Today, Wednesday 9 December, the new European legislation on interchange fees for debit and credit cards. The rule imposes a single ceiling and will apply to the Visa, Mastercard and PagoBancomat circuits, while the American Express and Diners circuits will be excluded. The novelty arrives in Italy with the aim of encouraging the use of electronic money even for small payments. Thus the limits on the commissions for payments with credit cards and debit cards: in the first case the commission cannot exceed 0,3% while in the second case it must not exceed 0,2%.
It may seem like a positive sign for merchants who until recently paid much higher commissions for card and debit card payments. Previously, the lowest commission was that of payment by debit card on a traditional type POS which, according to Sos tariffs data was 1,29% while the highest was 2,32% for payment by credit card on traditional Post.
Of course, merchants may be a little more relaxed with these new commission thresholds, but it must be said that there are other concerns as well. For example, the expenses to be incurred on the monthly POS fee and, for those who have not yet had a POS, the activation costs.
Il monthly fee for a Pos it varies from 10 euros per month for those with a mobile line to an average of 24 euros for devices connected to the ADSL line.
Those who have not yet given up on the advance of electronic payments will perhaps have to remedy soon given that an amendment to the stability law signed by the Pd deputy Sergio Boccadutri provides for the obligation for merchants to accept payments by card and debit card even under 5 euros.
The amendment also establishes the maximum costs of interbank commissions on payments under 5 euros: a ceiling of 0,25% of the value of the transaction with credit card and 0,15% with debit card.
