Telus Backs Down on Credit Card Fees

In October of last year, Canadian businesses were permitted to begin passing interchange fees onto consumers.

Needless to say, this watershed decision was a potential big loss for consumers, who can make use of the conveniences and protections afforded by credit cards. This was also a big deal for merchants, who could benefit from larger basket sizes when credit cards are a payment method.

One of the first businesses to begin charging customers this fee was Telus, who’d already announced their intention to charge the fees back in September 2022.

Fortunately, it looks like the telecom giant has had a change of heart. Let’s take a look.

Telus Backs Down on Credit Card Fees

On June 1, 2023, Telus customers who were enrolled in auto-pay via credit card may have noticed that their bills were a few dollars cheaper. As this is Canada, and telecommunications companies are known for charity about as much as their reliability, the question rankled: why was the cost of staying in touch decreasing?

Well, it looks like Telus has abandoned its highly unpopular policy of charging customers a 1.5% fee on the gross total of their phone bill for those who elect to pay with a credit card.

What’s interesting in this situation is that Telus chose not to broadcast or market that it was dropping the charges. Instead, it simply removed the fees earlier this month, and as of the June billing cycle, no customers will see them reappear.

Perhaps it didn’t want to draw attention to the change, as the decision to institute these fees in the first place led to backlash and controversy, both online and in real life.

Here in Western Canada, for example, Telus has a much larger footprint than elsewhere in the country. I personally know several individuals whose contracts were up for renewal, and chose to switch carriers and save the surcharge.

Are Credit Card Fees Much Ado About Nothing?

While we may never know why Telus chose to abandon the charge, I speculate it may have been that it was simply testing its viability, only to realize that the loss in revenue and customers wasn’t worth the marginal increase in credit card fees.

This is a phenomenon that I’ve always postulated as the “Catch-22” situation created by being fortunate to have a market as flush with credit cards as…