Australia Drops Card Surcharges from Tomorrow

Australia's consumers will no longer face extra fees for paying by card starting from tomorrow. The Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) card surcharge reforms take effect from tomorrow, removing the ability of businesses to add a surcharge when customers pay with eftpos, Visa or Mastercard.

Lower domestic interchange fee caps will apply from 1 October 2026 and new interchange caps for foreign-issued cards from 1 April 2027. This change is expected to deliver around $660 million a year in lower payment costs for businesses.

The RBA expects these lower costs to flow through to merchants, but warns that small businesses may not see reductions if other players in the payments system absorb the savings rather than passing them on.