done directly via QF from a charging perspective (of course if you need to make changes to it, QF don't want to know you and refer you back to the TA).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Whenever I book my QF flights through a travel agent, they certainly do charge the CC fee. QF also ticket it and charge my card directly 'QANTAS MASCOT' on the statement.

They're just doing it via Sabre and getting their commission from it, but it's all done directly via QF from a charging perspective (of course if you need to make changes to it, QF don't want to know you and refer you back to the TA).

some agents don't charge. Like Zuji.