topic Re: Credit card payments in Plusnet Feedback

Credit card payments

glloyd — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:06:59 GMT

Just heard on the news the goverment are to restrict how much companies can charge for credit and debit charge payments to the actual cost to the trader. That's going to affect PlusNet with their rip of charge to pay for CC payments.

Re: Credit card payments

nadger — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:17:58 GMT

At least, with Plusnet, one has the option of paying by Direct Debit at no extra cost
Try that with a budget airline.

Re: Credit card payments

adamwalker — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:19:26 GMT

it's too eary for us to say anything I'm afriad. This is still just at the discussion stage in parliament and consultation should begin in the new year.

Re: Credit card payments

gswindale — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:20:48 GMT

Quick question which has probably been answered before; so sorry if it has:
Do PN charge for both Debit & Credit Card payments? A number of retailers don't for Debit but do for Credit.
Are the government plans to impact both?
Why would people pay for their service on a Credit Card? Surely that is just moving the debt around and not actually paying anything?
I still feel that the charges are fair; however in other cases where those of us who pay by DD get a rebate; what is going to happen there? It would be unfair to then penalise us for using a more efficient method of payment.
Thus I suggest that PN up their prices and introduce a rebate for DD customers.

Re: Credit card payments

Chris — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:30:23 GMT

The charge is actually for non-direct debits, so covers cheque payments too.

Re: Credit card payments

gswindale — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:51:25 GMT

Surely you should charge more for cheque payments
They're a right pain to deal with - check words & numbers match; check payee is correct; check it's signed; check it's dated correctly.

Re: Credit card payments

glloyd — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:54:10 GMT

Ah but that's being followed by an EU directive which I believe will be even stricter and about time to. For far to long it's been seen as an easy way to make an extra few quid.

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
it's too eary for us to say anything I'm afriad. This is still just at the discussion stage in parliament and consultation should begin in the new year.

Re: Credit card payments

Oldjim — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:09:14 GMT

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards/8974365/Credit-card-fees-to-be-banned-in-crackdown-on-surcharges.html

Quote
The European Union is to ban excessive card fees levied by airlines from 2014. However, the British ban will be enforced sooner and go significantly further.

I haven't managed to find any details of the actual EU Directive
EDIT - the full directive is here http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:304:0064:0088:EN:PDF and the relevant clause is

Quote
Article 19
Fees for the use of means of payment
Member States shall prohibit traders from charging consumers, in respect of the use of a given means of payment, fees that exceed the cost borne by the trader for the use of such means.

So if a supplier can demonstrate that the extra cost of a credit card payment over the other payment methods is valid then they are OK. Whether this cost includes indirect costs (rate of payment failure for example) will depend on the detailed wording when the Directive is passed into UK Law

Re: Credit card payments

WelshPaul — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:43:15 GMT

Companies will just up their prices to reflect any loss by this so although you won't get charged as such for a CC transaction we will all end up paying fo it in the long run.
If i was charging £20 per month for a product and i charged a pound for CC transactions then after any ban i would up the base price from £20 to £20.50 to cover any charges incurred when a customer used a CC!

Re: Credit card payments

glloyd — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:18:55 GMT

There are other things that need sorting out like charges for debit card payment. If I go to a store and pay by debit card some charge as they are charged by their bank. But if I draw the money out on the same debit card and pay cash neither I or the store get charged. All this is just stupid because it's all done automatically so no cost is involved.

Re: Credit card payments

artmo — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:38:00 GMT

I've never been into a store and been charged for using a debit card. Where do you shop?

Re: Credit card payments

nadger — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:50:24 GMT

And supermarkets will give you cash back, at no extra charge, on debit cards.

Re: Credit card payments

gswindale — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:22:13 GMT

Quote from: artmo
I've never been into a store and been charged for using a debit card. Where do you shop?

It's often smaller retailers that charge; or at least refuse card payments for transactions under a certain amount.

Quote
If I go to a store and pay by debit card some charge as they are charged by their bank. But if I draw the money out on the same debit card and pay cash neither I or the store get charged. All this is just stupid because it's all done automatically so no cost is involved.

The store will be charged for the cash handling. It is just at a different rate - normally much cheaper and worked out over a time period rather than on a transaction by transaction basis.