Telus wants to add a fee for using a credit card this Fall

A recent class action lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard has been settled, but this has opened the door for potential extra fees when using your credit card.

Telus is now looking at adding a 1.5% fee for using your credit card. This applies if you are a residential user of Telus for anything like cable or internet, or if you are a business using Telus.

Chair of the Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce Scott Silva explained that businesses being charged for credit card services isn't new, but it's rare to see this fee passed onto the consumer.

"Interesting enough, all businesses are charged a credit card surcharge fee. It typically doesn't get passed on to the client though. However, you will see in some smaller businesses, mom and pop shops, where they will pass on this fee, but typically its absorbed by the retailer."

Silva added it's surprising to see a billion dollar company like Telus look to their customers to offset costs.

"You've got a large multi-billion dollar corporation now wanting to pass that fee onto the customer. So i don't totally agree with that, I think it'll cause a rift in their client base. It was pretty shocking to see a large corporation like that trying to squeeze out their bottom line even further when they're one of the biggest companies in Canada."

While many may disagree with this move, Silva believes this ultimately will be accepted, in the same way many other policies and financial moves like this have been in the past.

"Initially I think there will be some uproar. There will be some disgruntled people that may look for alternative sources, maybe even alternative providers. but ultimately I think the test of time will show, as it has with many other initiatives like this, that we will just come to accept it and almost blindly just pay for it, without any reservation or hesitation."

A move like this has Silva concerned about what else Telus and other companies may have planned for the future.

"They (corporations) could start somewhere and then slowly start to bump it up from one level to the next," he said.

The credit card fee may be annoying to most, but Telus is offering ways to avoid this fee. For example, you can pay with debit card, or straight from your bank account.

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