Linkt toll fees: Credit and debit card payment surcharge announced by Transurban
AUSTRALIA’s cash-hungry toll road operator will slug motorists with new fees for paying their bills, with the move slammed as “unfair” by consumer advocates.
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MOTORISTS in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane will be slugged extra for paying tolls by debit or credit card.
Toll road owner Transurban Group has rolled out a new set of charges which will sting customers who fail to set up payments that are directly linked to their bank accounts.
This includes customers who have automatically set up toll roads payments to be paid from their debit or credit card.
The charges have already been implemented in Sydney and Brisbane and Melbourne is the last city to introduce the changes from today.
Under the new rebranded Linkt accounts — which can be used on tolls road in Victoria, NSW and Queensland — the new charges will slug motorists up to 2.15 per cent.
For a customer paying $100 in tolls, this equates to an additional $2.15.
It comes at a time with the toll road giant recently doubled its annual net profit to $485 million which fattened due to higher toll prices and increased vehicle numbers.
Consumer advocates have labelled the change “unfair” and “inconvenient” and yet another way to grab more cash from customers.
The Consumer Action Law Centre’s chief executive officer Gerard Brody said “it’s unfair to be charged a surcharge to access your own money.”
“If CityLink/Linkt wanted to be doing right by their customer, they would have the default payment via direct debit which does not incur a surcharge,” he said.
“Too many businesses encourage people to set up payments using Visa/MasterCard debits systems.”
This is when businesses ask for the numbers on the card instead of a BSB and account number.
Surcharge law reforms started in 2016 which means businesses cannot charge more than the cost incurred by the business to process the transaction.
Under the changes customers will paying their tolls using a MasterCard credit and Visa credit card will be increased by 0.5 per cent, a Mastercard debit and Visa debit card by 0.25 per cent, American Express 2.15 per cent and Diners Club 1.9 per cent.
Consumer group Choice’s spokeswoman Erin Turner has urged motorists to jump online to the Linkt accounts and to “update your details to avoid a fee.”
A Transurban spokeswoman defended the charges and said they are a direct pass on of “costs from our financial institution.”
“We’ve proactively notified customers in advance of the change to encourage them to take up the fee-free options,” she said.
In the notification to customers it said the rates charged “can vary from time to time.”
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