The Government's scrapping card surcharges at the till, which collectively cost Kiwis $150 million each year.
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson confirmed they'll ban in-store credit and debit card surcharges, like paywave fees.
He says it's important for consumers to have transparency when it comes to pricing.
"In a competitive world, businesses understand the price-competitive nature of the businesses that they operate and the goods and services they provide. Surcharges are annoying, they're pesky and most customers don't actually know whether they're paying the full price."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Afternoon, you can wave goodbye to the payWave surcharge and
basically every other surcharge as well. They've just been banned,
effective from March. Retailers or May next year. Other retailers
will no longer be able to pass on the huge
merchant fees that banks, credit card companies and f boss
providers charge them. Scott Simpson is the Consumer Affairs Minister. Afternoon, Scott, Hi,
Heather Scott, Why are you banning the retailers from being
(00:21):
able to pass on this cost but not dealing with
the actual cost itself.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, we are dealing with the actual cost itself. The
Commerce Commission made a decision a week or so ago
to significantly lower what's referred to as the interchange fees.
These are the fees that the credit card companies are
permitted to charge. It's a regulated fee. They're dropping that
fee very significantly from December this year. What we're planning
to do is make.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Sure before you move on. Okay, let's just deal with that.
How much is the Commerce Commission taking out of that
fee that retailers.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Pay About ninety million dollars a eye out of a
fee that's out of one hundred and fifty out of
one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It's the mortal cost is about a billion dollars a
year and they're taking ninety out.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well the surcharge. The Communis Commission estimates that New Zealanders
pay around one hundred and fifty annually in seer charges,
so about one hundred and fifty million. So are they're
going to drop out ninety million of that?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
That's not a fair equation. What the retailers are paying
in merch just an interchange fees, right, which is only
a portion of the merchant fees, just an interchange fees
is one billion dollars a year and they're taking ninety
million dollars in How on earth a retailer is supposed
to cope with it when they now cannot afford to
they can't even afford to recoup it through a surcharge.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, what we want is to have transparency of pricing,
and I don't think it's.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Consumer You're going to get the opposite, because when you've
got a billion dollars almost in costs you can now
not recoup through a surcharge, you're just going to build
it into your prices, aren't you? If you're a smart retailer.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, that hasn't been the experience in the UK or
the EU, where surcharges have been banned for some time.
In a competitive world, businesses understand the price competitive nature
of the businesses that they operate and the goods and
services they provide. So surchargers are annoying their pesky and
most customers don't actually know whether they're paying the full
(02:19):
price or not. When you charge to serve charge it
says one and a half, two and a half, three
percent or sometimes more. You don't know whether that is
actually a fear recouping of the surcharge or whether it's
actually retailer taking an extra margt thing.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You can choose not to pay it, so you can say, no,
I'm going to put my credit card away, I'm not
going to pay it now. What you're doing to us
is we're all going to pay it because it's going
to be built into the cost. So I can't put
my credit card away now. It doesn't matter what I use,
I'm going to pay it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, if a retailer doesn't want to take a payWave,
they don't have to. There are other ways of paying.
What I'm saying, merchant fees.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It's not just the payWave though it scott and you
know this. Merchant fees themselves are extremely expensive. So what
you're doing is in order to pretend to help us
with the cost of living crisis, you're building more more
into our prices that we're paying. You're making it worse.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
No, I don't accept that for one minute. I think
that New Zealanders want to have transparency of the price
they see on the shelf being the same price they
pay at the till.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Why did you not deal with the likes of any
New Zealand and ticket Master and all those guys who
are actually charging us egregious amounts who still get to
be able to do it because they're not affected by
the ban.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, the ban at the moment includes personal payments, so
point of sale payments. We wanted to leave some room
for the new fintech companies to find a space to
live and thrive. There's a whole range of new technology.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Not to be pulling my leg, you wanted to leave
Ticketmaster to charge us eight dollars every single time so
somebody could set up a business.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We are looking at that the initial ban is for
in person payments and what we will do is do
some create some legislation before May of next year and
keep those options open. So the initial ban is on
in person payments only, and we'll look to extend that
further beyond that as and when as necessary.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Scott, thank you, I appreciate your time that Scott Simson,
the Consumer Affairs Minister. Eleven Heather Duplicity Allen. For more
from Heather Duplicy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks
that'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
Afternoon, you can wave goodbye to the payWave surcharge and
basically every other surcharge as well. They've just been banned,
effective from March. Retailers or May next year. Other retailers
will no longer be able to pass on the huge
merchant fees that banks, credit card companies and f boss
providers charge them. Scott Simpson is the Consumer Affairs Minister. Afternoon, Scott, Hi,
Heather Scott, Why are you banning the retailers from being
(00:21):
able to pass on this cost but not dealing with
the actual cost itself.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, we are dealing with the actual cost itself. The
Commerce Commission made a decision a week or so ago
to significantly lower what's referred to as the interchange fees.
