Small businesses are hitting customers with far higher debit and credit card surcharges than needed, and are rewarded with Qantas Frequent Flyer points for their trouble, under a model pioneered by a company that was once spun out of financial services giant Macquarie.

The conglomerate founded Live Payments in 2006 but sold it just two years later. Live Payments leases payment terminals to small businesses and taxi drivers that charge higher processing fees based on how many Qantas points they want to earn using its systems.