Australian Travel Industry Association CEO Dean Long says today’s RBA Credit Card Surcharge announcement that surcharges on EFTPOS, Mastercard and Visa card payments would be scrapped is “deeply disappointing”.
“While the intent may be to benefit consumers, the reality is it will leave them worse off,” he said. “Without equalisation of interchange fees and unfair scheme rules before implementation, many businesses won’t be able to absorb the costs and will be forced to reduce services or increase prices elsewhere where they can.
“The risk is clear: consumers will face significantly diminished value and flexibility when using their cards. This change must not proceed without comprehensive reform to ensure fairness for businesses and choice for Australians. Nobody wants a situation where credit cards are no longer accepted.”
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) wants to end debit and credit card surcharges in Australia from from July 2026 and says it would save consumers $1.2 billion every year.
Under the RBA proposal, the cap on interchange fees paid by businesses, which are charged by payment service providers to merchants, would also be lowered.
“Time has come to address some of these high costs and inefficiencies in the system,” RBA governor Michele Bullock said. “We know these proposals will spark discussion, especially among businesses that currently surcharge, which is why we are consulting on these proposals for six weeks.
“Our goal is a more competitive, efficient and safe payments system for everyone.”
The RBA said surcharges are no longer achieving their intended purpose of providing cheaper payment methods. While fewer people are using cash, businesses increasingly charge the same surcharge rate across debit and credit cards.
The full RBA recommendations
- Remove surcharging on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa cards. Consumers currently pay around $1.2 billion in card surcharges each year. Surcharging is no longer achieving its intended purpose of steering consumers to make more efficient payment choices: avoiding surcharges has become harder as cash usage has declined, businesses are increasingly charging the same surcharge rate across debit and credit and there are significant challenges with enforcing the current surcharging rules. Removing surcharging would make card payments simpler, more transparent and help to increase competition in the card payments system.
- Lower the cap on interchange fees paid by businesses. This could save businesses around $1.2 billion in interchange fees a year. Around 90 per cent of Australian businesses are estimated to be better off under the proposed policies. The proposed reductions to interchange caps would benefit small businesses the most, as they tend to pay fees closer to the existing caps. Introducing caps on foreign interchange fees would help to lower fees for all businesses accepting international cards.
- Require card networks and large acquirers to publish the fees they charge. Improving transparency and competition will help all players better understand the fees they are charged and make it easier for businesses to shop around for a better deal.
The RBA invites feedback on the proposed policy options and draft standards by 26 August 2025.
