AFTERPAY FEES ON CARDS

SHOPPERS could be charged to use Afterpay and other buy now, pay later schemes following a Reserve Bank review.

A probe by the RBA into the booming sector has recommended retailers be allowed to pass on the cost of providing such payment options.

Afterpay and other leading buy now, pay later providers generally take a cut of a sale, usually 3-7 per cent. But they ban the retailer from passing on this cost directly to the customer using the service. A review by the RBA’s Payments System Board, released on Friday, said retailers had given “strong feedback” that buy now, pay later services had “become an essential payment offering” and the “high cost of these services was pushing up their payment costs”.

“The board has … concluded that it would be in the public interest for buy now, pay later providers to remove their nosurcharge rules,” it said.