RBA Payment Changes (October 2026). What It Means for Your Business

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced major changes to how card payments are handled in Australia, with new rules expected to come into effect from 1 October 2026.

These changes will directly impact how businesses recover the cost of accepting card payments and how you structure your pricing going forward.

This article breaks down what’s changing, what it means in practice and how Pay Advantage is helping you stay ahead.

What’s Actually Changing

Card Surcharging Will Be Removed

From 1 October 2026, businesses will no longer be able to apply surcharges to:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• eftpos

This means any fees you currently pass on at checkout for card payments will need to be absorbed or built into your pricing.

Card Acceptance Costs Will Still Exist (But May Reduce)

Even though surcharging is being removed:

• You will still pay fees to accept card payments
• These costs do not disappear, they just cannot be passed on directly

The RBA is reducing interchange fees to help offset this, particularly for domestic cards.

However, the impact will vary depending on:

• Your pricing plan with Pay Advantage
• Your customer payment mix (credit vs debit vs international)
• How your payments are configured and optimised

You’ll Need to Change How You Recover Costs

For businesses that currently surcharge, the biggest shift is:

You move from passing on fees to managing cost of acceptance

In practice, this usually means:

• Embedding costs into product pricing
• Encouraging lower-cost payment methods
• Reviewing your payment mix

Many businesses will end up recovering these costs indirectly through pricing rather than at checkout.

This Only Applies to Card Payments

It is important to note:

• Direct Debit (bank payments) is not impacted
• Real-time bank payments (PayID / PayTo) are not impacted
• American Express is currently not included in these changes

This creates a clear distinction between card payments and bank payments.

What This Means for Your Business

If You Currently Surcharge

• You will need to remove surcharges by October 2026
• You will need to rethink how you recover processing costs
• Your margins may be impacted if no changes are made

If You Don’t Surcharge

• Your customer experience stays largely the same
• You may benefit from lower underlying card costs
• This is still an opportunity to optimise your payment setup

The Bigger Shift

This is not just a compliance change, it is a shift in how payments are managed.

It moves from focusing on who pays the fee to how efficiently you accept payments.

How We’re Supporting You

At Pay Advantage, we are not just preparing for these changes, we are building tools to help you actively manage and reduce your cost of acceptance.

Smart Payment Features (Coming Soon)

We are developing a suite of features designed to give you more control:

• Payment Method Steering
  Guide customers toward lower-cost payment methods by restricting higher-cost card types for certain transactions.
• Migration from Card to Bank Debits
  A simple one-click option to move customers from cards to bank debits, helping you retain control over recurring costs.
• PayID & PayTo Expansion
  Real-time, bank-to-bank payments that provide the speed of cards without the high scheme fees.
• Smart Invoicing
  Tools to embed processing costs into pricing or incentivise lower-cost payment methods through discounts.

Platform & Pricing Improvements

• Plan Reviews
  We are actively reviewing pricing to ensure interchange savings are passed through wherever possible.
• Least Cost Routing (Planned)
  Transactions can be automatically routed through the lowest-cost network available where possible.

What You Need to Do Now

There is no immediate action required.

However, we recommend you start thinking about:

• How you currently recover card costs
• Your reliance on card payments versus bank payments
• Opportunities to reduce your cost of acceptance

We will continue to update this article as more guidance is released. If you would like help reviewing your setup or preparing early, our team is here to help. Don't hesitate to contact support on 1300 641 310 or via email support@payadvantage.com.