The Reserve Bank has announced plans to crack down in excessive surge costs on credit and some debit cards in a bid to ensure merchants don’t seek to bolster their profits through chargeing excessive amounts on card transactions.

 

“The decision to vary the Standards reflects the Board's concerns about the increase in cases where surcharges appear to be well in excess of acceptance costs or where surcharges are ‘blended’ across card schemes even though merchants' acceptance costs may be higher for some cards than others,” the Bank said in a statement.

 

The varied Standards will come into force on1 January 2013.