RBA targets card rip-offs

Are you being ripped off, by shopkeepers who charge too much, in processing fees, when you pay by credit or debit card?

The Reserve Bank admits that this problem is rising, and it is acting to curb that abuse.

It is doing that by tightening the surcharging standards, imposed by its Payments System Board.

In a statement today, the Board said: The decision to vary the Standards reflects the Board’s concerns about the increase in cases where surcharges appear to be well in excess of acceptance costs or where surcharges are ‘blended’ across card schemes.”

It said the change it is making “will improve price signals by enabling a card scheme to address cases where merchants are clearly surcharging at a higher level than is justified for acceptance of its card products.”

The Board said: “The variation to the surcharging Standards and the rationale for the Board’s decision are discussed in detail in the attached Regulation Impact Statement.”

It added: “The varied Standards will come into force on 1 January 2013.”