Tuesday 20 January 2015

Why do retailers charge us for paying by credit card?

I have been organising my summer holiday.

The accommodation has been booked directly with the hotel - I got a great deal - and I have paid €459 with no credit card fee.  I do have to pay a exchange fee as I paid in Euros but that is minimal compared to the savings I have made on the hotel.

I have now booked the flight, again paying on my Visa credit card, and have been charged £5.85 on a booking of £200.79, this is charge of 2.9%.



I have also booked my transfer from airport to resort, again paid on my card and again been charged a fee by the retailer, this time £3 on a £20.98 booking (I didn't get my promised 12% discount, but that is a separate issue), this is more than 14%!

According to Visa, the charge to the retailer's bank for using a credit card is 1.10%, which works out at £2.21 and 23p, so I have been overcharged by £6.41 which, ok, in the scheme of things, is not horrendous but it is the principal.

Why are we even paying the charges in the first place?  I can understand small independent stores charging if a customer is paying under a certain amount, but for major retailers surely this should be accepted as their responsibility to pay, and they certainly should not be making an additional profit from it.

Have you been charged over the odds for paying by card?




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