Eftpos Surcharges End From October 2026: Boost for Household Budgets

The RBA confirmed eftpos surcharges will be banned from 1 October 2026, delivering a small but meaningful budget win for Australian mortgage holders.

A small but practical piece of consumer news emerged from the Reserve Bank's Payments System Board meeting of 4 June 2026: Australian Payments Plus confirmed that a zero-surcharge limit will apply to eftpos transactions from 1 October 2026. For households managing mortgage repayments in a period of sustained cost-of-living pressure, every reduction in everyday spending costs matters.

Surcharges on card payments have been an accepted — if quietly resented — feature of daily commerce for years. A small levy at the café, another at the petrol station. For eftpos users, that routine cost is set to disappear.

How the rule change came about

The change follows a formal review process the RBA has been running for some time. The Conclusions Paper on the Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging was published on 31 March 2026. The RBA then amended its Standards 1, 2 and 3 to implement those conclusions, with the amended standards registered on the Federal Register of Legislation on 14 April 2026.

Eftpos is the domestic card network behind millions of Australian debit card transactions. Under the new zero-surcharge limit, merchants will no longer be permitted to pass processing costs onto eftpos users through a point-of-sale surcharge.

The RBA is also in discussions with the designated card networks about introducing no-surcharge rules for their products, though the October 2026 date confirmed by Australian Payments Plus is specific to eftpos. The Board noted at its June meeting that it would not prevent non-designated payment systems from adopting no-surcharge rules of their own, indicating a broader direction of travel toward eliminating consumer-facing payment surcharges across the board.

Further change is expected. The Board confirmed it is commencing a public consultation by the end of June 2026 on a broader Review of Payments System Regulation, covering competition, efficiency, and financial safety across the Australian payments system. That process may ultimately reshape how surcharges apply across other card networks.

What it means for mortgage holders

The practical benefit for borrowers is straightforward: from 1 October 2026, using an eftpos debit card should cost you nothing extra at the point of sale. Whether you're buying groceries, paying for fuel, or tapping at a café, surcharges on those eftpos transactions will be gone.

That may sound like a minor convenience, but for households carrying a home loan, small improvements in everyday cash flow compound over time. If the removal of eftpos surcharges trims your monthly spending, that's money available to direct elsewhere — including additional mortgage repayments. Use our [repayment calculator](/calculators/repayment) to see what even modest extra contributions can do to your loan term and total interest cost.

One important nuance: the October change applies to eftpos, not to all debit cards. If your card routes payments through an international network rather than eftpos, the new rules may not apply to you immediately. It's worth contacting your bank to understand how your card processes transactions at the checkout — some cards can be configured to route through the domestic network.

The Payments System Board also used its June meeting to consider longer-term risks to Australia's payment infrastructure. Members discussed emerging threats from advances in classical and quantum computing and their implications for card payment security. The Board endorsed efforts to strengthen cryptographic practices across the payments system and reaffirmed industry's target of December 2030 to mitigate risks associated with quantum computing. That's useful context: the regulatory environment underpinning Australian banking and payments is continuing to evolve, and those changes can flow through to the products and costs that borrowers experience.

For borrowers reviewing their home loan in the current environment, the removal of eftpos surcharges is one more prompt to take stock of household cash flow and make sure your mortgage is still working as hard as it should be. [Compare the latest home loan rates](/home-loans/cheapest) to see whether your current deal is competitive, or [explore refinancing options](/home-loans/refinance) if there's a better rate available elsewhere.

Small wins in the payments system don't transform a household budget overnight. But for Australians navigating mortgage repayments alongside persistent cost-of-living pressures, every incremental improvement in everyday costs is worth understanding — and acting on.

*Source: [the RBA](https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2026/mr-26-14.html)*