Credit and debit card surcharges will be banned from October this year under new rules from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released on Tuesday.
This means that when you tap your phone or pay with a card, you’ll no longer be charged an extra fee.
The change is part of a broader shake-up of the payments system, which will also cut interchange fees (what businesses pay banks).
Surcharges
Surcharges are additional fees applied to a transaction. In Australia, businesses may charge 1-2% in extra fees depending on the card used.
This is because businesses are charged a fee for processing certain card payments, which they tend to pass on to customers.
RBA figures show consumers pay $1.2 billion a year in Australia on card surcharges. The RBA began looking into card surcharges in 2024 as a way to tackle the rising cost of living.
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What next?
Most of the changes will kick in from 1 October 2026, including the ban on surcharges and cuts to interchange fees on domestic card payments.
More complex changes, like new caps on foreign card fees and additional transparency measures, will roll out later on 1 April 2027, giving the payments industry more time to adjust.
AMP Bank GO Director John Arnott said the changes mark a major shift for the system.
“Greater transparency is a big step forward, but transparency alone won’t pay the bills. The market now needs to move quickly to turn visibility into lower prices for card payments and its important small businesses start to vote with their feet," he said. "
“Small businesses are doing it tough, and until these changes flow through, card payment processing fees will keep eating into their already razor-thin margins."
