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Thanks to the thousands of people who signed the petition calling for fee-free digital payments, The RBA is conducting a review into payment surcharges.

You can read my submission to the review here:

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Fee Free for Business.
Fee Free for Customers.

Canstar analysis has revealed that Australians are paying $4 billion a year just to use their own money. Every time you tap your card, banks, payment platforms and card providers take a cut. It’s unfair, and it needs to change.

Small businesses also pay significantly more than big businesses in fees, with many forced to surcharge to remain competitive.

75% of us use digital payments because they are safe and efficient, with most Australians choosing debit cards. The technology for fee-free payments exists today, but the banks and software providers aren’t providing solutions for this out the checkout.

With the RBA conducting a surcharge review, and with new legislation before Parliament, I need you to sign my petition so the RBA and Parliament know that enough is enough. 

In 2024 and beyond, fee-free digital payments should be the norm, not an exception.

Together, let’s end this rort.

Sign Petition

    About the Campaign

    The Fee-Free Digital Payments campaign aims to promote the adoption of digital payment methods without additional transaction fees.

    It focuses on raising awareness, driving adoption among small businesses, and supporting financial inclusion by making debit card and digital payment options more accessible and affordable. 

    With the Reserve Bank of Australia conducting a payments surcharge review, we are working to ensure that businesses and consumers get a fair outcome following the review.

    Sign our petition

    Together, let’s end this $4 billion rort.

    Resources​

    Display your support for Fee Free Digital in your business by helping this campaign grow across Australia.

    OCT 15, 2024

    Government seeks to ban debit card payment surcharges from 2026

    Surcharges on credit and debit cards penalising customers will be in the sights of Australia’s consumer watchdog in a cost of living relief measure.
    OCT 15, 2024

    Surcharge crackdown to cost consumers more, Coalition says

    The Albanese government’s crackdown on card surcharges is “like fiddling around the edges while Rome burns”, Coalition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie says.
    OCT 15, 2024

    Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging

    The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is commencing its Review into Retail Payments Regulation. This review will examine the costs merchants face when accepting card payments and the framework for surcharging.

    OCT 15, 2024

    Federal government promises to crack down on card surcharges by 2026

    The federal government says it is prepared to ban debit card surcharges from January 1, 2026, subject to a review underway by the Reserve Bank.

     

    OCT 15, 2024

    Cash v debit card fees: There is no free lunch

    The government has now picked debit card surcharges as the latest enemy to target in its fight to conquer the cost of living crisis.
    OCT 15, 2024

    Shoppers to no longer pay fees when using debit cards under new Albanese government plan

    The federal government is preparing to ban debit card fees and instruct the consumer watchdog to investigate excessive card costs, as the unpopular system of transaction charges gets set for an overhaul.
    OCT 15, 2024

    Labor to ban debit card payment surcharges by the end of next year

    Labor is preparing to outlaw debit card surcharges in a broad crackdown on consumer fees as the Albanese government attempts to ease financial pressures on families in the lead up to a federal election next year.
    OCT 10, 2024

    Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale calls on RBA to ban surcharges of debit payments

    A Sydney MP has called on the Reserve Bank (RBA) to nix surcharges on card transactions and tap-and-go phone payments, launching a petition to overhaul the pesky fee that costs Aussies $4bn a year.

    OCT 10, 2024

    Canberra asked to urgently tackle greedy card fees

    Uncontrolled debit fees adding $12 to a school laptop, and $6.40 for a car service
    A list of initiatives to reduce the cost of living were presented to the Government in Canberra today, aiming to slash the price of items purchased on billions of debit card payments at Aussie businesses, and significantly reduce surcharging.
    SEP 25, 2024

    Apple, Google respond to payment cost heat by backing eftpos

    US tech giants Apple and Google will let Australian retailers choose to send customers’ tap-and-go smartphone payments to the lower-cost eftpos network, something their digital wallets have prevented to date.
    SEP 20, 2024

    The ‘loophole’ that means businesses can slug Aussie consumers with card surcharges at checkouts all the time

    Nothing is stopping Australians from being slugged with pesky surcharges for using their debit or credit cards at the checkout, thanks to a “loophole” in the system.
    AUG 23, 2024

    MICHAEL USHER: Tap-and-go surcharges are robbing us blind, how are we not enraged?

    We’re being robbed blind again by the banks and big financial institutions, and we all seem to be accepting it without an argument.

     
    SEP 14, 2024

    Opaque and complicated’ card surcharges are costing Australians billions. Is an overhaul needed?

    Debit cards have long been promoted as a replacement to cash. But a complicated system of opaque fee charges has created a multibillion-dollar revenue opportunity for the payments sector and left many consumers paying too much.
    SEP 3, 2024

    Tradie's simple trick to avoid common $10 surcharge: 'Don't do that'

    An Aussie tradie has revealed how much he saved with a little-known trick when using his card to pay for a big purchase. Card surcharges have been thrown into the spotlight recently after the CEOs of the big four banks were quizzed on whether they should stay or go in Australia.
    SEP 3, 2024
    Brad Kelly

    Managing Director – Payment Services

    Banning surcharges outright does NOT fix the problem of excessive merchant fees charged by Banks and payment providers.

