UK to ban credit card charges next year

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › UK to ban credit card charges next year

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#1825598 20-Jul-2017 06:45

dickytim:
To those that want people penalised for using credit cards get off your high horse, they are, they pay interest and have constant debt over their heads, I have lived with this for a long time and I don't intend to go back, but that is my choice.

I choose to use my cc for almost every purchase I can make. I live well within my means, and pay the card off at the end of every billing period. I ensure that I have enough actual funds to cover every purchase and have never once been charged interest on a purchase I have made on the card.

Doing things this way allows me to have my actual funds (not credit) sitting in an interest bearing account, making me money - albeit just a little - while I spend someone else's for nothing. Yes, there is a small yearly fee on the card, but I make more interest with my money than it costs me in card fees. I actually get annoyed when places don't accept credit as I have to faff about finding another card etc etc.

I am not in constant debt over my head - I could pay the card off this morning should I choose. CC's are a tool, and in order to use it properly, people need training. The problems come when people lack the knowledge or discipline to use them correctly.

dickytim

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#1825604 20-Jul-2017 07:10

Ge0rge:
dickytim:

To those that want people penalised for using credit cards get off your high horse, they are, they pay interest and have constant debt over their heads, I have lived with this for a long time and I don't intend to go back, but that is my choice.

I choose to use my cc for almost every purchase I can make. I live well within my means, and pay the card off at the end of every billing period. I ensure that I have enough actual funds to cover every purchase and have never once been charged interest on a purchase I have made on the card.

Doing things this way allows me to have my actual funds (not credit) sitting in an interest bearing account, making me money - albeit just a little - while I spend someone else's for nothing. Yes, there is a small yearly fee on the card, but I make more interest with my money than it costs me in card fees. I actually get annoyed when places don't accept credit as I have to faff about finding another card etc etc.

I am not in constant debt over my head - I could pay the card off this morning should I choose. CC's are a tool, and in order to use it properly, people need training. The problems come when people lack the knowledge or discipline to use them correctly.

This was more a response to the comments that those that want to use credit cards should be punished with fees, I was refuting this, where as I have not specified that my comments were towards those that use the credit card for instant gratification (as I did) it is what was intended.

I applaud you as I have not got the discipline you do, therefore not having a credit card is the best option for me. I do wonder if you are better off using the credit card as revolving credit in order to hold money in the bank if you calculate $50 a year + 3.5% extra you may be paying for purchases?

Rikkitic

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#1825650 20-Jul-2017 09:00

Geektastic:

That must be fun when the bill is several thousand dollars...!

Not as much fun as entrusting those thousands to a fully hackable wireless device!

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Fred99

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#1825662 20-Jul-2017 09:15

Was in a restaurant the other day that had a preamble to the menu stating that they were adding a 10% "service" surcharge to prices on all menu items, as tipping had declined due to the increased number of paywave transactions.

That might have been a valid argument from their POV, but left a bad taste in my mouth.

floydbloke

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#1825670 20-Jul-2017 09:27

Fred99:

Was in a restaurant the other day that had a preamble to the menu stating that they were adding a 10% "service" surcharge to prices on all menu items, as tipping had declined due to the increased number of paywave transactions.

That might have been a valid argument from their POV, but left a bad taste in my mouth.

Was this in NZ? Is that even legal here?

I would probably walk straight out the moment I saw that.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

dickytim

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#1825671 20-Jul-2017 09:28

Fred99:
Was in a restaurant the other day that had a preamble to the menu stating that they were adding a 10% "service" surcharge to prices on all menu items, as tipping had declined due to the increased number of paywave transactions.

That might have been a valid argument from their POV, but left a bad taste in my mouth.

Wow! I would have walked out. Tipping is not a reasonable part of our culture, if the restaurants want tips they need to reduce their prices by 10% first.

What was the place so i can make sure I don't go there.

Dingbatt

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#1825724 20-Jul-2017 09:54

Was the surcharge only written on the menu? Or was it prominently displayed on a sign all customers could read. If not then the waiting staff would need to point it out to the customer.
I refuse to go to places that have a public holiday surcharge, let alone what is described above.
Maybe they should just put on the menu "We don't pay our staff enough, so have added a levy to your bill."

Back on topic though. As long as the additional credit card fees are up front I don't have a problem. I have a choice whether to pay them or not. However, I do think it is a rort on the bank's end of things rather than the merchant.

