Australia’s card-payment rules change from 1 October 2026 as card surcharging is removed across major networks and new interchange-fee caps take effect. The RBA reforms affect consumers, merchants and payment providers, with businesses preparing for changes to checkout pricing and card-acceptance costs.

What changes on Thursday

A package of Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) card payment reforms takes effect on Thursday 1 October 2026. According to the RBA's Conclusions Paper published on 31 March 2026, the Payments System Board decided to remove surcharging on debit, prepaid and Credit cards and to lower the caps on the interchange fees that card issuers charge merchants.

A MYOB survey found that 29.8 per cent of small businesses were reviewing payment methods and 20.1 per cent were reconsidering their pricing.

The Surcharge ban applies to designated card networks. The RBA's media release names eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, while the central bank's FAQ page also lists American Express in describing the ban. The FAQ says weekend and public holiday surcharges, booking and service fees, and payment processing fees charged by providers are not covered.

The interchange numbers

The Conclusions Paper's chapter on interchange fees sets out the new ceilings for domestic cards. The cap on consumer credit cards falls from 0.8 per cent of the transaction value to 0.3 per cent, and the 0.5 per cent benchmark is removed. For debit and prepaid cards, the cap moves from 10 cents or 0.2 per cent to 8 cents or 0.16 per cent.

Commercial credit cards stay at 0.8 per cent. The RBA says the aim is to protect competition given the position of American Express. It also estimates that issuers' eligible costs are well below the old caps, at about 0.2 per cent for consumer credit and around 7 cents for debit.

A new cap of 1.0 per cent will apply to foreign-issued cards, along with additional fee-transparency requirements for card networks and large acquirers. Both of those measures start later, on 1 April 2027, according to the RBA's implementation chapter.

Who gains, and who may lose

The RBA's Executive Summary estimates that merchants will save about $910 million a year from the lower caps on domestic cards and the new cap on foreign-issued cards. It also estimates that consumers pay about $1.6 billion of the roughly $1.8 billion in card surcharges levied each year on the designated networks. Those figures are the central bank's own estimates, not outcomes.

The RBA has said actual merchant savings depend on how much acquirers and payment providers pass through. It has also acknowledged that issuers could respond by reducing consumer credit card benefits, such as rewards points, or by shortening interest-free periods or raising interest rates.

That risk is already visible, with some banks reviewing card programs and fees. Some businesses have also indicated that pricing structures may change as payment costs adjust. These are stated intentions and potential impacts rather than measured price changes.

What to watch

Much depends on behaviour after the switch. Businesses that currently add surcharges will have to fold the cost into headline prices, choose cheaper payment plans or steer customers towards other methods.

For consumers, the visible change will be that the displayed price is the price paid at the checkout. The less visible one is the fate of card rewards, which will depend on individual banks' decisions about products and fees.

The next confirmed milestone after 1 October is 1 April 2027, when the foreign-issued card cap and the transparency measures begin. Whether the reforms reduce overall costs for small businesses, and how much reaches customers, will only become clear from RBA payments data and bank announcements in the months ahead.