New rules to boost card payment transparency in Europe

The new rules regarding the costs arising from the use of waxed credit, issued by the European Commission, took effect from yesterday. In this way the costs of payments by debit and credit cards will be more transparent to merchants and consumers, and will allow to make their own choices about the type of payment.

In addition, the European Union imposed a cap on so-called interchange fees that may not exceed 0,2% of the transaction value for debit cards and 0.3% for those credit.

The interchange fee is simply that when a consumer makes a purchase with your credit or debit card, the merchant's bank pays a fee to the one that issued the payment card. The fee is then deducted from what the bank pays the merchant in the transaction concluded.

"Many consumers are using payment cards every day when they buy in stores or shop online. For years, the fees charged by banks for card payments have been largely kept in the dark. The new European regulation, has made payments more transparent cards. This means a reduction in the benefit of millions of European consumers and retailers costs, " the Commissioner responsible for competition Margrethe Vestager said.