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sbiddle

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#1825732 20-Jul-2017 10:07

The legal action in NZ taken by the Commerce Commission against the credit card companies that effectively legalised credit card transactions was a classic case of the Commerce Commission getting completely and utterly own3d by the credit card companies despite thinking they'd won.

Interchange of existing cards was limited and surcharges made legal. The response was the creation of premium Platinum cards with 2.3ish per cent interchange rates (double what Gold was) and the banks giving them to everybody. The result was effective blended interchange rates that are higher now than they were before the changes.

afe66

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#1825765 20-Jul-2017 11:04

We had current account mortgage component so we lived on credit cards with salary reducing the size of principle and paying card off completely at the end of month. Even with added cc charges the interest rate on mortgage was much higher so this helped accelerate mortgage repayments as principle was lower between payment periods.

Want lots airpoint dollars, Koru vouchers and as we could transfer debit free from floating to fixed we made lumpsum payments without any penalties.

MikeAqua

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#1825793 20-Jul-2017 11:52

MikeB4:

I hate cash, it is a pain to get out ones pocket especially in a wheelchair and it dirty germ ridden stuff. I don't mind eftpos but most retailers have terminal so slow you would think we were in 33.3k modem days.

I suspect the eftpos console is just as dirty as money ...

Mike

allstarnz

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#1826189 20-Jul-2017 21:13

One important thing that must be noted about how things are done in the UK. There is no such thing as 'EFTPOS', in terms of paying for a transaction directly from your cheque/savings account to the vendor. Here the credit card merchants have the consumers over a barrel, you must either pay cash or use debit/credit card to pay. This means every time you pay by card, Visa/Mastercard/Amex etc clip the ticket on the way through. And (with the incentive from CC companies), some places are now encouraged to go cashless. There was a sushi place down the road from my old work that only takes card, no cash

Now that's out the way, I'm very happy about this, but I'm sure they'll figure out some way to cover the costs. In saying that, i do feel sorry for the smaller corner shops, who previously found it uneconomical for people to pay on card due to the high fees charged.

Geektastic

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#1826223 20-Jul-2017 21:31

allstarnz:

One important thing that must be noted about how things are done in the UK. There is no such thing as 'EFTPOS', in terms of paying for a transaction directly from your cheque/savings account to the vendor. Here the credit card merchants have the consumers over a barrel, you must either pay cash or use debit/credit card to pay. This means every time you pay by card, Visa/Mastercard/Amex etc clip the ticket on the way through. And (with the incentive from CC companies), some places are now encouraged to go cashless. There was a sushi place down the road from my old work that only takes card, no cash

Now that's out the way, I'm very happy about this, but I'm sure they'll figure out some way to cover the costs. In saying that, i do feel sorry for the smaller corner shops, who previously found it uneconomical for people to pay on card due to the high fees charged.

Switch cards and Cirrus cards were certainly issued the last time I banked there and they both paid straight out of your current account. A debit card is also something that pays directly from your cheque/savings account, even if it says Visa on it. Lloyds were issuing those 15 years ago at least.

Technofreak

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#1826227 20-Jul-2017 21:34

Cash is still king so far as I'm concerned, and for many people it will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Having said that I still use EFTPOS for the majority of my purchases though recently I have been using cash more often.

So far as paywave goes my credit card has it enabled but I virtually never use my credit card for purchases at brick and mortar establishments.

I hate paywave as I've had terminals detect the credit card when I've been holding my wallet in one hand and swiping the credit card with the other. As a result I've ended up with a purchase on my credit cars I didn't want.

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richms

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#1826230 20-Jul-2017 21:40

I try to use cash to keep it an option, often at small retailers to just help them along with things.

Richard rich.ms

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#1826240 20-Jul-2017 21:51

dickytim:

To those that want people penalised for using credit cards get off your high horse, they are, they pay interest and have constant debt over their heads, I have lived with this for a long time and I don't intend to go back, but that is my choice.

I spend between $500 to $1000 per month on petrol for my job. I get reimbursed for this. But several weeks later, so I use my credit card and pay it off in full every month. Once I've got my reimbursement!!
I get annoyed by the practice, I would've thought it was financially savvy to factor this into your pricing. How many sales are lost when people get to the checkout (online mostly) and realise there is a credit card surcharge to be charged?

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