As of 19 October 2026, seven of the 20 published card rates tracked across 15 Australian payment providers had been cut since 3 September 2026, while 13 remained unchanged, according to a tracker built by payments sector veteran Dougal Anderson and published by Compayr. The analysis follows Reserve Bank reforms that took effect on 1 October 2026, lowering the interchange fees banks pay to accept cards and banning surcharges for eftpos, Mastercard and Visa payments.
Interchange fees are a wholesale payment fee that contributes to the total cost merchants pay each time a card payment is accepted. The RBA estimates the interchange fee change will save merchants $910 million each year, SmartCompany reported.
Westpac reduced its flat transaction rate from 1.2% to 0.79% including GST, the largest cut among the seven providers that lowered rates. NAB reduced its rate from 1.15% to 1.05%, while CommBank Smart's flat rate fell from 1.1% to 0.99%.
ANZ Worldline cut its rate from 1.1% to 0.95%, and Zeller POS reduced its rate from 1.4% to 1.2%. Shopify POS and Stripe also made smaller reductions.
According to the Compayr analysis, only one plan tracked passed on the full 0.5% reduction: CommBank's Interchange Plus and Interchange Plus Plus plans, which pass the interchange fee directly to merchants plus a mark-up rather than bundling all costs into a single flat rate, SmartCompany reported. For its fee change, NAB issued no public announcement and gave no effective date.
Labor MP Jerome Laxale, as an advocate of the surcharge ban, said additional transparency measures would help businesses compare card acceptance plans and find better deals. Labor MP Kristy McBain put forward the view that the RBA could take a stronger step by compelling banks to cover card acceptance costs themselves. Some within the government have indicated that transparency measures alone may not be sufficient to ensure small businesses benefit from the interchange fee reductions.
Anderson told SmartCompany that public rankings on the platform are based solely on cost, and encouraged merchants to research published rates themselves. The tracker does not account for POS terminal rental fees on top of listed rates, or the cost to a merchant of switching between plans. Where a merchant moves to another provider via a link on Compayr's site, the platform may receive a referral payment.
The RBA will require large banks to publish their interchange pass-through figures from 30 January 2027, which will give merchants more information about the fees they are paying. From 1 October 2026, any card acceptance fee a merchant pays can no longer be recovered from the customer through a surcharge and reduces the merchant's own margin instead. The impact on any individual merchant depends on that business's card payment mix and what its specific provider now charges.
Official statements: Compayr
Reporting: SmartCompany
Written by Pick & Scroll News from the reporting and documents linked above.
