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UK: Government to ban 'rip-off' card surcharges following Which? campaign

06 Jan 2012

The UK government has confirmed it will implement a ban against excessive card surcharges following a surcharge 'super complaint' by CI member Which?.

Which? submitted a super complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in March 2011, asking the regulator to investigate excessive credit and debit card surcharges.

Over 50,000 consumers supported the campaign, either by signing the Which? pledge or emailing UK ministers to implement a ban on excessive card surcharges.

The OFT upheld the Which? super complaint. Meanwhile the European Parliament agreed to cap card surcharges across Europe via an amendment in the Consumer Rights Directive, which is due to come into effect across Europe in June 2014.

Which?, however, lobbyied the UK Treasury to implement the ban earlier and as a result the Treasury announced on December 23 that it would implement the ban on excessive surcharges by bringing the Directive into effect in the UK by the end of 2012.

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, welcomed the plans as a victory for consumers saying: 'This announcement goes further than the Office of Fair Trading's proposals, finally putting an end to these unfair and excessive charges.'

Read more on this on the Which? website.