New fees, higher costs: Card surcharges are ending – how will it affect the way you pay?
Australian ban on credit and debit card surcharges begins this week. Businesses plan to pass the cost on to consumers – or avoid it altogether
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Australians will no longer pay a surcharge on
Australians will no longer pay a surcharge on credit or debit card purchases from Thursday, but the changes at the register won’t stop there.
Some businesses are already making changes, with an
Some businesses are already making changes, with an after-school care provider cutting off card payments and a school canteen service setting $10 minimum checkouts to manage processing costs. At the same time, major banks and card providers are trimming cardholder benefits to offset their own expenses.
The result is a series of swift rule
The result is a series of swift rule changes as businesses decide how to handle fees they are no longer permitted to pass on to customers.
The Reserve Bank says businesses that wish to
The Reserve Bank says businesses that wish to steer consumers towards other payment methods can do so by providing discounts instead of using surcharges.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued similar advice, saying that businesses can offer discounts to consumers who pay using a particular payment method, such as cash or PayID.
In 2025, about 15% of payments were made
In 2025, about 15% of payments were made in cash and around half of Australians used cash in a typical week, according to the RBA. There had been a slight increase in the number of people who carried cash – from 47% in 2022 to 50% in 2025. This was the first time the number of people using cash had increased since the RBA started its monitoring in 2007.
Jason Bryce from Cash Welcome, a group that
Jason Bryce from Cash Welcome, a group that advocates cash usage, expects cash transactions to become more common again after the end of surcharging. Bryce says it will become more typical to see small businesses display “cash preferred” or “discounts for cash” signage at the point of sale.
“Other countries that have a history of banning
“Other countries that have a history of banning card surcharges have a lot more cash-only businesses [and] a lot more cash-preferred businesses,” he says.
France, Germany, Japan and Korea, which have all
France, Germany, Japan and Korea, which have all banned surcharges, have more cash in circulation and more merchants accepting cash than Australia, Bryce says.
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New fees, higher costs: Card surcharges are ending – how will it affect the way you pay?
Australian ban on credit and debit card surcharges begins this week.
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Source: Guardian Australia