Canadian businesses will now have the option of applying a surcharge to credit card transactions, but only about one in five merchants are considering imposing the additional fee on customers, according to a Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) survey.
Starting Oct. 6, 2022, businesses will be able to charge an additional fee at the point of sale if a customer wishes to pay by credit card. The new rules come after a class action lawsuit settlement that required Visa and Mastercard to allow merchants to decide if they want to pass on the cost of accepting credit cards to their customers.
Before the lawsuit, banks would not allow businesses to charge credit card fees, saying it would deter people from using them. The option of a surcharge will not be available in Quebec due to consumer protection laws….