Which? To Lodge Super-Complaint With OFT On Card Payment Surcharges

On 11 February 2011, the consumer organisation Which? announced its intention to lodge a super-complaint with the Office of Fair Trading (the OFT) relating to surcharge payments imposed by some companies when consumers pay by debit or credit card. The complaint, to be lodged in March 2011, will allege that these surcharges are often added to transactions at the last moment and are far in excess of what it costs the company to process the transaction. 

Which? estimates that the cost to retailers of accepting card payments is a maximum of 20p for debit cards and 2% of the transaction value for credit cards, however consumers can end up paying substantially more than this.

Which? identifies low cost airlines as being some of the "worst offenders," with multiple surcharges being added to transactions on a per leg or per passenger basis not reflecting the single transaction that is being processed.  Which? notes however that other bodies, such as local authorities,