RFI - In the Know Canadian Merchant Surcharging - Doomsday for Credit Cards? Or a bump on the road?
Hear from RFI Global’s Alan Shields, as he previews his latest article on Canadian Merchant Surcharging.
The article looks at:
- Canadian merchants (outside of Quebec) can charge customers up to 2.4% surcharge on credit and debit card payments from October 2022, following class action lawsuits.
- RFI conducted a survey which found that 37% of credit cardholders would reduce their credit card usage significantly and 38% would reduce their usage somewhat if confronted with a surcharge of up to 2.4%.
- A comparison with the Australian market, where similar surcharging was introduced in 2003, suggests that there was no short or long term decline in the number of transactions beyond expected seasonality.
- The article suggests that there could be a shift from credit card to debit card spend, as debit cards are less likely to be surcharged and have other benefits. However, growing aversion to credit, dilution of credit card reward schemes, and greater functionality of Visa and Mastercard debit cards have contributed to the growth of debit card transactions in Australia.
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