The association revealed it had sent a letter, co-signed by Aito, the SPAA and the Advantage Travel Partnership, to the Treasury following Westminster’s “clear failure” to police EU Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) laws introduced in 2015 to cap processing fees.

Abta said that according to a recent survey of members, 58% had seen their card processing costs rise regardless of the interchange fee rules, while “very few” had made any significant savings as a result of the laws.

IFR caps interchange fees - the costs banks and card providers charge each other - at 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards.

Although Abta argued that “it would appear” additional fees relating to card charges had been increased by card providers to “make up for the shortfall in revenue”.

“Some members have reported total fees as high as 3% - over ten times higher,” the association said.

Abta also stressed the importance for “greater transparency” throughout the payments chain and called on the government to use “more thoughtful” language when explaining changes in payment law – such as the newly implemented ban on surcharging (PSD2) – to consumers.

The outlawing of card surcharging has previously been described by MPs as a way to stop consumers paying “rip-off fees” despite businesses having only ever been able to recoup their card processing costs, Abta said.

Mark Tanzer, Abta chief executive, said: “When the European Union introduced the Interchange Fee Regulation and the subsequent Payment Services Directive, the intention was to reduce card charges, to the benefit of the public. However, far from providing any meaningful consumer benefit, the surcharging ban is likely to increase prices across the board, affecting all consumers, including those wishing to pay by other methods.

“This is not what the EU intended and the government needs to conduct an urgent review into the charges made by card companies so that they are proportionate and fair and these real savings can then truly be passed on to consumers.”