Which app is screwing you?

Imagine if the maps app on your phone was ‘dodgy’.
 
Without you knowing it, Google directed you to routes with toll roads … because they got a kickback from the toll road company.
 
Outrageous, right?!
 
Well, according to Small Business Ombudsman Bruce Billson, that’s what’s happening … with another app on your phone.
 
Can you guess which app is screwing you?
 
(Drum roll.)
 
That’s right, it’s your bank app. (It’s always the bloody banks.)
 
Here’s the sting:
 
Since we all became germophobes, tap-and-go payments have exploded. In fact we Aussies are now the biggest users of contactless payments in the world, according to banking research firm RFI Global.
 
Yet what most people don’t know is that, when they tap, their bank generally defaults that payment through Visa or MasterCard, who pays them a fee – instead of defaulting that payment through the much cheaper bank-owned EFTPOS.
 
Talk about a rort!
 
Getting slugged a surcharge of up to 2% on every transaction could be costing you upwards of two hundred clams a year (collectively a $1 billion-a-year rort, according to the Ombudsman).
 
So let me suggest two quick ways to make it much less likely you’ll be charged:
 
First, change your default payment on your phone.
 
On an iPhone, open ‘Settings’, go to ‘Wallet & Apple Pay’, then tap your debit card. Then look for ‘Payment Option’. It will generally have ‘MasterCard’ or ‘Visa’ preselected, but instead you should select ‘eftpos SAV’. (Not all cards allow you to do this, and if you’re on an android you’ll need to check with your bank, because it’s a bit tricker apparently.)
 
Second, pull out your physical card.
 
I know it’s annoying, but if you swipe and insert your card you can choose ‘cheque’ or ‘savings’ and it’ll go through the EFTPOS system, which at the bigger retailers means you’ll be less likely to be charged.
 
Here’s the problem though.
 
Let’s say you’re at my local fish’n’chip joint, which has a sign on the till that reads:
 
“Surcharge 1.5%.”
 
The 16-year-old goth with the nose ring and bad attitude doesn’t understand the intricacies of banking payment systems, nor the fact that you’ve chosen EFTPOS, which will result in her employer being charged less in fees. She’s going to hit you with the fee, because, well, just because.
 
So here’s what really needs to be done:
 
The Government needs to ban surcharges … the same way they have in the US and the UK.
 
That’s a rolled-gold vote winner a year out from an election, right?
 
(Hello, Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones and Shadow Minister Luke Howarth!)
 
Tread Your Own Path!