Australia - Banks up card fees again

Matthew Horan writes about fee changes being made in the Australian market by bank card issuers.

An investigation has revealed the major banks have raised fees on virtually every card in the year since the Reserve Bank announced alterations to the interchange fees. The changes to the interchange structure mean retailers and other merchants can recover the cost of accepting credit cards ˆ often around one per cent of the value of the transaction. The savings are supposed to be passed on to consumers ˆ but the banks have responded by slugging card users with higher fees, according to a survey conducted for The Sunday Telegraph by leading financial industry monitor infochoice.com.au.