As Thursday’s practise limits are lifted, Canadians might notice an increase in the number of businesses charging credit card use surcharges.
Businesses won the ability to tack on a surcharge to credit card transactions, which they must prominently disclose, as part of a class action case against MasterCard, Visa, and Canadian banks.
According to a survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, nearly one in five companies are considering raising prices to cover the merchant costs associated with accepting credit cards. According to the CFIB, these costs can devour up to 2.5 percent of a company’s overall sales.
Credit card surcharges will be more typical among companies who sell to other firms since consumer-facing enterprises are less inclined to pass costs along out of concern that they will lose clients.
Consumers already pay more for the pleasure of using a credit card, according to research conducted by the Bank of Canada last year, as the majority of retailers include the cost of credit card processing in their retail prices.
According to the working paper, consumers likely pay between $17 and $52 a month in credit card processing fees, which are then passed along to them in the form of higher pricing.
As restrictions are lifted, Canadian firms can now impose credit card surcharges.
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