The Coalition announced today that they’re going to be cracking down on unfair credit card surcharges, on the grounds that they’re absolute bullshit rorting the customer.
“We will phase in a legislated ban on surcharges that exceed the reasonable costs faced by merchants in accepting cards,” said the government. “We will also make the ACCC responsible for enforcing the ban on excessive surcharging.”
While they haven’t specified exactly *what* constitutes an excessive charge, Daddy Prime Minister Turnbull indicated that it’ll target blanket percentage fees.
“There’s no law that says you’ve got to charge so much for a hotel room or an airline flight,” he said. “But if you go out there and you say there is a 2 or 3% surcharge for using a credit card, for example, that carries with it a very clear representation that the merchant is recovering the costs of you, the customer, using a card as opposed to paying in cash.”
“And now, the fact is, we all know that in many cases, these surcharges are well in excess of the real cost, and so it is just a matter of ensuring that the representation that merchants make by virtue of regulation an accurate one.”
“This is a fair dinkum test,” our Treasurer Scott Morrison translated into ‘Strayan for us, trying to be helpful.
It’s all part of the government’s offish response to the Financial Systems Enquiry (led by ex-head honcho of Commonwealth Bank, David Murray). They’ve announced they’ll be supporting most of the 44 recommendations made by the team, making good on an election promise to overhaul Australia’s financial system.
(Unless the retailers simply raise prices. Tbh, 
. Wait for the Ross Gittins of this world to bust out the economic editorials.)
Image: Matt Cardy via Getty Images.
