Australia to ban card surcharging from October 2026

Starting 1 October 2026, businesses in Australia will be prohibited from applying surcharges to customer payments made via eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa networks. This change follows a decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to remove previous regulations that allowed such surcharges, concluding that they no longer function as intended to encourage cheaper payment methods due to the ubiquity of card use.

American Express has also voluntarily decided to remove its surcharging options effective the same date. The ban covers both debit and credit cards, as well as commercial cards used by businesses. However, other payment methods such as PayPal, BPAY, direct debit, and buy-now-pay-later services are not affected by these specific rules.

To mitigate the financial impact on businesses, the Reserve Bank of Australia intends to lower the cap on interchange fees paid to banks during card transactions. While RBA data indicates that only 16% of Australian businesses currently pass on surcharges, the shift will require businesses to adjust how they recover transaction costs.