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MSE News: Card surcharge ban moves closer
Former_MSE_Helen
Posts: 2,382 Forumite
in Credit cards
"The Government has today launched a consultation on implementing an end to unfair credit and debit card fees ..."
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Could amend the title to be accurate and mention excessive / unfair.0
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"Ryanair for example charges £6 per person, per flight to pay if you do not hold its own Cash Passport card, though the airline claims this is not a surcharge."
To be honest this argument has always sounded hollow. The fact they have kept changing what magic card doesn't attract a fee doesn't help thier case. I know some will argue but I like the hard to find deals. Personally I don't mind if such a change causes an increase in prices across the board (not that it should) because I'd prefer to have a level playing field where the price is actually the price.
Now where's Camerons referral regarding bank charges to the competition commission. They are excessive service charges to...Mixed Martial Arts is the greatest sport known to mankind and anyone who says it is 'a bar room brawl' has never trained in it and has no idea what they are talking about.0 -
The thing is, if the "admin fee/card fee", whatever you want to call it, becomes disallowed, then all that will happen is the actual fee for the product you are buying will go up.
Heres a simple example: Product A costs £66 at the moment, and has a £4 card processing fee, meaning you pay £70 in total for the product.
If the government have their way, and ban these card fee's, then what will happen is that Product A now costs £70 with no card fee.
The thing is, its still £70. So who has gained once the law changes in this respect? No one! The customer still pays the same, the company still makes the same. Its just more red tape, which serves NO purpose at all.0 -
sharpy2010 wrote: »Its just more red tape, which serves NO purpose at all.
:T:T:T
And at a time when the government talks about deregulation.0 -
sharpy2010 wrote: »The thing is, if the "admin fee/card fee", whatever you want to call it, becomes disallowed, then all that will happen is the actual fee for the product you are buying will go up.
Heres a simple example: Product A costs £66 at the moment, and has a £4 card processing fee, meaning you pay £70 in total for the product.
If the government have their way, and ban these card fee's, then what will happen is that Product A now costs £70 with no card fee.
The thing is, its still £70. So who has gained once the law changes in this respect? No one! The customer still pays the same, the company still makes the same. Its just more red tape, which serves NO purpose at all.
Absoluetly spot on, all it does is bring the price to the forefront, and could even make the item more expensive for some.
For example, if you but item A for £66 and there is a £4 charge for Credit Card, but free for Debit card. under the new change, the company would charge £70 no matter what methold of payment was used, end result is increased profits for the company!0 -
dazleech: They're still allowed to charge what it costs them to process the transaction. So, they could offer you the choice between 20p fee for debit card, or 2% for a Credit Card, for example.
The important benefit of the change is bringing the price to the forefront. Businesses are currently benefiting from hiding extra charges at the end because it hooks customers in. To modify your example, maybe the item under consideration is a flight. I notice airline A has a flight for £66, and airline B has the flight for £68. I choose airline A, but then at the payment stage discover a £4 payment fee (unless I use some obscure payment type). By this point, I've almost completed the purchase, so end up giving airline A £70. With transparent pricing, if the airline increased the advertised price, they would lose business.
Of course, in practice, I looked up the applicable fees by digging into the website before I start. But many people will get caught out. Even those of us who don't normally get caught out would prefer transparent pricing.
I don't really see it as excessive bueracracy, all the rules are saying are "don't be evil". It's not too hard to follow, unless you are relying on confusion marketing to get business.0 -
oAbsoluetly spot on, all it does is bring the price to the forefront, and could even make the item more expensive for some.
For example, if you but item A for £66 and there is a £4 charge for Credit Card, but free for Debit card. under the new change, the company would charge £70 no matter what methold of payment was used, end result is increased profits for the company!
There are two objections firstly how can bringing the price to the forefront be a bad thing? It alows transparent competition. Secondly the cost of processing a transaction has always been included in the price. Until that is someone had the audacity to charge a seperate fee for payment when it is an essential part of the transaction.
Putting it another way a company which doesnt include this is probably not going to do well. It would be like pricing something without reference to other overheads they have.Mixed Martial Arts is the greatest sport known to mankind and anyone who says it is 'a bar room brawl' has never trained in it and has no idea what they are talking about.0 -
Absoluetly spot on, all it does is bring the price to the forefront, and could even make the item more expensive for some.
For example, if you but item A for £66 and there is a £4 charge for Credit Card, but free for Debit card. under the new change, the company would charge £70 no matter what methold of payment was used, end result is increased profits for the company!
I hadn't thought of that. And almost all companies WILL use this as an excuse to make things more expensive, using this method!0 -
davidgmmafan wrote: »o
There are two objections firstly how can bringing the price to the forefront be a bad thing? It alows transparent competition. Secondly the cost of processing a transaction has always been included in the price. Until that is someone had the audacity to charge a seperate fee for payment when it is an essential part of the transaction.
Putting it another way a company which doesnt include this is probably not going to do well. It would be like pricing something without reference to other overheads they have.
But we're adults! We're capable of working out what is a good deal and what isn't, for ourselves!
It seems like the government think we're all morons not capable of coherent thought!
I don't know about anyone else, but personally I don't want/need someone thinking for me!0 -
To summarise, maybe the government think they're doing a favour by bringing in this rule whereby no card processing fees are allowed.
In reality, they are doing one of two things -:
1) Making things MORE expensive for us, as explained by Dazleech above.
2) Are they making up all these rules just to justify their job? If they aren't doing ANYTHING, then why are they there? But they ARE doing something, aren't they... making up silly card processing fee rules. So therefore their jobs do have a purpose. At least to them!0
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