Another unfair charge by banks

It is very disturbing to see that banks are now charging a fee for the use of Linx cards at point-of-sale terminals of other banks. What this means is that if I have a Linx card for Bank A and use it for a transaction, if the seller uses a bank machine to process the transaction that is not from Bank A, then I am being charged a fee.

I find this very unfair because, first of all, I have no idea what bank machine the merchant uses so there is no way for me to determine if I should shop there or not. Secondly, I have no control over which machine the merchant should use to process my transaction. Why am I being charged for something I have no control over?

The banks are already charging the merchant a monthly rental fee for use of the equipment. They also take a healthy percentage off the top of the merchant’s gross sale transaction inclusive of VAT. Obviously the consumer is the one who has to pay in order to compensate for this and that is why prices are high. Banks are posting healthy profits in the hundreds of millions of dollars and still want to stick it to the unsuspecting consumer.

I should not be made to pay a fee for something I have no control over. I cannot tell the merchant what machine to process my transaction with. This fee is not right and I hope the relevant controlling body steps in and addresses this before it gets out of hand. It reminds me of when people were made to pay for incoming mobile calls —we had no control over who called us yet we were made to pay. Fortunately that was stopped. I hope I can soon say the same about this latest unfair bank charge.
 

Bernard Quesnel
Via e-mail