    Instead, it shifts the burden to small businesses equivalent to a tax of $1.7Bn. Have you noticed that Coles, Woolworths and other large retailers don’t surcharge?

    SEP 5, 2024

    Effie Zahos tackled card fees and surcharging this morning on the Today Show.

    Effie pointed out that small businesses are paying a lot more than big business for basic debit card payments which are used by the vast majority of Aussie consumers – “the new cash”.

    SEP 6, 2024

    Surcharges are added to most purchases, but what are the rules behind these extra fees?

    You head to the register at the cafe to pay for your lunch, swipe your card and suddenly realise you’ve been hit with an extra small but unexpected charge.
    SEP 6, 2024

    Why Aussies cop fees, banned overseas, to pay by card

    You head to the register at the cafe to pay for your lunch, swipe your card and suddenly realise you’ve been hit with an extra small but unexpected charge.
    SEP 6, 2024

    Why you pay $5.08 for a $5 coffee

    The notoriously complex area of retail payment costs is in the political spotlight, and set to force a response from the central bank. Here’s how it works.
    AUG 20, 2024

    Labor MP kicks off campaign for fee-free digital payment reform

    Jerome Laxale, the Labor MP for Bennelong and a member of the House Economics Committee yesterday announced the beginning of a “campaign for fee-free digital payment reform.”

    For now Laxale is teasing his colleagues and the industry as to the methods he will employ and who his allies are.

    AUG 22, 2024

    Big four banks to face scrutiny over small business transaction fees

    Australia’s big four banks will face parliamentary scrutiny next week, with both Labor and Coalition lawmakers set to demand answers about the card payment fees levelled on small businesses.

     

    AUG 22, 2024

    Card payment surcharge billions under RBA microscope

    The Reserve Bank may be compelled to follow the UK and Europe and ban credit and debit card payment surcharges, as the billions of dollars in fees paid by Australians each year attracts closer political scrutiny.

     

    AUG 23, 2024

    Banks gouging $4 billion from customers for cashless transaction fees: MP

    The nation’s large banks and providers of credit and debit cards have been accused by a Labor MP of paying themselves “kickbacks” that are costing consumers $4 billion a year through surcharges imposed on small business operators.

     

    AUG 23, 2024

    Banks gouging $4 billion from customers for cashless transaction fees: MP

    The nation’s large banks and providers of credit and debit cards have been accused by a Labor MP of paying themselves “kickbacks” that are costing consumers $4 billion a year through surcharges imposed on small business operators.

     

    AUG 23, 2024

    Time To Ban Credit And Debit Card Surcharges in Oz?

    Years after the EU and UK banned payment surcharges on credit and debit cards, Australia has yet to catch up.
    AUG 26, 2024

    RBA ramps up surcharge review amid growing consumer and political pressure

    It turns out that it is not just consumers that are getting heartily sick of what has been described as the “surcharging rort” that is costing us billions of dollars a year.
    AUG 27, 2024

    Push to stamp out $4 billion card surcharge ‘rort’ hitting Aussies: 'Cash is fee free'

    Aussies are paying billions of dollars a year in surcharges to use their card or other cashless methods to make payments. One politician hopes to make this “rort” a thing of the past and is calling for fee-free digital payments.

     

    AUG 29, 2024

    Australia's CBA chief blasts MP for 'misinformation' on card payment charges

    The CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country’s biggest lender, accused a member of parliament of spreading misinformation on Thursday by saying banks were charging shoppers unfairly for debit and credit card payments.
    AUG 29, 2024

    Mastercard argues cash costs more than card in bid to stymie fee limit

    The cost of accepting cash is more than twice that of card payments, Mastercard says, as the global transaction processing giant pushed back against demands to ban or limit fees that it charges banks and merchants to use its products.
    30 August 2024

    Major banks push to abolish 'outrageous' charge for Aussies: '$4b nightmare'

    The head of National Australian Bank (NAB) has made an incredible declaration against “outrageous” surcharges forced on Australian consumers. Chief executive Andrew Irvin’s attack comes as the head of Australia’s
    AUG 30, 2024

    Evolving rapidly”: Fintechs Tyro and Zeller say merchants want more than simple card processing

    Point-of-sale (POS) providers will continue to evolve beyond simple payment acceptance services, market disruptors Tyro and Zeller say, even as lawmakers question whether the fees charged to small businesses provide value for money.
    AUG 30, 2024

    Bank boss outraged by 10pc transaction fee for coffee

    The chief executives of the country’s largest banks say they support a push to ban debit and credit card surcharges, arguing they are opaque and that the fees charged to merchants should be considered part of the normal cost of running a business

    AUG 30, 2024

    Commonwealth Bank boss called out over an issue that hits every Aussie

    The boss of Australia’s biggest bank has angrily denied ripping off customers with card payment fees – as the nation increasingly moves towards becoming a cashless society.

    Media Requests

    For media requests, please contact: Michael Butterworth
    02 9869 4288
    michael@jeromelaxale.com

    Authorised by J Laxale, ALP, 32 Beecroft Road Epping NSW 2121