Card surcharges are banned from October 1. What’s changing at the checkout?

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · Sep 24, 2026 · 980 words · By Vibhu Arya

Consumer Protection Monetary Policy and Inflation Small Business Economic Impact

headphones Listen to the eFinder podcast briefing

Generate a natural audio summary of this story

Daily briefing

What to know about Consumer Protection

The article explains an upcoming ban on card surcharges in Australia starting October 1, following a Reserve Bank of Australia review. It details how businesses may absorb these costs or raise prices, the impact on inflation, and the reduction of interchange fees intended to lower costs for merchants.

Propaganda risk 10%

Claims checked 19

Techniques found 1

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center86%

Right14%

7 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

From October 1 this year, businesses will be banned from adding a surcharge when customers pay with a debit, credit, EFTPOS or prepaid card.

Why it matters

The Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association has said it “will be one of the largest changes in payments” in Australia’s history – and many small businesses “are unprepared for its arrival”.

Common ground

The change follows a lengthy Reserve Bank of Australia review and decision to remove surcharging from all designated card networks (EFTPOS, Mastercard and Visa).

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Consumer Protection story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that American Express is voluntarily joining the change?
How does this story connect Consumer Protection with Monetary Policy and Inflation over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/card-surcharges-are-banned-from-october-1-whats-chan…

analyticsAnalysis

10%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 95%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 70% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 19 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 9

info Single Source 3

check_circle Corroborated 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

cancel Disputed 1

verified Verified 1

info

Claim 1: “American Express is voluntarily joining the change.”

SINGLE SOURCE

Only one provided web search result (Meyka) mentions American Express voluntarily joining the ban. Other results for this claim are irrelevant (Wikipedia meta-discussions).

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Dec 1, 2020 · Since Wikipedia is open source, there are many ways to download the entire database listed here with instructions, including an SQL database, HTML dumps, and anywhere else you can downlo…
https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/k4dqc0/lpt_you…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Apr 26, 2021 · I have always wondered who writes the wiki pages of individuals. Does some random person take it into their hands to write the page of a famous person? What about for the people who hav…
https://www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/comments/mz2d87/who_write…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Dec 1, 2021 · But when Wikipedia admins are notified about these violations they don't react at all, and here is the interesting bit: jimmy wales himself has connections with tony blair, he is married…
https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/r6np8w/what_i…

schedule

Claim 2: “Taxi fare surcharges can also continue, as they are regulated separately by states and territories.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 3: “Back then, debit and credit cards were used for only one in four payments.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While sources discuss the decline of cash, none of the provided evidence specifically confirms that debit and credit cards accounted for exactly 'one in four' (25%) of payments in 2007.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Although Australia is mostly arid, the nation is a major agricultural producer and exporter, with around 421,000 people employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing as of 2023. Agriculture's farm gat…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Australia

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a land area of 7,688,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30) and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00). Tim…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Australia

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 4: “the Commonwealth Bank, has announced that from October 1, it will reduce its flat merchant rate from 1.10% to 0.99% per transaction.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

cancel

Claim 5: “From October 1 this year, businesses will be banned from adding a surcharge when customers pay with a debit, credit, EFTPOS or prepaid card.”

DISPUTED

There is a direct contradiction regarding the date. One source mentions 'October 1 this year', while LegalVision and LinkedIn specifically state the ban begins on '1 October 2026'.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS; ) is a type of payment transaction in which electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usual…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFTPOS

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jane Lu (born 12 June 1986) is an Australian businesswoman. Lu is the founder and chief executive officer of the fashion boutique Showpo. She was a "shark" on season five and six of the Australian ver…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Lu

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Tyro Payments Limited (Tyro) is an Australian payments financial institution specialising in merchant credit, debit and EFTPOS acquiring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyro_(company)

