Consumer NZ is stoked to learn surcharges will be banned

An amendment to the Retail Payment System Act will put an end to excessive, hidden and unavoidable surcharges, which cost New Zealanders an estimated $65 million a year.

Jessica Walker, acting head of research and advocacy at Consumer NZ, is thrilled to see surcharges scrapped because it will put millions back into the pockets of New Zealanders and make accepting payments much simpler for merchants, too.

“We’ve received close to 300 complaints about excessive surcharges (over 2%) in the last few years. In some cases, card payment surcharges were as high as 25%. We’ve even had complaints about surcharges being applied to EFTPOS transactions.

“We’ve been calling for surcharge regulation since 2017 and, recently, urged the Commerce Commission to consider an outright ban. Although surcharge guidelines were in place, they clearly weren’t working.

"The whole surcharge situation here in New Zealand is currently a mess. Surcharges for debit and credit cards are banned in the United Kingdom and European Union, and the Reserve Bank of Australia recently proposed a surcharge ban – so this brings us nicely in line with other countries," says Walker.

“The ban is a no-brainer. These new rules will bring an end to a very messy situation!”

What consumers need to know

• The ban will only apply to debit, EFTPOS, Visa and Mastercard payments, so if you’re paying with another card, such as an AMEX or foreign-issued card, you may still have to pay a surcharge. The ban also won't apply to prepaid gift cards.

• Online payments are excluded. This is disappointing because your flight or accommodation booking or any other online purchases could still attract a surcharge. Australia is considering making online payments part of its surcharge ban. We’ll be calling for similar rules here.

• The cost of your coffee shouldn't increase by that much, if at all. If merchants choose to increase their prices to cover their payment costs, any increase should be very minimal because interchange is being lowered which will reduce the cost to businesses of accepting payments.