Credit card surcharge net widens

Buying a bunch of flowers, catching a cab, parking a car and paying bills or fines by credit card could all result in customers having to pay new surcharges.

Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson says some florists, taxi firms and utility providers are already charging a fee for paying by credit card.

Even the police are charging an extra 3 per cent for people paying fines by credit card.

This week, it emerged that some petrol stations have started adding a surcharge following an agreement last August between the Commerce Commission and credit card companies Visa and Mastercard.

This allows retailers to charge extra on payments made with credit cards.

Surcharges must be disclosed at the point of sale and must be a reasonable reflection of the retailers' costs.

Albertson said retailers had faced extra costs for allowing payment by credit card, and they now had the right to recover these costs.

"If you are a cash or eftpos payer, you are subsiding credit-card users," he said.

Banks and credit card companies did not like the surcharge, Albertson said, and he believed it could put pressure on them to reduce their fees, which were high, especially compared to costs in Australia.

The fees are charged as a percentage of the sale, so the bigger the purchase the higher the charges.

Retailers could end up paying up to 2.5 per cent of their profits in credit-card fees.

These fees go towards covering the credit card companies' costs.

Each time a cardholder makes a purchase, retailers pay a fee to their bank as part of the payment authorisation process.

Until August, the retailer was not allowed to include that fee in the price charged to the cardholder.

Commerce Commission general counsel Peter Taylor said the introduction of surcharges meant greater transparency for consumers.

They would now be better informed about the cost of credit-card transactions to retailers.

"Over time, consumers will determine if they will accept the surcharge and what is reasonable."

Taylor expects banks and retailers to come to an agreement about what is a reasonable surcharge.

Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin said she also knew of Wilson Parking charging customers a flat 50c fee for paying by credit card.

While retailers' ability to charge fees would make shopping slightly more complicated, Chetwin said, it would give customers some options to haggle for discounts when paying by cash or eftpos.

"People should be really careful and work out if the surcharge is worth it."