Card surcharge ban lands on 1 October 2026, and the payments stack is shifting with it

Australia’s card payments system is about to get a lot less fiddly at the checkout.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has concluded that card surcharging should be removed for designated card networks from 1 October 2026. In primary material published as part of its retail payments review, the RBA says the change applies to eftpos, Mastercard and Visa credit, debit and prepaid card payments.

The move does not mean the RBA is directly banning merchants from doing something. The central bank says it has removed its prohibition on no-surcharge rules from that date. That allows the designated card networks to impose rules banning surcharges on their networks.

In the RBA’s own words, merchants typically deal with an acquirer or payment service provider, while card schemes set rules for those participants. The RBA says it does not directly regulate merchants.

The practical effect is still big. From 1 October 2026, merchants must remove card surcharges to comply with new card network rules, unless an exception applies. The RBA says many payment service providers are expected to remove surcharging functionality from payment terminals around that date.

The change is broader than the big three card networks. The RBA’s FAQ says American Express, UnionPay and PayPal have also decided to remove surcharging from 1 October 2026, although those firms are not currently subject to formal RBA regulation.

Not every extra fee disappears. The RBA says the changes only apply to surcharges added because a customer pays by card. They do not apply to weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, booking fees or service fees. Payment terminal rental and processing fees charged by payment service providers to businesses are also not treated as payment surcharges.

The RBA says it began its review in October 2024, received more than 260 written submissions, held around 150 meetings, and analysed a large volume of payments data. In its summary of conclusions, the bank says surcharging no longer works as intended, has become harder to avoid, is complex and confusing, and is often not well disclosed.

To soften the hit for merchants, the RBA is also cutting interchange fee caps and adding transparency measures. It says large acquirers, along with eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, will have to publish fees. Businesses will also get standardised information on statements, which the RBA says should help them compare providers.

Treasury ministers said in a 31 March 2026 release that Australians pay around $1.6 billion in card surcharges each year, and that businesses will save about $910 million a year from lower fees. That is a government claim based on the reform package, not an independent assessment.

A secondary ABC News report published on 28 September 2026 said the changes were already rippling through banking products. The ABC reported that some major banks were increasing credit card fees, reducing reward program perks and cutting travel insurance inclusions as interchange revenue falls.

For businesses, the message is blunt: talk to your payment provider, check your plan, and assume card surcharging is going away. For consumers, the pitch is simpler still. The sticker price should be the card price.