Earlier this week, Telus asked the CRTC for approval to charge customers a 1.5% fee when making payments with a credit card.
A Telus spokesperson told iPhone in Canada in a statement at the time, “This fee helps us recover a portion of the processing costs we incur to accept credit card payments, and the average cost will be around $2 for most customers. Customers can avoid this fee by selecting another bill payment option such as: Pay Through Bank (one-time bank payment), Pre-Authorized Debit (recurring bank payment), Visa Debit, Visa Prepaid, and Mastercard Prepaid cards.”
Telus said the fee would begin starting in October, but the decision still lies with the CRTC to approve it.
In May, a class action lawsuit between the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and Visa and Mastercard was settled, allowing businesses to start claiming credit card processing fees. The argument was during the COVID-19 pandemic, cash payments decreased and credit card payments increased, resulting in more fees incurred by merchants.
Typically, credit card fees are seen as the cost of doing business and can affect the bottom line for smaller businesses such as “mom and pop” shops, which may prefer cash or debit payments as fees ranging from 1-3% are not incurred with the latter.
Telus reported $498 million in net income for the second quarter of 2022 alone, increasing 45% compared to the year-ago quarter.
It can be difficult to navigate the CRTC website to make a comment. If you want to comment on the Telus credit card fee proposal, you can click here to do so.
Your intervention goes on the public record and you can choose to make a comment on the Telus proposal, or state your opposition or support of the credit card payment fee. You’ll also be asked if you want to make a presentation at a CRTC hearing committee. The CRTC requires you to state your full name, address and email.
If you want to share your comments—good or bad—on the Telus tariff application with the CRTC, you can do so by clicking this link.
