A new European Union rule has banned surcharges for the use of credit cards.
Consumers will no longer have to pay an addition of 2% to the cost of goods or services.
The revised EU Payment Services Directive will ban fees on all payment cards covered by the EU Interchange Fee Regulation, reported Independent.ie
This means a merchant will 'no longer be able to charge extra for accepting a consumer card covered by that regulation'.
This will reportedly ban surcharges on Visa and Mastercard credit card payments and a spokesperson from the Department of Finance said this would lead to the end of surcharging on the vast majority of consumer cards.
Dermott Jewell, of the Consumers' Association, said the move to ban surcharges was long overdue.
"When consumers pay by card the companies save on cash handling, security provision, human resources and insurance costs." He explained.
According to a spokesperson for the Department of Finance, this should come into effect on 13 January 2018.
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern
