But other retailers do increasingly levy a surcharge for using credit cards. In addition to the 'day job' I am also a quilter and often deal with small, specialist suppliers and it is common for them to levy a surcharge for credit payments on small orders because they have to pay a minimum charge of approx £2.50 per transaction - on a £10 order that means that 25% of the value of the order is paid over to the credit card company and that will wipe out their profit at best, at worst not even cover the price they had to pay for the goods in the first place. Some even add a charge for cheques on small orders because of the charges banks make for processing cheques on business accounts. I get round this by placing bulk orders which don't attract the surcharges and normally comne with the bonus of being post free too. None of the small shops in my little town will accept credit card payments for exactly the same reason.

The big operators such as the supermarkets factor these costs into their basic prices and one could argue that perhaps holiday companies etc should do the same but I'm actually quite pleased that instead of doing this they instead give me what amounts to a discount for paying by cash via my debit card instead. I've recently paid the balance for a quite expensive holiday using my debit card - it's easy enough with on-line banking etc to arrange for the transfer of the money from the deposit account to the current account in good time to do this and hence avoid the sort of charges that mark is referring to. I accept that not everybody can afford to pay off a holiday in one go like this or is in a position to save in advance but in the end if you want credit it has to paid for in some way and that's what these surcharges are - part of the charge for credit.

Sometimes though I do pay using my credit card because it offers some additional protection if I have any doubts about the probity of the supplier etc. In which case I regard it as the same as paying an insurance premium - 9 times out of 10 just as with any insurance I don't have any need to claim but like any insurance policy it's worth it to me for the peace of mind.

In the end, as consumers we have the choice as to who we decide to spend our money with and in what form we make the payment. The travel industry is notorious for surcharges and extras etc - we might regard them as unfair etc but few of them, if any, are illegal and these days should be regarded standard practice across the bulk of the industry rather than an unpleasant surprise. If we don't like the price, we don't have to buy and can take our business elsewhere. A c o n or a s c a m is only such if you aren't made aware of the fact that you will incur these extra chagres etc and I've never entered into a contract to purchase a holiday without knowing in the end exactly what the total on the bottom line is. Whether I then accept that price is up to me and I actually like the fact that the cost of the meal I don't eat on the plane, the endless coach transfer I don't use from the airport etc is not included in the basic price of most holidays anymore and I have the choice now about exactly which services I want and pay for them accordingly.

SM

I'm a travel agent and the charges imposed on us from Barclaycard Merchant Services are as follows:
Mastercard or Visa Business 2.02%
Mastercard or Visa credit 1.62%
Debit cards 27.5p per item

These charges mount up and are taken from our account monthly - we have no choice when or how much to pay but you can negotiate these charges with whoever you book with.

SM wrote:

The big operators such as the supermarkets factor these costs into their basic prices and one could argue that perhaps holiday companies etc should do the same but I'm actually quite pleased that instead of doing this they instead give me what amounts to a discount for paying by cash via my debit card instead

Interesting point this.

However, if the holiday companies factored the surcharge into their basic price and then offer a 2.5% discount for any cash or cheque transactions, would you honestly think this would ever happen? My personal opinion would be no.

Mark

As an added note, when making a holiday purchase online, cash- and cheque transactions are out of the equation in any case. The only options you have is to pay by credit card or debit card.

Then I would choose the latter, as unless I am mistaken, (and I stand corrected) I would not be subject to surcharges. If I had a credit card, I would expect to be charged for using credit. And I would accept those charges no matter how much they were.