Differential Charging for Credit and Debit Cards Still Allowed?

jpl8103
jpl8103 Posts: 2 Newbie
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edited 18 January 2019 at 9:30PM in Consumer rights
Hi,

I just booked some flights on Opodo.co.uk, and noticed they charge differently depending upon whether you pay by debit or credit card...

Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit were both labelled as '-£18.10', others eg Amex, Visa Credit etc were labelled as 'Free'.

Thought differential pricing for credit and debit cards was banned? Any insights appreciated.

Thanks :)

Ps. Sorry if this has been covered before...I had a look around and couldn't see anything obvious.
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Comments

  • KeithP
    KeithP Posts: 37,628 Forumite
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    Does this MSE article help you?...
    Firms STILL threatening to charge card fees nine months after ban
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863 Forumite
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    Did you book on opodo.com or opodo.co.uk?

    A test booking on .co.uk doesn't add a fee for credit card but the .com one does
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • DoaM
    DoaM Posts: 11,863 Forumite
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    jpl8103 wrote: »
    Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit were both labelled as '-£18.10', others eg Amex, Visa Credit etc were labelled as 'Free'.
    Didn't it used to be the other way around? (Credit card transactions were charged more than debit card transactions).

    Or is this just a strange way of showing a "discount" for paying by debit card?
  • zoob
    zoob Posts: 574 Forumite
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    DoaM wrote: »
    Didn't it used to be the other way around? (Credit card transactions were charged more than debit card transactions).

    Or is this just a strange way of showing a "discount" for paying by debit card?

    Seems fair to me, passing on the savings in bank charges back to the customers that pay with debit cards rather than keeping the extra profit for themselves
  • DoaM
    DoaM Posts: 11,863 Forumite
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    That's how I read it too ... it wouldn't normally show as minus £18.10 if it was a charge.
  • Takmon
    Takmon Posts: 1,738 Forumite
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    zoob wrote: »
    Seems fair to me, passing on the savings in bank charges back to the customers that pay with debit cards rather than keeping the extra profit for themselves

    They are trying to sneakily get past the rules but this still isn't allowed.
  • DoaM
    DoaM Posts: 11,863 Forumite
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    Takmon wrote: »
    They are trying to sneakily get past the rules but this still isn't allowed.
    OP needs to confirm which site they used - see post #3.
  • jpl8103
    jpl8103 Posts: 2 Newbie
    First Anniversary
    edited 18 January 2019 at 9:34PM
    This was on opodo.co.uk

    (I've corrected my original post)

    and to clarify, the debit card options were '[minus] £18.10', while the credit card options were 'free'.
  • zoob
    zoob Posts: 574 Forumite
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    Takmon wrote: »
    They are trying to sneakily get past the rules but this still isn't allowed.

    So it’s sneaky to give people discount of the displayed price ?
  • shaun_from_Africa
    shaun_from_Africa Posts: 12,858 Forumite
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    zoob wrote: »
    So it’s sneaky to give people discount of the displayed price ?
    Possibly.
    If the basic price for the item is the same now as it was before the new legislation came into force (I'm not taking inflation into account here) then giving a discount for paying with a debit card is probably acceptable.
    However, if when the new rules came out, the retailer put the price of all goods up by 5% and now offers a 5% discount for cash or debit card payments, that would be sneaky (and very possibly illegal) as the only reason for the 5% price rise would be to ensure that it would only be customers paying with a credit card that paid this extra.
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