How to Prepare for the Impact of the RBA Surcharge

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has confirmed that businesses will be banned from surcharging customers paying with debit, prepaid or credit cards from 1 October 2026.

This change will cover EFTPOS, Mastercard and Visa card networks.

Part of the RBA’s reasoning for this decision is that it is difficult to enforce surcharge rules and ensure that merchants are adequately disclosing and calculating their surcharges in their terms and conditions.

The RBA will also reduce and cap interchange fees charged by card networks. However, card issuers will have discretion in passing these savings onto businesses.

What you need to do:

If your business currently applies surcharges for EFTPOS, Mastercard and Visa card payments, you will be affected by this incoming change. 

Now is the time to review your payment systems and pricing strategy and update your terms and conditions accordingly.

You or your business may need to do the following to comply with the changes:

– Update your terms and conditions;

– Review and renegotiate your merchant agreement and/or change your card payment service provider;

– Increase your base prices to cover card issuer fees;

– Absorb the fees into the business;

– Remove surcharge functionality from existing point-of-sale systems.

It is vital that your business is compliant with the RBA’s new ruling starting from 1 October 2026.  This includes updating your terms and conditions to adequately disclose any changes to your business’s pricing structure and surcharge policy.

How we can help:

We can assist with reviewing and updating your terms and conditions to ensure that any changes are properly disclosed to your customers.

We can also assist with reviewing your terms and conditions generally to ensure that when you need to rely on them to pursue a debt or enforce your rights, you can do so with a sound legal basis.

If your business needs tailored advice regarding its terms and conditions or the surcharge ban, please contact Jasmine Tran via email at jasmine.tran@lewisholdway.com.au.