The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has welcomed the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) decision to extend its investigation into payment card fees to include debit cards. The retailers’ organisation describes it as a “Welcome and somewhat overdue response to several months of BRC lobbying”.
The investigation into so-called interchange fees charged by MasterCard and Visa had previously been confined to credit cards.
The BRC has long argued the fees paid on each card transaction are an unjustifiable tax on customers. It believes card issuers are seeking to offset any future losses from restrictions on credit card interchange fees by hiking up the fees on debit cards.
With debit cards now involved in a growing majority of card payments retailers want a thorough investigation that includes debit card charges even if that lengthens the investigation process.
“This is a welcome and somewhat overdue response to several months of lobbying by the BRC,” says Kevin Hawkins, the Director of the BRC. “Retailers have no choice but toaccept cards belonging to MasterCard and Visa and to pay their fees for the privilege. The fees are excessive and non-negotiable. They amount to a sales tax on every transaction and total tens of millions of pounds a year for some retailers.”