Fuel stations won’t accept payment by Card as from next week

Motorists are warned: Fuel stations will no longer accept debit or credit cards as from April 1, Defi Media has reported.

Bhim Sunnassee, President of the Petrol Retailers Association, has said it costs owners of fuel stations money each time someone paid their fuel with debit/credit cards.

The high card fees they must pay are squeezing profits at the pump, they claim.

The complaints target the so-called interchange fee — a percentage of the sale price paid to banks on every transaction. Operators get 3% profit, out of which a third is paid to banks.

“This is way too much,” he claimed.

Media reports have it that some fuel stations have already stopped taking the card.

“Any client willing to pay by card for refuelling will be billed the bank charges of 1%,” others have warned.

“As long as the government does not come up with a solution, we will have to ban bank cards,” Sunnassee said.