Key Highlights

• Surcharging on debit and Credit cards ended from 1 October 2026.

• Interchange caps on domestic card transactions were lowered from the same date.

• A cap on interchange for foreign-issued cards starts on 1 April 2027.

• The Payments System Board meets on 19 November 2026.

Six weeks after surcharging on debit and credit cards was due to end, the Reserve Bank's retail payments reforms are reshaping what shoppers see at the till and what merchants pay behind the scenes.

For years, paying by card at some businesses came with a small extra charge added at the end of the transaction. Under the Reserve Bank of Australia's review of retail payments regulation, that practice was set to stop. The RBA's final findings paper, published on 31 March 2026, stated: "Surcharging on debit and credit cards should end from 1 October 2026."

That date has now passed.

What changed on 1 October

The removal of surcharges was the most visible element of a broader package. According to the review's findings, "Most of the changes will come into effect on 1 October 2026, including the removal of surcharging and reductions in the interchange caps for domestic card transactions."

For shoppers, the practical effect is simple to describe. The price displayed for a purchase is intended to be the price paid, whether the customer taps a debit card or a credit card. The extra line on the receipt that once reflected a card fee is meant to disappear.

For merchants, the change is less visible but just as significant. Accepting cards has costs, and surcharging was one way some businesses passed those costs directly to the customers who used cards. With that option removed, card acceptance costs become part of the general cost of doing business.

The role of lower interchange caps

That is where the second half of the 1 October package comes in. Interchange is a fee set within card networks that flows between the financial institutions on each side of a card transaction. It forms part of what merchants ultimately pay to accept cards. The RBA sets caps on these fees for domestic transactions.

By pairing the end of surcharging with lower interchange caps for domestic card transactions, the reforms aim to reduce one of the underlying costs merchants face at the same time as they lose the ability to add a separate card fee. The final findings paper presents these as complementary changes taking effect together.

The RBA has also required more openness about pricing. Under the reforms, eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and large acquirers must publish the fees they charge. Acquirers are the businesses that provide merchants with card-payment services. Published fees are intended to make it easier for merchants to see what they are paying and to compare providers.

What has not yet changed

Not every element of the package began on 1 October. The review's findings state that a cap on interchange for foreign-issued cards and some transparency changes will come into effect "later, on 1 April 2027".

That staggered timing means the reform programme is still being rolled out. Transactions made with cards issued overseas, for example by visitors to Australia, will be covered by an interchange cap only from April next year.

The Payments System Board, which oversees the RBA's payments policy, is scheduled to meet on 19 November 2026, according to the RBA calendar.

Why the RBA acted

The case for ending surcharging drew partly on what consumers said they wanted. A survey referenced in the review found that 76 per cent of consumers want surcharging to stop. That is a clear majority.

The reforms also sit within the RBA's wider responsibility for the payments system. The bank's work in this area extends beyond cards. On 6 November 2026, for example, the RBA designated Prosegur Australia Pty Ltd under the Cash Distribution Framework Act 2026, after consultation with the ACCC and Prosegur. The media release noted that "Prosegur Australia is a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Linfox Armaguard Pty Limited (Armaguard)", which was itself designated on 3 September 2026. The designation makes Prosegur a regulated entity "subject to the obligations and requirements designed to support a sustainable, resilient and efficient cash distribution system in Australia".

Together, the card reforms and the cash distribution framework show the RBA attending to both electronic and physical payments as the way Australians pay continues to evolve.

For merchants, the end of surcharging means the cost of accepting cards sits within overall pricing. Lower domestic interchange caps are designed to ease part of that cost, and published fees are intended to help businesses compare what they pay. How individual businesses respond is a commercial matter for them.

The broader economic backdrop is one of elevated prices. The RBA website shows annual headline Inflation of 4.3 per cent for the September month on the monthly CPI indicator, while trimmed mean, or underlying, inflation was 3.7 per cent over the year to the September quarter. The removal of surcharges is a payments policy change rather than a Monetary Policy tool, and the RBA has not presented it as a measure to reduce inflation.

The bottom line

From 1 October 2026, the RBA's retail payments reforms set out to end surcharging on debit and credit cards and lowered interchange caps for domestic card transactions, with major networks and large acquirers also required to publish their fees. A cap on interchange for foreign-issued cards and further transparency measures follow on 1 April 2027. The changes respond to encouraging consumer demand, with 76 per cent of surveyed consumers wanting surcharges to stop. The Payments System Board's meeting on 19 November is the next scheduled point in the RBA's payments calendar.