Credit and debit card surcharges to be banned

boogieman

Bridgehouse said:

boogieman said:

CabbageCat said:

If businesses have overheads then their prices are set to accommodate them. At least when there is a specific surcharge you can see what you're paying for (and can avoid it for credit card surcharges by using a card that doesn't incur them).

Which is fine, except some companies charge to use every sort of card. We booked a holiday recently and they charged 2% for c/c, but also £2.50 for using debit cards. This is just taking the piss. I know companies get hit with a fee for c/c but I'm sure the banks don't charge them anything for handling a debit card. 

Business bank accounts aren't like consumer ones. I get charged for everything - paying cheques and cash in, card transactions, the lot. Actually, I don't get charged for direct transfers...

Ah fair enough, I hadn't realised that. 

boogieman

CabbageCat said:

boogieman said:

CabbageCat said:

If businesses have overheads then their prices are set to accommodate them. At least when there is a specific surcharge you can see what you're paying for (and can avoid it for credit card surcharges by using a card that doesn't incur them).

Which is fine, except some companies charge to use every sort of card. We booked a holiday recently and they charged 2% for c/c, but also £2.50 for using debit cards. This is just taking the piss. I know companies get hit with a fee for c/c but I'm sure the banks don't charge them anything for handling a debit card. 

I think the point is not that some companies do charge for all cards but that some companies don't...but now implicitly will. I can't complain though, it'll make the payment software I work with less complicated.

As I said in my post to bridgehouse, I hadn't realised that companies get charged for every type of payment handling. I guess what will happen is that companies will universally raise prices to compensate for the loss of c/c surcharges?

Danny1969

If you turnover a lot of money then you can get a good deal from Streamline and the like, If you are a small business though you get charged 2% by your card processing people plus you gotta rent the machine and have secure lines etc

We never charged the customer cc fees but lost around 2.5% of every deal .... if the customer paid by bacs we didn't lose anything 

BigMonka

Interesting that the government are introducing this when the only place I've particularly come across c/c charges recently is for things like car tax and TV licence on the gov.uk website!

gavin_axecaster

The EU banned excessive credit card fees a while ago - this is just taking it a step further.
Fees were capped at 0.3pc and 0.2pc on credit and debit cards in December 2015.
Unfortunately there is no-one policing it - only if/when a complaint is made is there an investigation.
The less than honest retailers have been charging over the odds and claiming it is for the entire cost of processing the payment, of which the bank charge is just one element.
All that will happen is Ryan Air and the like will add a "convenience charge" or handling/admin fee to every transaction instead.

guitars4you

boogieman said:

Bridgehouse said:

Business bank accounts aren't like consumer ones. I get charged for everything - paying cheques and cash in, card transactions, the lot. Actually, I don't get charged for direct transfers...

Ah fair enough, I hadn't realised that. 

I can confirm the above regarding a business account - If I pay cash in to my business account I pay  a fee based on the value of cash banked - If I pay a cheque in to the bank they charge me a fixed fee per cheque paid in - Same with a payment made into my account via a bank transfer

At the end of the day when I cash up the PDQ card machine, then those funds are paid into my account as one total transaction but the bank charges me a fee for this daily transaction - again a fixed fee - This fee the bank charges me for funds received is on top of what the PDQ card company will charge me for processing each transaction, from you the customer, as a handling fee

Yet at the end of the day a payment from the customer on a debit card, via the PDQ machine, is the cheapest form of payment regarding any fees I'm charged

It will be cheaper for a larger company, but we pay around 15p per debit card transaction regardless of the amount and around 1.1% to 1.5% of the value of the purchase on any credit card transaction - Yet the PDQ card companies will charge the business more for an on-line mail order transaction - ie no chip/pin transaction

All fees are technically included within the cost of running the business as per rent rates etc etc - most retailers run this way

It is generally businesses that don't sell actual goods but a service, that tend to make this additional charge - and yes it pees just about everyone - I'm sure many are charging a higher fee than what they are charged by the card company or bank to process the transaction - On say a £50 or £100 concert ticket, paid via a credit card, the business will only be charged around £1 for a £50 ticket or £2 for a £100 ticket, so it is not as though what they charge you is in-line with their fees

Bridgehouse

All business costs are included in the price you pay. Some companies try to get it back off you, some don't.. 

Banking as a business just isn't like personal banking at all...

fretmeister

Don't worry, the law change is a result of an EU directive.

As soon as Brexit happens the govt will cave to bank lobbying and allow it again.