MSE News: Government to ban debit and credit card surcharges

Archway_Designs

I paid my corporation tax by card and was charged £8.50.......are HMRC going to be forced to reduce their charges too???

dzug1

Archway_Designs wrote: »

I paid my corporation tax by card and was charged £8.50.......are HMRC going to be forced to reduce their charges too???

They will have to relate the charge to the cost of processing the transaction - ie what the card company charges them. Given that HMRC charge 1.4% which is very much on the low side they might even see reason to increase it to whatever they are actually charged.

DavidLaGuardia

Boracic-lint wrote: »

I am with TalkTalk (I know, I know) and when I registered with them, back when they were Tiscali, I pointed out I could not do a Direct Debit because my pensions were paid at different dates in the month, and the Debit could go out when nothing was paid in = bank charges. Also Direct Debits are a No No for me - bad previous experiences.
Boracic-lint.

Why should it matter when money is paid in over the month as long as payiments in and out are generally consitent. Many people have amounts paid at different times of the month. If you work on a sufficient buffer of credit (or agreed overdraft where it is available) and consistently take out in a month what is paid in there is never a problem. This sounds more of a budgeting issue than anything though you are free to make you own mind up if you trust the D/D system.

DavidLaGuardia

There is one thing I have never understood about the minimum purcahse requirement in cases where there is no charge.

IF the retailler is being charged a percentage on a Credit Card and a fixed payment on a debit card then surely the 'minimum payment' makes sense only when it is a debit card.

If it is a Credit Card a lower payment is also a proportionately lower fee?

zagfles

DavidLaGuardia wrote: »

There is one thing I have never understood about the minimum purcahse requirement in cases where there is no charge.

IF the retailler is being charged a percentage on a Credit Card and a fixed payment on a debit card then surely the 'minimum payment' makes sense only when it is a debit card.

If it is a Credit Card a lower payment is also a proportionately lower fee?

I think this is also to stop fannying around at the till, it generally takes a lot longer to process a card transaction. I was in a budget card shop just before Christmas in a long queue of people buying cards and wrapping paper and such items, most people spending less than a fiver or £10 max, and half of them were paying by card which takes much longer.

Our local supermarket used to only take cash at the "10 items or less" tills, now that they take cards it takes a lot longer...

NFH

The relevant forthcoming legislation is contained in Article 19 of Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights which states:

Member States shall prohibit traders from charging consumers, in respect of the use of a given means of payment, fees that exceed the cost borne by the trader for the use of such means.

This is not necessarily the wording that will be used when the directive is enacted in the UK. When the relevant parliamentary bill reaches committee stage in the Commons and Lords, I suggest e-mailing the committee members with suggestions to make the wording watertight by anticipating the tactics that Ryanair et al might employ to circumvent the legislation.

One such tactic could be for Ryanair to set up its own acquirer as a separate company (similar to Streamline, Sage Pay or PayPal). Ryanair's own acquirer would then charge Ryanair an exhorbitant amount to process card transactions for Ryanair. Ryanair would then pass this cost on to consumers as an additional surcharge that is not included in the headline fare. Similar practices were used by many large retailers a few years ago as a way of reducing VAT. A retailer would state that a percentage of a full retail price was a card processing fee (charged by its own acquirer), which was not subject to VAT. In this case, the practice was to the detriment of the taxman rather than the consumer, but based on the way the directive is worded, there is nothing to stop Ryanair from employing similar tactics to the detriment of consumers.

steviebrett123

I recently purchased a return flight with Iberia via the E.Dreams website. The flight ticket cost £171 including service charges but I was charged an additional £11.10 fee by E.Dreams for using my credit card. Surely that is excessive at almost a 7% fee - I thought the regulations had changed and companies could only charge the actual cost incurred in processing the credit card transaction - does anyone know if I am able to request a partial refund in connection with the new regulations??

NFH

steviebrett123 wrote: »

I thought the regulations had changed and companies could only charge the actual cost incurred in processing the credit card transaction - does anyone know if I am able to request a partial refund in connection with the new regulations??

No, the above EU directive that I quoted above has not yet been enacted in the UK. It is expected to become law in the UK later this year, but it will not be applied retrospectively.

jonesMUFCforever

By the time the law is applied here the airlines will apply a nil surcharge for all cards but will levy an administration fee instead therefore bypassing the law.

BoGoF

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

By the time the law is applied here the airlines will apply a nil surcharge for all cards but will levy an administration fee instead therefore bypassing the law.

As Easyjet have already done. Those deluded people who applauded this 'ruling' thinking people would somehow pay less will have a rude awakening. In fact Easyjet are now getting more as they now also charge for Visa Electron.