Are Fees Allowed For Using Debit Cards ?

E

eirman

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Every time I top my toll tag account at Easytrip.ie I am charged 50c + VAT for using the card.
I confirmed by phonecall (to easytrip) that the charge is definitely for using a card.

I thought these type of charges for using a card were banned by the EU a few years ago?
Am I correct?
 
Sky used to surcharge about a €1 for card payments but they had to stop a few years ago.
 
Wow. They seem to be charging a fee regardless of how the credit is made.

From their T&C's:

“Account Service Fee” means an amount (plus the VAT) charged to the Member when credit is added to your account. Regardless of the form of the credit the fee is a fixed amount. The Account Service Fee covers costs associated with credit, security technology, website, administration, customer services and payment provider costs.”
 
I just rang www.CCPC.ie and it appears that they are in breach of an EU Directive.

I'm already paying a monthly admin fee so the card charge is extra.
 
I have a "pay as you use" tag from tolltag.ie and they charge 1 euro top up fee if I top up by less than 41 euro. It never occurred to me that it might be in breach of an EU directive.
I don't pay an admin fee each month, they take 10% of the toll fee each time I use the tag.
 
Airlines too were notorious for charging "administration fees" for card payments but the directive forced them to stop.
 
eirman said:
I just rang www.CCPC.ie and it appears that they are in breach of an EU Directive.

I'm already paying a monthly admin fee so the card charge is extra.
Click to expand...
I think they're in the clear legally. It's not a card charge, it's a top-up processing fee, regardless of how you top-up. The tolls are set by TII, so they can't hide their costs there (although presumably they get a cut of the toll too).
 
tomdublin said:
Airlines too were notorious for charging "administration fees" for card payments but the directive forced them to stop.
Click to expand...
I know of a millionaire relation who boasted about getting a Visa Electron specifically to avoid Ryanair charging Administration fees. This was years ago. Ryanair have ceased such fees.
 
Extra fees for using a credit card were abolished.
Some providers just replaced a specific credit card fee with a generic fee for every card.(I'm looking at you JustEat)
 
UPDATE: PART OF THE REPLY FROM CCPC

Our Reference: *******
Dear Mr. *******

Thank you for your further contact to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in relation to your issue with Easytrip.ie.

As outlined during our telephone conversation, Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 (PSD2) was transposed into Irish law by S.I. No. 6 of 2018, the European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018 (PSR), which became effective in Ireland on 13 January 2018, and is amended by S.I. No. 255 of 2019. The new PSD2 is designed to regulate some of the recent changes in online trading and create level playing field for all Payment Service Providers (PSP).

PSD2 applies to payments from consumers ("B2C") and some aspects of the PSD2 surcharge ban also apply to certain business-to-business ("B2B") payments. The B2C surcharge ban applies where: 
  • the consumer's bank or card issuer and the payment provider of the merchant are both located in the EEA; and
  • the consumer makes a payment using a debit or credit card, or an EUR payment using direct debit or credit transfer (i.e., a SEPA payment).
Therefore, we have taken note of your further comments and attachments and have referred the matter to our Consumer Protection Division (CPD) for consideration.  .........

I'll keep you all informed @AAM.
 
Very interesting as the likes of JustEat switched to a similar service charge for every order to get around that. Perhaps they are allow continue is as they apply it to everything, even account credit orders, so it isn't solely a card payment. Perhaps easytrip will just do similar?
 
I use ParkMagic (parkmagic.net and tolltag.ie). Every time they top up my account by €20 (automatically charged to my credit card) they take €1 which is described on the statement as a "Topup Processing Fee". I assumed that it was a generic charge irrespective of the payment method. It will be interesting to see how you get on.
 
ryaner said:
Very interesting as the likes of JustEat switched to a similar service charge for every order to get around that. Perhaps they are allow continue is as they apply it to everything, even account credit orders, so it isn't solely a card payment. Perhaps easytrip will just do similar?
Click to expand...

I don't see how charging everyone makes it legal. The cost should be included at the start.

Maybe someone should complain to the CCPC about the Just East (small but hidden) cost.
 
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