Stop on credit card service fee?

UAE authorities are considering banning government offices and other services firms from charging any extra fee on credit card holders after the successful enforcement of such a decision on goods, newspapers said on Monday.

The Ministry of Economy said all retail shops, supermarkets and other outlets are complying with its recent decision to ban surcharges on credit card holders in their purchases following persistent public complaints.

Quoted by the Arabic language press the Ministry’s undersecretary Mohammed Al Shehi said the supreme consumer protection committee at the ministry had received a handful of complaints about some shops which were still imposing such fees but that all outlets have now adhered by the new rule.

“We are seriously enforcing this decision, which covers only deals involving goods…the committee will deal with credit card fees on services imposed bygovernment departments and other establishments at a later stage,” he said.

Shehi said ministry inspectors are regularly visiting shopping centres to ensure they comply with the ban on credit card surcharges, adding that consumers can “This fee on the credit card is not going into my coffers….it goes to the Visa company network and possibly to the bank…so if authorities want to tackle this problem, they also should talk to the banks.” 

Bowing to recurrent public complaints, the ministry of economy decided to ban credit card surcharges at all shopping outlets from July 1 and officials said most of them abided by the decision a few days after it was enforced.
 

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