MSE News: Credit and debit card charges banned from Saturday - what you need to know

chattychappy

AllieKat wrote: »

Oh, and when I booked my easyJet flight I'm taking in the morning? No surcharges there either, using my Amex.

For a site called Money *SAVING* Expert, there sure are a lot of people on here willing to defend rip-off fees.

That's why it's called "Money Saving EXPERT". Experts can see the bigger picture.

sicily

How does this relate instead to starting being charged as "cash advances" from sites I wasn't before.

I have been buying cryptocurrencies via Coinbase – using my credit cards. Recently some companies stopped allowing customers to pay by credit cards, that's fine, mine didn’t. However starting from the 25th of January both my John Lewis Partnership card and my Barclays card started charging a fee shifting my purchases to cash advances. ( No charges for transactions before the 25th of Jan).
There was no prior warning or information given by either card company - neither a change in terms and conditions.
Are they allowed to do that without informing the customer? Some companies banned purchases as considered to risky- understandable.. but go to the step to consider it cash advance ? unresoanable
Do I have ground to complain?

chattychappy

sicily wrote: »

How does this relate instead to starting being charged as "cash advances" from sites I wasn't before.

I have been buying cryptocurrencies via Coinbase – using my credit cards. Recently some companies stopped allowing customers to pay by credit cards, that's fine, mine didn’t. However starting from the 25th of January both my John Lewis Partnership card and my Barclays card started charging a fee shifting my purchases to cash advances. ( No charges for transactions before the 25th of Jan).
There was no prior warning or information given by either card company - neither a change in terms and conditions.
Are they allowed to do that without informing the customer? Some companies banned purchases as considered to risky- understandable.. but go to the step to consider it cash advance ? unresoanable
Do I have ground to complain?

The legislation says that merchants can't charge extra for payment by CC. In this case, it's the CC treating it as a cash advance, so nothing to do with the rule change.

Generally the purchase of a currency is treated as a cash advance. This is in the T+Cs of the CC. It might be that in the past you weren't charged because of the way coinbase processed the transaction (which you've got no control over).

So I don't think you have any ongoing grounds to complain if they are treating your cryptocurrency purchases as cash advances. But previously treating it one way and now treating it differently without any prior warning seems unfair. So perhaps you can dispute the fees the first time it happens. But "now you know", you can't insist that they revert to the way they used to do it.

CunningPlan_2

Company says that if you set up a direct debit for annual membership it costs 10. But if you pay by card or cash for a one-off annual membership it’s 12 because this involves extra admin. Is this allowed? I suspect it might be as they are saying it’s a different ‘product’ and we only accept cash for it.

eskbanker

CunningPlan wrote: »

Company says that if you set up a direct debit for annual membership it costs 10. But if you pay by card or cash for a one-off annual membership it’s 12 because this involves extra admin. Is this allowed? I suspect it might be as they are saying it’s a different ‘product’ and we only accept cash for it.

Yes, it's allowed to give a discount for setting up a direct debit, which is effectively an entirely different way of settling an account with a company rather than a specific payment method per bill, in the context of the new regulations. Many major energy and phone companies have done this for a long time, and it doesn't fall foul of the new rules about card payments....

CunningPlan_2

eskbanker wrote: »

Yes, it's allowed to give a discount for setting up a direct debit, which is effectively an entirely different way of settling an account with a company rather than a specific payment method per bill, in the context of the new regulations. Many major energy and phone companies have done this for a long time, and it doesn't fall foul of the new rules about card payments....

But this is what the guidance notes state:
Regulation 4 does not refer to any particular method of payment, such as credit or debit cards. Therefore, the provision applies to any means of payment that a trader decides to accept in any particular case. This would include cash, cheques, credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, charge cards, mobile payments, credit transfers and direct debits.

Trevelyan

Here's a question; I just booked a flight with Norwegian and they charged me £2.50 for use of my card.

The card is a Visa debit, which should incur no surcharge according to their dropdown list; but they didn't accept it and I had, instead, to select Corporate card. I'm baffled - since it is considered to be a Visa debit elsewhere.

However, as Norway is not in the EU, are they exempt from this card-charging crap?

jonesMUFCforever

Trevelyan wrote: »

Here's a question; I just booked a flight with Norwegian and they charged me £2.50 for use of my card.

The card is a Visa debit, which should incur no surcharge according to their dropdown list; but they didn't accept it and I had, instead, to select Corporate card. I'm baffled - since it is considered to be a Visa debit elsewhere.

However, as Norway is not in the EU, are they exempt from this card-charging crap?

Yes probably - but were you charged in sterling in UK or in currency abroad?
If they have a UK subsidiary then unless they charge everybody £2.50 you can ask them to refund.

gt94sss2

Trevelyan wrote: »

The card is a Visa debit, which should incur no surcharge according to their dropdown list; but they didn't accept it and I had, instead, to select Corporate card. I'm baffled - since it is considered to be a Visa debit elsewhere.

Retailers can still surcharge corporate/business cards - they are excluded from the recent regulations. So the fact you chose a 'Corporate card' from their drop down list could have triggered the charge..

EDIT: Having said the above, Norwegian have been incorrectly charging some 'normal cards' after the changes came in

Trevelyan

It appears they charge everyone who uses a corporate card 3% - and yes, its in GBP

https://www.norwegian.com/uk/booking/booking-information/payment-options/

However, I don't see what the difference should be; the issuer is Visa and it should surely be treated the same.

I'm happy to call and argue the point, so long as you are fairly sure that consumers includes individuals who are using a card linked to a business account rather than a personal account.

gt94sss2 - have you got a link to a statement that business cards are excluded?