Telus scraps 1.5% credit card surcharge on customer bills

Telus has reversed its decision to charge additional fees to customers who use a credit card to pay their bills.

Last fall, the telecom company announced that it would charge some of those customers a fee of up to 1.5 percent.

That change came about as a result of a settlement between credit card companies and merchants that allowed merchants to pass the cost of interchange fees, also known as interchange fees, directly to customers.

Telus was one of the first companies to try this, notifying customers of its plans last summer.

“Customers can avoid these charges by selecting another 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,” the company said. at the time.

The company began rolling out the fee for some customers of certain services in some parts of the country and applied for permission from Canada’s telecom regulator, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), to roll it out more widely.

The CRTC rejected that request in December, noting it was “deeply concerned about this practice because it goes against affordability and consumer interest,” but noted that it had no power to stop the company from paying compensation in instalments. are matters that fall outside the CRTC regulations.

On Tuesday, Telus confirmed to CBC News that it has scrapped the fee altogether.

“After careful review, we have removed the processing fee for credit card payments,” the company told CBC News in a statement. “We want our customers to know we heard their concerns and we thank them for sharing their feedback.”

More to come