Good news for visitors

As of 6th April a government ban on excessive credit and debit card charges came into effect in the UK. From now on companies can only pass on legitimate charges that they themselves receive from banks.

 

Here are some examples of how much companies are charged to take credit cards:

 

  • transaction of £50: £1.16
  • transaction of £100: £2.10
  • transaction of £250: £4.94

source: OFT, 2011

Debit cards are cheaper to process, due to the limited protection compared to credit cards, and should only cost between 50p and £1 no matter how large the transaction. This is good news for visitors as these charges often appear on hotel bills, travel tickets, theatre, sport and entertainment tickets as well as cinemas tickets, meaning that the cost of things should be a lot clearer.