After public consultation, the government will also outlaw surcharging for payments made by American Express cards and PayPal via the EU Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), set to come into UK law by January 13, 2018 – in addition to surcharges on Visa and Mastercard payments.
HM Treasury claimed its actions were to prevent customers falling foul of “rip-off” charges, but industry leaders say the decision will “penalise consumers and businesses”.
Abta said [now that travel firms will lose out on surcharging] the costs levied by banks and credit card firms was the “real issue” for MPs to consider, and has called for a review of the interchange fee rates paid by travel businesses to credit card firms.
“The government has previously committed to monitoring the amount charged by credit card companies for processing cards. They now need to back up their words with action,” the association said. Abta’s action was backed by Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, and Julia Lo Bue-Said, managing director of The Advantage Travel Partnership.
Lewis said: “I would support [a review into rates] as you can’t have it both ways. The credit card companies will likely benefit from the government policy [with more people expected to use credit cards now the costs have been removed]… now all of a sudden their costs are hugely challenging for us as an industry.”
He said the upcoming change would leave consumers stung by “hidden costs” as businesses squeezed by the abolition of surcharging would be forced to increase costs elsewhere. “Many businesses can’t afford to swallow these costs and you can’t expect the industry to pay for the credit card companies without it coming back to the consumer,” he said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box, Bue-Said said she would “absolutely” support a cap on card processing fees following the surcharge ban. “This isn’t a cost our members want to pass on,” she said. “It’s a significant change, so actually the more we, as small businesses, can come together and really talk to government in a collective voice to get them to understand the detrimental impact this is having, [the better].”
