Credit card reform - The deal for consumers The Reserve Bank announced big changes to Australia's credit card system in 2002 that are having a range of positive and negative effects for consumers. The reforms involve opening up the card industry to non-bank players, cutting the interchange fees levied on all card transactions by 40 per cent or more. A new cost-based interchange fee system will come into force by October 2003. Also, since January 2003, merchants are bad credit loans bad credit loans allowed to charge credit-card customers higher prices than cash customers. Overall, InfoChoice believes the changes herald a payments system where consumers will need to take more care in selecting how they shop and what methods of payment they use. The onus will be on consumers to choose more carefully from a wider range of credit cards and consider other payment options like cash and EFTPOS. Less-generous rewards programs with higher annual membership fees will mean cardholders should review bankruptcy bad credit loans their credit card choice to ensure they end up with the product that best suits their circumstances. InfoChoice's initial assessment of the specific impact of these changes on consumers is as follows: Prices may be higher for some goods and services when using a credit card because retailers will be able to discriminate on prices between different methods of payment. Use cash, EFTPOS and debit cards where possible, although reforms in this area are on the way too. Qantas suntrust mortgage bad credit loans now charges customers an extra 1 per cent for using credit cards. Caltex is also allowing its franchisees to apply credit card surcharges as they see fit. Credit card-based reward programs are becoming less generous. Caps on the number of points that can be earned are growing and the number of points offered per dollar of spend is reducing. Annual fees for reward programs are increasing. Credit card annual account fees are rising as banks seek to recoup revenue consumer debt counseling bad credit loans lost