Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The practice of payment service providers charging consumers a surcharge for making payments with credit or debit cards is prohibited under Article 62 of the second Payments Service Directive (PSD2).

PSD2 states that a payee shall not request charges for the use of a payment instrument for which interchange fees are regulated under the Interchange Fee Regulation, which includes consumer credit and debit cards. As a result, surcharges charged by service providers on a customer because they are paying via consumer credit or debit card are prohibited in Ireland. It should be noted that the prohibition on surcharging does not cover transactions with commercial cards. Where surcharges are allowed, PSD2 provides that they must be appropriate and in line with the payment service provider’s actual costs.

Article 62 of PSD2 also prohibits surcharges on payments made by direct debit or credit transfer. As a result, surcharges charged by service providers on a customer because they are paying via direct debit or credit transfer are prohibited in Ireland.