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Canadian businesses can now charge credit card fees
October 13, 2022
12:26 pm
HermanH
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Loonie said
I find CT stores generally overpriced

Same here. I buy virtually nothing from that chain. CT money is better employed as toilet paper.

October 13, 2022
2:38 pm
pooreva
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Loonie said
I find CT stores generally overpriced but good for batteries (flashlight sizes)

Since I was 10 I never bought AA, AAA nor D batteries.
I use rechargeable...
The only battery I have to buy is for my spouse's watch. Thank you for asking 🙂 I wear automatic - mechanical watch or Citizen solar powered one.

October 13, 2022
2:58 pm
dougjp
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Dean said
.
Welcome to this year's Most 'Derailed' thread (Topic) ❗

LOL sf-laugh

    Dean

  

Yup, its completely off the rails now. I'd like to suggest at this time a department by department comparison of CTC, Home Depot, Lowe's and Home Hardware?

But wait. I guess seeing as how nobody much but Telus is charging a fee, gotta say something to get to six pages! sf-confused

"Keep your stick on the ice. Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." - Red Green

October 13, 2022
4:46 pm
dougjp
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Excellent e-mail just received from G&M " Carrick on Money: Charging people who pay with credit cards is the new sin tax". A short article that sets the realities right. Unlike the multiple CBC news articles I've read lately.

Sorry I can't copy the text, not allowed, however I'm sure the whole article is easily searchable.

"Keep your stick on the ice. Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." - Red Green

October 13, 2022
5:44 pm
Briguy
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CanSaver said

Briguy said
I might be forced to pay bills of companies like Telus in the future with Can Tire bill pay to avoid the upcharge.  

Thanks for mentioning this. I've just spent the last hour reading up on this. I have a CT card and would get offers to have my bills paid on it, but I always ignored them as I'd only get 1% in CT $ vs the 1.5% I get from my other CC in real cash I can use anywhere.

This is certainly something worth looking into for the big bills like House taxes and a few others. I can always find something to buy at Canadian Tire 🙂  

Utility bills, some life insurance companies like Mutual Life, municipal taxes, 407 ETR, are some of the ones I pay by CT.

October 16, 2022
4:22 pm
Alexandre
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It is a long conversation, so I am not sure if anyone mentioned this:

At this moment, surcharging is only permitted with Visa and MasterCard, because they were the two companies involved in the class-action lawsuit. American Express and other credit cards were not part of the suit or the settlement.

From here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/ask-cbc/ask-credit-card-v2-1.6616908

October 16, 2022
6:21 pm
Dean
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.
Thanks for the reminder , Alexandre.

Yet another reason these MasterCard & Visa surcharges won't go very far. Look to other countries where this has also failed (the US, the UK, most of Western Europe, etc., etc.) for supporting examples.

So far Telus is the only major in Canada that's Dared to step into this ... and I'm guessing they'll very soon regret it. It wouldn't be the first Stupid thing Telus has done, and then had to turn-tail and reverse their decision.

This whole Visa/MasterCard surcharge Drama, reads like a third-rate Soap Opera.

But hey, we're up to 107 Posts now ... LOL sf-laugh

    Dean

sf-cool " Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! " sf-cool

October 17, 2022
5:22 am
dougjp
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From this morning's Reuters Press Digest (highlights of news stories, taken from G&M):

" Canada’s telecom regulator is weighing whether to allow Telus Corp to add a surcharge for customers who pay their bills with credit cards, but said it needs more time to make its decision amid a barrage of consumer complaints. "

"Keep your stick on the ice. Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." - Red Green

October 17, 2022
9:51 am
Dean
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dougjp said

. . .

" Canada’s telecom regulator is weighing whether to allow Telus Corp to add a surcharge for customers who pay their bills with credit cards, but said it needs more time to make its decision amid a barrage of consumer complaints. " 
 

And it begins . . .

Once again, Telus has shot itself in the foot. sf-smile

    Dean

sf-cool " Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! " sf-cool

October 17, 2022
6:16 pm
BlueSky
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Dean said

dougjp said

. . .

" Canada’s telecom regulator is weighing whether to allow Telus Corp to add a surcharge for customers who pay their bills with credit cards, but said it needs more time to make its decision amid a barrage of consumer complaints. " 
 

And it begins . . .

