Halifax Clarity card - additional charges DK

eaustin

I have had this card for years as a best travel card. For the first time ever I have had to pay additional charges when settling the bill. The merchant said it was because UK was outside EU. 

Is there anything I can do in future to avoid this situation? 

NoodleDoodleMan

Was this in an EU country ? 

I would report this to Barclaycard.

Peter999_2

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Was this in an EU country ? 

I would report this to Barclaycard.

I wouldn't think that Barclaycard would have an opinion on a Halifax Clarity Card transaction.

Mark_d

eaustin said:

I have had this card for years as a best travel card. For the first time ever I have had to pay additional charges when settling the bill. The merchant said it was because UK was outside EU. 

Is there anything I can do in future to avoid this situation? 

Who is levying these additional charges on you?  Is it the merchant or Halifax?  I travel abroad frequently with a Halifax Clarity card.  I was in Sweden last month and has no issues with my card.

zagfles

Sounds like the merchant was ripping you off. It should make no difference to them whether the card is a UK card or an EU one. Were you billed in GBP? 

NoodleDoodleMan

Peter999_2 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Was this in an EU country ? 

I would report this to Barclaycard.

I wouldn't think that Barclaycard would have an opinion on a Halifax Clarity Card transaction.

Indeed, well spotted, DOH - I meant Halifax ............obviously

eaustin

Mark_d said:

eaustin said:

I have had this card for years as a best travel card. For the first time ever I have had to pay additional charges when settling the bill. The merchant said it was because UK was outside EU. 

Is there anything I can do in future to avoid this situation? 

Who is levying these additional charges on you?  Is it the merchant or Halifax?  I travel abroad frequently with a Halifax Clarity card.  I was in Sweden last month and has no issues with my card.

I am assuming it is the merchant. Three different places added 3%, most places were fine. I was in Sweden in March and nobody charged additional fees. 

I want a strategy to avoid this in the future if as they say it’s a result of the uk not being in the EU

eaustin

zagfles said:

Sounds like the merchant was ripping you off. It should make no difference to them whether the card is a UK card or an EU one. Were you billed in GBP? 

No. We selected to pay DKK. The merchant said it was a charge levied by their bank because the card was outside the EU and they were entitled to pass this on. 

la531983

eaustin said:

zagfles said:

Sounds like the merchant was ripping you off. It should make no difference to them whether the card is a UK card or an EU one. Were you billed in GBP? 

No. We selected to pay DKK. The merchant said it was a charge levied by their bank because the card was outside the EU and they were entitled to pass this on. 

Ive never come across that before on my extensive European travels, ever. Very strange.

What are the amounts involved?

eskbanker

eaustin said:

zagfles said:

Sounds like the merchant was ripping you off. It should make no difference to them whether the card is a UK card or an EU one. Were you billed in GBP? 

No. We selected to pay DKK. The merchant said it was a charge levied by their bank because the card was outside the EU and they were entitled to pass this on. 

From a quick search, it does seem that the second Payment Services Directive doesn't prohibit surcharges being applied to non-EEA cards, and that Denmark's implementation of this directive allows merchants to do so, which does differ from other EU states.

The PSD2 prohibits merchants from charging consumers additional fees for specified payment methods. The surcharge ban applies where the consumer’s bank or card issuer and the payment service provider of the merchant are both located in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the consumer makes a payment either using a debit or credit card, or by direct debit or credit transfer. Even when the surcharge ban does not apply, the amount of any surcharge imposed cannot exceed the cost incurred by the merchant in accepting the particular payment method.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/intro/mip-online/2018/html/1803_revisedpsd.en.html

eaustin

la531983 said:

eaustin said:

zagfles said:

Sounds like the merchant was ripping you off. It should make no difference to them whether the card is a UK card or an EU one. Were you billed in GBP? 

No. We selected to pay DKK. The merchant said it was a charge levied by their bank because the card was outside the EU and they were entitled to pass this on. 

Ive never come across that before on my extensive European travels, ever. Very strange.

What are the amounts involved?

Like you I’ve travelled extensively and never experienced this before. This happened at 3 separate restaurants.