05/08/2026
𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗦
We generally do not post about government financial policies however you have probably seen the Prime Minister posting how great it is that is removing credit card surcharges.
That is correct, so from the first of October 2026 we as a small business will no longer be able to charge a surcharge on credit card transactions.
What that means is the price you see on our invoice must be the final price you pay
𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 – 𝐘𝐞𝐬? 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐎!
Like everything, the option to use a credit or debit card is a consumer option and of course it attracts a charge, you know that, so least you have the choice to use it or not.
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀
𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐬
Banks and payment service providers (like Vis, Mastercard, Square or Tyro) will continue charging businesses "Merchant Service Fees" to process transactions.
𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐬
To stop businesses from hurting financially, (cough) the RBA is slashing the wholesale caps that banks can charge. Domestic credit card interchange fees will drop to a maximum cap of 0.3%.
Which actually means nothing …
The RBA rate is the interchange fee (the wholesale cost between banks). The total merchant service fees from the service providers are made up of three things.
1. The Interchange Fee (Now capped by the RBA).
2. Scheme Fees (Charged by Visa/Mastercard) and
3. Banks profit and terminal costs.
So to be clear the RBA are not capping the credit or debit card scheme fees or the profit margins imposed by the providers, they are only capping the % charges between banks.
𝐒𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐑?
Apologies in advance but you will see most if not all businesses imbed these merchant fees in to base retail pricing with an estimated price increase of all goods and services by a guesstimate of about 1.0 to 1.5% to cover the merchant fees that we are no longer legally able to pass on to the consumer.
Good Job team, make it harder for small business, remove options for customers and make it more expensive for everyone.
