Banks push for extra fees in real-time payments
PayTo, meant as a low-cost direct debit alternative, is facing the prospect of extra fees — raising costs and the prospect of consumer surcharges.
Some major banks are making a push for new fees to be charged on the real-time PayTo function of the NPP payments platform, just as the debate over surcharging grows.
The push is coming from some large participants in the scheme, who argue for an additional fee structure to account for development costs, risk and features such as chargeback capability.
The ability to “charge back” — claim a refund from a customer’s bank rather than the merchant — gained prominence after customers who used PayTo for tickets on the collapsed Bonza Airlines were left as unsecured creditors, unlike those who had paid with credit cards.
However, adding extra features to PayTo would shift it from a no-frills account-to-account system, which is set to replace direct debits, towards a more feature-rich — and hence more expensive — payment option.
