Additional fees and discount based on method of payment

Discount based on method of payment

A company may generally grant a discount to the consumer on the basis of the method of payment. A discount may be given for paying in a single instalment or accepting electronic invoices.

Giving a discount is not appropriate in all cases, however. A company may not offer a discounted price for paying by credit compared to the price charged when the consumer pays by cash: this is an inappropriate way of influencing the consumer’s decision to use credit.

Additional fees based on method of payment

A company may not charge the consumer for:

• Using the most common payment cards, such as Visa and MasterCard. The reason for this is that companies may not charge a fee for using payment cards if the prices related to using the card are laid down in the EU Regulation on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions. The consumer may not be charged when both the payer’s and the payee’s payment service providers are located in the EU.
• When the customer pays by a SEPA credit transfer or direct debit. These SEPA payments mean account transfers and direct debit transactions in euro where both the payer’s and the payee’s payment service providers are located in the EU.

A company may charge an additional fee for using other payment methods or instruments besides these if it offers at least one widely used method of payment for which it does not charge an additional fee.

The charge for using other payment methods must be reasonable, however, and it may not be higher than theactual costs incurred by the payee.

The fact that an additional fee is charged must be indicated clearly, in advance, and in connection with the information about the acceptance of the payment method or instrument in question. An additional fee may be charged when, for example, instead of paying by cash, the consumer wishes that an invoice be sent to their home address.