Closed petition Abolition of debit and credit card transaction charges

Closed on 15 August 2012

There is a lack of transparency on many everyday transactions where the seller imposes additional charges for using debit or credit cards. These charges are often high as compared to the transaction value and the consumer should not be punished for paying by an accepted and standard payment choice.

This is a known and widely accepted problem and yet the practice is still widespread particularly with regards to flight tickets, cinema tickets, show tickets and is a "hidden cost" that has no justification.

I would like the Government to prohibit businesses applying additional charges for particular payment methods and to ensure that services cost the same regardless of paying by debit or credit card. It is about price equalisation and removing what is essentially a penalty charge for using debit and credit cards.

Additionally, the legislation should provide that businesses are not able to increase prices to offset the abolition of the debit and credit card fees.