Key Highlights

• The RBA reported that 76% of consumers surveyed wanted surcharging to stop.

• Surcharging on debit and Credit cards was set to end from 1 October 2026.

• Public opinion measures preference, not what surcharges cost households.

• Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser linked the RBA Community Research Survey to trust in policy.

A survey finding that 76 per cent of consumers want card surcharging to stop sits at the centre of the Reserve Bank's case for ending the practice, and it says something about how public views now feed into payments policy.

Policy changes in the payments system are usually technical affairs, debated in terms of interchange caps, acquirer fees and network rules. The end of card surcharging is different. It touches almost everyone who shops, and the Reserve Bank of Australia's review of retail payments regulation pointed to a strikingly clear public view: 76 per cent of consumers want surcharging to stop.

That figure, roughly three in every four people, helps explain why the RBA's final findings paper of 31 March 2026 was so direct: "Surcharging on debit and credit cards should end from 1 October 2026."

What the 76 per cent tells us

A 76 per cent share means that those wanting surcharges gone outnumber everyone else by about three to one.

What the number does establish is the direction and strength of consumer sentiment at the time the review reached its findings.

It is also worth being clear about what the figure is not. It is a measure of preference, not a measure of how much surcharges cost households.

From survey to rule

Public opinion alone does not set policy. The surcharging decision came as part of a package of changes that the RBA framed together. 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."

The pairing matters. Removing surcharges takes away one way merchants recovered the cost of accepting cards. Lowering domestic interchange caps reduces part of that underlying cost. In other words, the package addressed what consumers objected to while also acting on the costs merchants face.

A third strand concerns transparency. eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and large acquirers must publish the fees they charge. That gives merchants, who now absorb card acceptance costs into their overall pricing, better information about what they are paying.

Some elements arrive later. The review's findings state that a cap on interchange for foreign-issued cards and some transparency changes come into effect "later, on 1 April 2027".

A wider pattern of listening

The Surcharge survey is one example of the RBA drawing on public views. Others have featured in its recent work.

Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser, in his Sir Leslie Melville Lecture at the Australian National University on 5 November 2026, described the RBA Community Research Survey. It began in February 2025, has run over four waves and surveyed 12,000 Australians, with the latest wave in September 2026. About 55 per cent of respondents reported "high" or "moderately high" trust in the RBA.

Hauser was explicit about why that matters: "So trust isn't just a source of legitimacy – it's integral to how Monetary Policy actually works." He also cautioned: "That trust must be earned." And: "Trust does not mean unconditional approval."

The redesign of the $5 banknote offers another case. The RBA's "Reimagine the $5" process received more than 2,100 public submissions before an Imagery Selection Panel, including members from the RBA, Note Printing Australia and First Nations representatives, settled on the theme "Connection to Country". The RBA has said: "We won't be putting a portrait on the $5 note this time." No Issue Date for the new note has been given.

These are different areas of the RBA's work, and each involves its own processes. But together they show an institution that gathers and publishes public input in several forms.

What it means at the checkout

For shoppers, the reform's intention is straightforward: the price shown should be the price paid, without a card surcharge added at the end. For merchants, lower domestic interchange caps and published fees are designed to support the shift.

The Payments System Board is scheduled to meet on 19 November 2026, according to the RBA website.

The reform also arrives at a time when the cost of living is under close scrutiny. The monthly CPI indicator showed headline Inflation of 4.3 per cent over the year to September 2026, and trimmed mean, or underlying, inflation was 3.7 per cent over the year to the September quarter. The surcharge ban is a payments policy measure, not part of the RBA's monetary policy settings, and the bank has not presented it as a tool for reducing inflation. Monetary policy is set separately by the Monetary Policy Board, which lifted the cash rate target to 4.85 per cent on 3 November.

Still, for consumers who were among the 76 per cent, the ban addresses a cost that was easy to see and often unwelcome at the point of sale.

The bottom line

The RBA's decision to end surcharging on debit and credit cards from 1 October 2026 was backed by a survey showing 76 per cent of consumers wanted the practice to stop. The ban formed part of a broader package, alongside lower domestic interchange caps and fee publication requirements, with further changes for foreign-issued cards due on 1 April 2027. The episode fits a wider pattern in which the RBA draws on public views, from trust surveys to banknote design. How the reforms are bedding in may become clearer as the Payments System Board continues its work, beginning with its 19 November meeting.