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UK to ban hidden credit card fees

Friday, December 23, 2011

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The British government want to ban payment fees and other hidden charges.
Image: Lotus Head.

The British government have vowed to ban payment fees and other hidden and excessive credit card charges. They hope to do so by the end of 2012, following a consultation in the new year.

Hidden fees are often not shown until the end of an ordering process on the web which prevents consumers from making an informed choice and comparing the actual prices of different products and services according to the Office of Fair Trading. Plans are also underway to bring in Europe-wide regulation of credit card fees in 2014.

Mark Hoban, a Treasury Minister, said consumers "have a right to understand the charges they may incur up front and not be hit through a hidden last-minute payment surcharge." He said the plans announced today will increase "transparency" for consumers, and that consumers currently "feel ripped off".

The Office of Fair Trading have listed some examples of particularly high charges: with EasyJet charging £8, Ryanair £6, and thetrainline.com £3.50 extra to pay for tickets with credit cards. The consumer group Which? claimed that these surcharges were increasing the cost of air travel by £265,000 a day (or about £97 million per year). The OFT stated that the figure was £300m a year. A Wikinews reporter contacted Which? about this disparity but they had not responded at the time of publication.


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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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