What the Card Surcharge ban means for you and your business

Card surcharges are banned from 1 October. Here's what changes for shoppers and business owners.

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In short

• No surcharges on Visa, Mastercard or eftpos from 1 October 2026, whether it's credit, debit or prepaid.
• AMEX and UnionPay drop surcharging the same day, and PayPal follows on 5 October.
• Weekend, public holiday and booking fees can still apply.
• Places that used to surcharge may lift their prices instead but may offer discounts for paying another way.
• The wholesale fees businesses pay on cards fall too, though not every business will see the saving.

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What's changing

A surcharge is any extra amount a business charges because you pay by card. From 1 October 2026 it's gone for the three networks the Reserve Bank regulates: Visa, Mastercard and eftpos. That decision came out of the RBA's review of card payment costs, published on 31/03/2026.

American Express and UnionPay are removing surcharging from the same day, and PayPal follows from 5 October. That covers all the main card networks.

The ban is written into the card networks' own rules, and those reach businesses through their payment providers.

Things to know when paying by card

• Some prices may rise. Businesses that surcharged may lift their advertised prices to cover card costs.
• Weekend and public holiday surcharges can stay. They aren't about how you pay, so they sit outside the ban. The same goes for booking and service fees.
• You may be offered a discount for paying by bank transfer, PayID or PayTo. That's still allowed.
• Credit card rewards may change. Banks earn less from each card payment, and some have announced changes to rewards programs. If you pay an annual fee for a rewards card, it's worth checking what you still get for it.
• Taxis are different. Taxi surcharges are set by state and territory regulators, not by this ban.

Paying a bill that was issued before 1 October? If you pay it by card on or after that date, the surcharge may no longer apply.

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What changes for businesses

You can't move the fee somewhere else

Renaming the fee doesn't help. Any extra amount charged because someone pays by card is a surcharge. Calling it a card handling fee or a processing fee doesn't change what it is. Moving the surcharge to other cards doesn't work either, since Amex, UnionPay and PayPal are dropping it too.

You can still charge weekend and public holiday surcharges, and booking or service fees that have nothing to do with how the customer pays. You can also offer a discount for paying another way. Check the ACCC's guidance on displaying prices before you advertise one.

Think about speed before you steer anyone off cards, though. For trades and B2B work, a card payment that clears within days can be worth more than the fee you save on an invoice you end up chasing.

Watch invoices that straddle 1 October

This one catches trades and professional services. If the card payment happens on or after 1 October, you probably can't add a surcharge, even if the invoice went out earlier. Some providers are switching surcharging off from that date.

If you take card payments on Xero invoices, this is handled for you. The option to pass on the processing fee disappears on 1 October, and an invoice that's still unpaid gets paid without the fee. Other invoicing and payment tools may not do the same, so check yours.

Check your terms of trade and quote templates too. Any line promising a card surcharge needs to come out.

Your fees should fall. Check that they do.

On the same day, the caps on interchange fees drop. Interchange is the wholesale fee your provider pays the customer's bank each time a card is used.

• Consumer credit cards: cap falls from 0.8% to 0.3%
• Debit and prepaid cards: cap falls from 10c or 0.2% to 8c or 0.16%
• Business credit cards: unchanged at 0.8%
• Cards issued overseas: capped at 1.0% for the first time, from 1 April 2027

Together, that's around $910 million a year off wholesale card costs for businesses. Small businesses tend to pay much higher interchange than large ones, so they stand to gain the most.

Here's the catch. If you're on a flat-rate plan, one percentage for every card, your provider sets that rate. A lower wholesale cost doesn't automatically mean a lower rate for you. Xero's Stripe rate for domestic cards, for example, moves from 1.8% + 30c to 1.75% + 30c (including GST) on 1 October.

Ask your provider whether your rate changes on 1 October, and by how much. If they can't tell you, that's worth knowing.

Comparing providers gets easier soon. From 30/10/2026, Visa, Mastercard, eftpos and the large providers must publish the fees they charge. From 1 April 2027, your merchant statement has to show your costs in more detail.

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Business checklist for the switch

1. Turn off surcharging on your terminals, online checkout, payment links and invoice templates.
2. Take surcharge wording out of your terms of trade, quotes and signage.
3. Work out your effective card rate from last month's statement.
4. Decide your price changes, then update menus, price lists and your website.
5. Ask your provider what your rate will be from 1 October.
6. Compare providers once published fees are available from 30 October.

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Want a hand with this transition?

If you run a business, our bookkeeping team can pull your effective card rate from your statements and show what a price change does to your margin. For anything else the change raises for you, get in touch.

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This is general information only and doesn't take your circumstances into account. Speak to us before making changes to your pricing or payment arrangements.