MSE News: EU proposes card charges shake-up but will fees rise?

PegasusPJ

I don't care about the interbank fee, but I resent the airlines (and that's almost the only ones doing that) charging extra for using cards (which btw seems illegal in France as if I book a flight France-UK, paying in Euro, they don't charge a fee even on a UK card, but do if the flight is departing the UK!).

Roger1

PegasusPJ wrote: »

the higher number of CC here I presume is due to the fact that cards are free.

Oh yes, many (but not all) UK cards are free.

The point though is that the UK market is mature, much more so than other EEA/Swiss markets. We've been at it since 1965, far longer than other European countries, when Barclaycard became the first card in Europe aimed at consumers. Funnily enough, that card started as 'free'. I cut mine up and returned it when they changed the T+Cs by imposing an annual fee.

There is an argument that aiming for common terms should either follow the example of the main players - as in the UK - or should not disadvantage the majority of customers - as in the UK. As has been mentioned, and you confirm, different markets already have different practices which seem to work.

I find the idea of charging an annual fee for a debit card is exploitation, but it happens in many markets. Should they be abolished? Is there a demand for them to be abolished? Probably not.

But the changes proposed for credit cards would seriously affect the majority of EEA/Swiss cardholders who happen to have them from UK institutions. I do think the legislators should take that into account.