Day One Without the Surcharge: Australia's Card Fee Ban — Who Pays Now?

October 1, 2026: day one of Australia's card surcharge ban. No more "card fee — 50 cents" on Visa, Mastercard or eftpos. But the surcharge didn't die — it moved. Off the receipt, into sticker prices and annual fees. In this 5-minute episode: what changed today, the RBA's arithmetic behind the ban (1.6b back to consumers, 910m back to merchants — all RBA estimates), and the clawback hitting mailboxes right now — Amex's new $99 rewards fee on grandfathered no-annual-fee cards, and CommBank closing its Awards program. In this episode: - 0:00 — The quiet checkout: why the silence was the law - 0:30 — The new rule: no surcharges on Visa, Mastercard or eftpos - 1:40 — Follow the money: merchants warned they'd bake it into prices - 3:00 — The clawback: Amex's $99 fee, CommBank Awards closing - 4:10 — Day one verdict: everyone pays a little now — even cash users Key numbers (RBA estimates): ~16% of merchants were surcharging · $1.8b/year in surcharges → $1.6b consumer saving · $910m merchant offset from interchange cuts · rewards ≈ 20% of cash users were dodging fees · cash rate 4.60% · CPI 4.0% Your homework: remember what your coffee cost plus the surcharge. Check again in six months. Did the number get smaller — or just quieter? 📄 Full bilingual article + sources: https://www.michaelleung.info/rba-card-surcharge-ban/ Sources: RBA Conclusions Paper (Mar 2026); legislative instrument F2026L00434 (Apr 2026); PaymentsJournal (28 Sep 2026); ABS CPI Aug 2026; Amex/CommBank customer notices (Aug 2026). If this saved you a coffee's worth of reading, consider supporting the show ☕