Cruise firms cashing in on credit card fees

CRUISE companies are raking in millions of pounds in ‘rip-off’ credit card fees.

New laws have been introduced to ban excessive charges for paying by plastic.

But consumer campaigners say they are being flouted, with the travel industry a major offender.

Customers who purchase a luxury cruise with some of the biggest operators face hundreds of pounds in charges if paying by credit card.

Cruise giant ROL charges a 2.5 per cent fee, while P&O owner Carnival charges 1.5 per cent, and Cunard charges 1.5 per cent.

Booking a Caribbean cruise for two with ROL with a credit card will incur a fee of more than £150, on top of the £6,118 price tag for the trip. A luxury 16-night cruise for two people from Beijing to Bangkok will cost almost £900 in credit card fees on a £35,598 trip.

Airlines are also hitting customers with swingeing charges to pay by credit card, with Ryanair levying a 2 per cent fee, and Flybe charging 3 per cent. But others such as Wizzair charge nothing, while Monarch Airlines recently scrapped its fee.

Consumer campaign group Fairer Finance says customers are being ‘ripped off’. A 0.3 per cent cap was introduced in December 2015 for so-called ‘interchange fees’ paid by firms to their bank when they process a credit card payment. Other costs of processing the transaction have not been capped.

But experts insist the total cost should amount to little more than 0.6 per cent. Separate laws stipulate that traders can only pass on costs they incur for processing the transaction to customers and cannot use card fees to make extra profit. But consumer campaigners have accused firms of ‘profiteering’ and claim government and other authorities meant to police these rules – Trading Standards and the Payment Systems Regulator – have been allowing this to happen.

James Daley, of Fairer Finance, said: ‘Customers, including people booking expensive cruises, are being ripped off. These firms are profiteering.’

Labour MP Chris Leslie, a former shadow chancellor, said: ‘If the law has been changed it has to be enforced.’ Councils are exempt from the crackdown on credit card charges, but have also been blasted for imposing hefty fees.

Ealing, West Dorset, North Norfolk and South Cambridgeshire are just some of the authorities which levy a 2.5 per cent charge on credit card payments for anything from council tax to parking permits. Lichfield, Tameside, Wealden and East Hertfordshire charge 2 per cent. The cruise companies, airlines and councils claim they are simply passing on their costs to customers. But ROL Cruise said it has decided to reduce its credit card charge to 1.5 per cent from March 1.

A spokesman said: ‘We do make all customers aware of the credit card fee at the time of booking.’

A spokesman for Cunard said: ‘We follow the guidance issued by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in relation to credit card fees to ensure the fees we charge are fair and legal.’

‘The law has to be enforced’