These are the fees that the credit card companies are
permitted to charge. It's a regulated fee. They're dropping that
fee very significantly from December this year. What we're planning
to do is make.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Sure before you move on. Okay, let's just deal with that.
How much is the Commerce Commission taking out of that
fee that retailers.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Pay About ninety million dollars a eye out of a
fee that's out of one hundred and fifty out of
one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It's the mortal cost is about a billion dollars a
year and they're taking ninety out.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well the surcharge. The Communis Commission estimates that New Zealanders
pay around one hundred and fifty annually in seer charges,
so about one hundred and fifty million. So are they're
going to drop out ninety million of that?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
That's not a fair equation. What the retailers are paying
in merch just an interchange fees, right, which is only
a portion of the merchant fees, just an interchange fees
is one billion dollars a year and they're taking ninety
million dollars in How on earth a retailer is supposed
to cope with it when they now cannot afford to
they can't even afford to recoup it through a surcharge.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, what we want is to have transparency of pricing,
and I don't think it's.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Consumer You're going to get the opposite, because when you've
got a billion dollars almost in costs you can now
not recoup through a surcharge, you're just going to build
it into your prices, aren't you? If you're a smart retailer.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, that hasn't been the experience in the UK or
the EU, where surcharges have been banned for some time.
In a competitive world, businesses understand the price competitive nature
of the businesses that they operate and the goods and
services they provide. So surchargers are annoying their pesky and
most customers don't actually know whether they're paying the full
(02:19):
price or not. When you charge to serve charge it
says one and a half, two and a half, three
percent or sometimes more. You don't know whether that is
actually a fear recouping of the surcharge or whether it's
actually retailer taking an extra margt thing.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You can choose not to pay it, so you can say, no,
I'm going to put my credit card away, I'm not
going to pay it now. What you're doing to us
is we're all going to pay it because it's going
to be built into the cost. So I can't put
my credit card away now. It doesn't matter what I use,
I'm going to pay it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, if a retailer doesn't want to take a payWave,
they don't have to. There are other ways of paying.
What I'm saying, merchant fees.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It's not just the payWave though it scott and you
know this. Merchant fees themselves are extremely expensive. So what
you're doing is in order to pretend to help us
with the cost of living crisis, you're building more more
into our prices that we're paying. You're making it worse.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
No, I don't accept that for one minute. I think
that New Zealanders want to have transparency of the price
they see on the shelf being the same price they
pay at the till.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Why did you not deal with the likes of any
New Zealand and ticket Master and all those guys who
are actually charging us egregious amounts who still get to
be able to do it because they're not affected by
the ban.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, the ban at the moment includes personal payments, so
point of sale payments. We wanted to leave some room
for the new fintech companies to find a space to
live and thrive. There's a whole range of new technology.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Not to be pulling my leg, you wanted to leave
Ticketmaster to charge us eight dollars every single time so
somebody could set up a business.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We are looking at that the initial ban is for
in person payments and what we will do is do
some create some legislation before May of next year and
keep those options open. So the initial ban is on
in person payments only, and we'll look to extend that
further beyond that as and when as necessary.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Scott, thank you, I appreciate your time that Scott Simson,
the Consumer Affairs Minister. Eleven Heather Duplicity Allen. For more
from Heather Duplicy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks
that'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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