Credit Card Surcharges

blue.peter

I'm hiring a fellow to do a job in my home, and was a little taken aback by part of our discussion about it. What follows is a series of excerpts from our e-mail exchange:

Me:

How will I pay you? My preference is by credit card, but I don't know if you accept those.

Him:

yes, we do accept credit cards a fee of 3% to cover our admin charge would be applied to the final invoice.

Me:

I'm not willing to accept a surcharge for paying by credit card, so I'll want to write a cheque or (better) have your bank details for a transfer, please. Having said that, I was rather surprised that you levy such a charge. I wasn't aware that the regulations prohibiting this had been repealed.

Him:

In reference to the surcharge, we as a company do not normal accept credit cards because of this surcharge, our bank details will be on your  final invoice.

Now, that's perfectly understandable, but doesn't address the issue. I know that these surcharges were banned about five years ago, but has the relevant regulation been repealed/revoked? Or is there some other getout of which I'm unaware?

(I'm not going to pursue it any further with the fellow in question, because:

1. I'm desperate to have the work done;
2. he's the only person I've been able to find who's able and willing to do it; and
3. paying by bank transfer instead of credit card isn't a big deal for me - the amount involved is not huge.

I'm only asking out of curiosity.)

born_again

Unless you are using a business card, then they are breaking the law.

I suggest you point this out to them as it has been in place for over 5 years as you said.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/card-surcharge-ban-means-no-more-nasty-surprises-for-shoppers

Nothing has changed. I suggest that if they do not change their mind you report to Citizens Advice to pass to Trading Standards.

Will_Riker

Yep, it's illegal to impose a surcharge for a personal credit card (they're still allowed to for business cards).

Any legitimate business usually takes one of two routes - either swallow the cost themselves, or simply refuse to accept credit cards (commonly seen at car dealerships, most will only accept a CC for a small deposit but will refuse to accept the full amount on CC, which is understandable and perfectly legitimate).

eskbanker

Walking away and/or reporting would be a good idea, but if you do decide to go ahead, you could always make a token payment by credit card and the rest by bank transfer if your reason for preferring credit card was to benefit from section 75 protection (assuming the 'not huge' value is over £100)?

blue.peter

eskbanker said:

Walking away and/or reporting would be a good idea...

Yes, in theory. But in practice I won't on this occasion, for the reasons that I set out above.

eskbanker said:

...you could always make a token payment by credit card and the rest by bank transfer if your reason for preferring credit card was to benefit from section 75 protection (assuming the 'not huge' value is over £100)?

No, my preference for a credit card is purely a matter of convenience. I'm not bothered by s.75 protection in this instance.

DullGreyGuy

You cant charge a levy for personal credit cards (you can for business or corporate) but they dont have to accept them at all (HMRC only accept business/corporate credit cards)

Laws are great but when you decide to form a business or even get a card reader its not like they send you off on a month long training course on CRA, CCA and all the other potential laws that you'll have to be compliant with and so people who cant afford tens of thousands on lawyers bumble through a little and inevitably make mistakes (even large corporates that can afford them make mistakes)


Personally... I have once or twice been charged it, its often been pennies and personally was willing to pay it to support a small local business and didnt have cash etc on hand to switch to another method.  If you can afford to pay cash and are willing to do so that seems a simpler solution rather than arguing which may well only result in them saying that they simply wont accept a personal credit card then

jbrassy

Not as bad as these online travel agents you come across on Skyscanner. They often say it's 'free' to pay using an Amex card, but give you a 'discount' if you pay by Mastercasrd or Visa. They basically charge a fee without calling it a fee. No idea how they get away with it.

penners324

jbrassy said:

Not as bad as these online travel agents you come across on Skyscanner. They often say it's 'free' to pay using an Amex card, but give you a 'discount' if you pay by Mastercasrd or Visa. They basically charge a fee without calling it a fee. No idea how they get away with it.

Amex isn't covered under the no charges laws

DullGreyGuy

penners324 said:

jbrassy said:

Not as bad as these online travel agents you come across on Skyscanner. They often say it's 'free' to pay using an Amex card, but give you a 'discount' if you pay by Mastercasrd or Visa. They basically charge a fee without calling it a fee. No idea how they get away with it.

Amex isn't covered under the no charges laws

Which clause of the legislation do you think excludes them @penners324 ? Are you possibly thinking of the interchange fee cap which they were excluded from

MrFrugalFever

Depending on the amount to be paid and the reason behind the credit card, you could just accept the 3% fee and support the local business (assuming they check out ok)?
If a charge is being levied and you have a choice to decline such method of payment I really don’t see what the issue is.

WillPS

DullGreyGuy said:

penners324 said:

jbrassy said:

Not as bad as these online travel agents you come across on Skyscanner. They often say it's 'free' to pay using an Amex card, but give you a 'discount' if you pay by Mastercasrd or Visa. They basically charge a fee without calling it a fee. No idea how they get away with it.

Amex isn't covered under the no charges laws

Which clause of the legislation do you think excludes them @penners324 ? Are you possibly thinking of the interchange fee cap which they were excluded from

They're only excluded from the Interchange Fee cap if the card does not carry a co-brand (BA, Nectar, Marriott, Vitality etc are all in scope for the Interchange Fee cap).