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Councils criticised for charging credit card fees
Councils in some areas are adding on extra charges to customers that pay for council services amounting of up to 3%.
A report found that at least 55 councils are currently charging fees for credit cards, with 12 adding an extra 2% or more to the total cost of services.
Two councils were found to be charging additional fees for using both credit and debit cards.
Seven councils have started applying credit card charges for transactions in the last year and several others are planning to introduce them in coming months.
According to the report, Bath and North East Somerset Council adds a 3% surcharge onto council tax payments and planning applications as well as a number of other services if payment is made using a credit card.
Many other companies now also add additional “processing fees” when paying by card, such as airlines, travel companies and cinemas, and the trend appears to be spreading.
Local authorities say they are just passing the charge levied by banks for processing payments made with a credit card.
This may sound fair, but a number of them add an additional administration fee on top of this.
In Bath, the council said it has to pay around 2% for processing a card transaction and it adds on an extra 1% to a firm which handles payments.
Other councils have reported that it costs them little more than 1%.
Some argue that although there are costs incurred by the companies for processing credit card payments, it should be seen as a business expense, like the cost of keeping the lights on in their offices.
Visa has said it would like to see the fees removed completely.
It argues that councils actually pay more to process cheques and cash than credit cards.
Charges added for paying with cards are banned in a number of EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Portugal.
http://www.which4u.co.uk/credit-card...edit-card-fees
Councils in some areas are adding on extra charges to customers that pay for council services amounting of up to 3%.
A report found that at least 55 councils are currently charging fees for credit cards, with 12 adding an extra 2% or more to the total cost of services.
Two councils were found to be charging additional fees for using both credit and debit cards.
Seven councils have started applying credit card charges for transactions in the last year and several others are planning to introduce them in coming months.
According to the report, Bath and North East Somerset Council adds a 3% surcharge onto council tax payments and planning applications as well as a number of other services if payment is made using a credit card.
Many other companies now also add additional “processing fees” when paying by card, such as airlines, travel companies and cinemas, and the trend appears to be spreading.
Local authorities say they are just passing the charge levied by banks for processing payments made with a credit card.
This may sound fair, but a number of them add an additional administration fee on top of this.
In Bath, the council said it has to pay around 2% for processing a card transaction and it adds on an extra 1% to a firm which handles payments.
Other councils have reported that it costs them little more than 1%.
Some argue that although there are costs incurred by the companies for processing credit card payments, it should be seen as a business expense, like the cost of keeping the lights on in their offices.
Visa has said it would like to see the fees removed completely.
It argues that councils actually pay more to process cheques and cash than credit cards.
Charges added for paying with cards are banned in a number of EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Portugal.
http://www.which4u.co.uk/credit-card...edit-card-fees