Once again, Telus has shot itself in the foot. sf-smile

    Dean

  

Hey, they'll try anything. The feds don't bite, this is Canada we're talking about, eh?
So, they have mountains of legislation on paper, but the consumer stays unprotected. Canada is still the most costly country, for wireless communications. When the Conservatives tried to open up the market to US competition before 2015, all the telecom conglomerates banded together to stop it, and they pretty much succeeded in that. Who remembers the "bill of rights" for airline passengers? Passengers still need to fight to get their "rights" respected.
All of that to say that Telus will get their wish, like it or not.

October 17, 2022
7:49 pm
Scruge
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My August Telus bill had a notice about a fixed 1.5% CC fee being introduced beginning 17 October. No mention of different fees for different cards.
I read shortly after receiving this bill that Telus had lead the lobby to the government to allow them to charge the CC fee. I can't find that
Alberta registry agents have always charged a CC fee, currently 3%. They used to charge 1.5% for debit, not sure if they still do.

October 17, 2022
8:31 pm
Norman1
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BlueSky said


All of that to say that Telus will get their wish, like it or not.

I agree. It is futile because Telus can stop accepting payments by credit card.

Telus will then net 1.4% more from those payments that used to be by credit card. Now, those payments come in by pre-authorized debit or bank bill pay with no credit card processing fee.

If credit cardholders howl, Telus can do what BC Hydro and some municipalities do: Send them to a third party bill payer, like Paymentus, who will charge something like 49¢ to pay a bill using Interac Online or 1.99% to pay a bill using a credit card.

October 17, 2022
8:40 pm
HermanH
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My local electrical utility, EpCor, also passes along surcharges for CC payments.EpCor.jpg

October 17, 2022
10:42 pm
Norman1
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That outsmarts the credit card surcharge prohibitions as EpCor is not the merchant. Instead, the merchant is KUBRA.

Cardholder presents credit card to merchant KUBRA. KUBRA charges $101.75 for the service of sending $100 to EpCor!

October 18, 2022
4:49 am
savemoresaveoften
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HermanH said
My local electrical utility, EpCor, also passes along surcharges for CC payments.EpCor.jpg  

That case is a little different, as most utilities, enbridge etc do not accept direct CC payment on their web site. So they do need 3rd party to process them and that’s the fee paid.

It completely changes the philosophy of cc processing fee is part of reg cost of doing business, just like paying rent and salary. I find it hard to believe esp small business never ‘priced’ it in already. It just help them to make another 2%. And for large corporate asking for it going forward, just totally shameless.

October 18, 2022
10:00 am
Dean
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savemoresaveoften said

. . .

It completely changes the philosophy of cc processing fee is part of reg cost of doing business, just like paying rent and salary. I find it hard to believe esp small business never ‘priced’ it in already. It just help them to make another 2%. And for large corporate asking for it going forward, just totally shameless.  

    This ⬆

CODB = 'Cost Of Doing Business'

Any business (big or small) worth it's weight in salt, would be factoring in the fees they pay to the CC companies, to their overall COBD. And then charge their customers accordingly, for the products & services they sell.

By then turning around and adding a Surcharge for payments made to them by CC, is Blatant 'Double Charging'sf-confused

    Dean

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October 18, 2022
10:27 am
AltaRed
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All because government regulators don't have the gonads to regulate ceilings on interchange fees like they do in Europe, Australia et al. Interchange fees are much lower elsewhere than North America and if applied here, that would pretty much spell the demise of ever more generous premium and ultra-premium credit cards.

Instead, our incompetent government simply allows businesses to add up to 1.4% surcharge at the POS. This could backfire. Those of us who use vanilla cards may be so outraged that we will now apply for premium cards providing 2% cashback to come out ahead. That in turn will cause the weighted average interchange rate to POS to go up even more.

December 8, 2022
10:52 am
cgouimet
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Telus just got turned down by CRTC ...

CGO
December 8, 2022
1:45 pm
Dean
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cgouimet said

Telus just got turned down by CRTC ...  

But the Full details are rather disappointing. sf-confused

Read & Weep https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-telus-1.6678764
.

    Dean

sf-cool " Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! " sf-cool

December 8, 2022
2:06 pm
cgouimet
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Dean said

But the Full details are rather disappointing. sf-confused

Read & Weep https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-telus-1.6678764
.

    Dean

  

But the CRTC did turn down what they were asked to approve ...

CGO

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