An Aussie that is sick and tired of paying bank card costs and weekend allowances has written a letter of 55 pages to the government that claims that many are illegal.
At the end of last year, the reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) asked for the public entry to include in the assessment of the payment costs of the trader card and allowing.
More than 100 submissions were received – 79 made public and 22 confidential – but one letter from a person named McLean Roche stood out because of the enormous length, in -depth investigation and his frequent indignation about allowances.
Not only did the Aussie claim that illegality and unfairness took place with tap-and-go adjustments 'time and time again', they claimed that they had proof of it with photos of receipts and details of charges.
An example they included in the entry was 'a large family brunch on Sunday, to be confronted with a surcharge of $ 101 – a $ 675 bill' quickly becomes $ 776 due to allowances.
“This is the reality in Australia with excessive uncontrolled Surloading much of it illegally and inflationary – this is what consumers stand for every day,” they claimed.
Another admission to their entry was for a Qantas reception for airline tickets imposed on EFTPOS card, which they claimed had sustained a surcharge of $ 4.53, but Qantas invoiced $ 14.60 -an increase of 69 percent .
Roche claimed that the airline claimed that the booking had correctly charged a 1.03 percent credit card allowance – the costs it incurred by processing the payment – and it was not used 'least cost routering' because it did not apply to credit cards.
The reserve Bank of Australia asked for the public entries to include in its assessment of the payment costs of the trader card and allowing
Hospitality locations say that they only pass on costs that require card providers
The letter writer also described various other cases that they were furious about, including 'a sandwich with 16.2 percent surcharge – a card surcharge of 1.2 percent in a bank card, plus a weekend costs of 15 percent'.
Another reception they had included had a caption that alleged 'E -commerce payment allowance is 3.55 percent wrong and illegal'.
Others vague costs they claimed were illegal, include a '10 percent allowance for a collection account ', a' fixed reimbursement of 1.5 percent ', a payment allowance together with a' daily allowance 'and a' retail surcharge of 2 percent ' .
According to the RBA, the traders have the right to apply a surcharge to card payments, but this is limited to the amount that it costs the trader to accept that type of card for that transaction '.
Different payment methods and different card providers have different costs.
In 2023, for example, the RBA said that the 'average costs of a debit card transaction were around 0.4 percent, a credit card transaction was around 0.8 percent and a cost card transaction was around 1.3 percent'.
The claim of the letter writer that the surcharges are illegal seems to come from the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which forbids retailers from applying excessive card payments.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has powers to investigate and take enforcement measures in any case of possible excessive allowances.
An Aussie that is sick and tired of paying bank card costs and supervision of holidays has done an angry, 55 -page entry at a reserve bank (stock image)
A submission of a McLean Roche claimed 'Qantas reception (depicted) for airline tickets that were charged on EFTPOS card that (the surcharge) cost $ 4.53, but Qantas Bill $ 14.60 -an increase of 69 percent to the airline . ' The airline argued that the indictment was legitimate
According to the RBA, the traders have the right to apply a surcharge to card payments, but it is limited to the amount that it costs the trader to accept that type of card for that transaction '. It can be claimed that these costs (shown) of 10 percent for the use of a bank card is illegal
In their entry, letter writer McLean Roche said that “it is a big problem that the RBA and ACCC never quantified the scale and dollars involved in all, as well as excessive types of guts.”
According to them, illegal excessive allowances have cost collective Aussies more than $ 2 billion.
This is supported by a report last November in which it was established that Australians have paid billions of dollars on illegal trading costs for federal government services for at least two decades.
The issue came to light after the NSW government discovered that 92 million transactions had attracted $ 144 million in illegal trading costs since 2016, which had argued an evaluation of the Albanian government to federal payments.
Minister of Finance Katy Gallagher said that the Albanian government should stop passing on debit benefits of the ATO and Services Australia from January 1, 2025.
“This new legislation will offer the Minister of Finance the authority to quickly and efficiently change the policy of the Commonwealth, including stopping the Commonwealth agencies that pass on the allowances of debit card,” she said.
The controversial weekend and the surcharges for holidays added in many restaurants and cafés, however, are a business of the ACCC to investigate on the case of case.
This sign (depicted) of a retailer says it applies a flat surcharge of 2 percent for the use of bank cards. Retailers can only pass on exactly what the card providers charge them
This board that adds the exhaust valve 1.5 percent compensation to all applications of card payments
According to legal company Freedman and Gopalan, 'adding a surcharge during the weekend or holidays is completely legal, as long as the customer is aware'.
'There is no limit about what these extra costs can be. The allowance must be prominently displayed on the menu and should not be smaller than the smallest text on the menu. '
The ACCC has also tackled the problem and said: 'Restaurants, cafés and bistros that charge a surcharge on certain days, do not have to provide you with a separate menu or price list or have a separate price column with the surcharge.
'However, the menu must contain the words' a supplement of [percentage] applies [the specified day or days]”And these words must be displayed at least as prominently as the most prominent price on the menu.”