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 6: “The current cost varies: 0.43% for an EFTPOS debit card, to about 1% for Visa or Mastercard credit cards, up to 1.36% for an American Express credit cards.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence from Westpac and St.George mentions that costs exist and vary by card type, but does not provide the specific percentage figures (0.43%, 1%, 1.36%) mentioned in the claim.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Visa Credit. eftpos Debit and Prepaid. American Express and JCB. UnionPay.The impact of the reforms will depend on your current pricing model, the types of card transactions your business accepts, and…
https://www.westpac.com.au/business-banking/merchants-and-pa…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Visa Credit. eftpos Debit and Prepaid. American Express® cards issued by Australian banks.St.George Bank will provide you with your cost of acceptance for each card type in your June monthly statement…
https://www.stgeorge.com.au/business/payment-solutions/merch…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Businesses can no longer charge a surcharge for payments made using Visa, Mastercard, American Express or eftpos credit, debit or prepaid cards from 1 October 2026. These rules only apply to card paym…
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/card-surcharges

check_circle

Claim 7: “Cash still accounted for 69% of payments in 2007, when the central bank first began tracking payment methods usage.”

CORROBORATED

Two independent sources (ABC News and a small business guide) explicitly state that cash accounted for 69% of payments in 2007.

menu_book

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 8: “Reserve Bank data shows the vast majority of small businesses (81%) are on a different type of pricing plan. This means they typically pay around 1.4% of the transaction value now to accept cards.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 9: “The change is more likely to be noticeable when buying from the 16% of businesses that have had card surcharges”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for the percentage of businesses applying card surcharges.

help

Claim 10: “If all card surcharge costs were instead built into prices, the Reserve Bank has estimated it could add about 0.1% as a small, one-off impact on measured inflation.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for the RBA's inflation estimate regarding the build-in of surcharge costs.

schedule

Claim 11: “The Reserve Bank aims to lower wholesale card payment costs for businesses by about $910 million a year by cutting those interchange fees.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 12: “Debit cards are Australians’ favourite way to pay, making up 49% of all payments in 2025, while credit cards came second, used for 23% of payments.”

VERIFIED

A specific source titled 'Debit vs Credit Card Use in Australia, 2007–2025' confirms that debit cards rose to 49% and credit/charge cards to 23% in 2025.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australian(s) may refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australians

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 13: “The cap on consumer credit card interchange fees is falling from 0.80% to 0.30%, a reduction of 50 basis points.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 14: “Debit and prepaid card caps are falling from 0.20% to 0.16%, while commercial credit cards remain unchanged at 0.80%.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 15: “They do not apply to weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, or booking fees or service fees you might see on your bill.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 16: “Flexischools – used by more than 2,100 schools across Australia for canteen orders – notified parents that from October 1, it will increase its existing order fee by 6 cents per student, per order, plus introduce a $10 minimum at checkout”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 17: “Cash made up around 15% of consumer payments in 2025, but it’s used for almost one in four purchases under $10.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia entries for the year 2025 and 'Project 2025', none of which contain data on Australian consumer payment percentages.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 2025 (MMXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2025th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 25th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) [3] is a political initiative published in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation with the goal of reshaping the U.S. federal gover…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — September 12 – 28 – The 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship is taking place in Pasay and Quezon City in the Philippines. September 13 – 21 – The 2025 World Athletics Championships is taking …
https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025

check_circle

Claim 18: “The change follows a lengthy Reserve Bank of Australia review and decision to remove surcharging from all designated card networks (EFTPOS, Mastercard and Visa).”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the RBA's move to remove surcharging for EFTPOS, Mastercard, and Visa following a review to benefit the public interest.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Banking in Australia is a central component of the country's financial system and one of the most concentrated banking sectors in the world. As of 2025 the sector contributes 7.5% of GDP and employs 4…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_in_Australia

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the Un…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Bank

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The New Payments Platform (NPP), owned and operated by New Payments Platform Australia Ltd (NPPA) is a national industry-wide real-time payments platform for Australia. As of April 2025, there are ove…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Payments_Platform

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 19: “Reserve Bank data show large merchants typically pay around 0.6% in payment costs.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.