Nursery surcharge for anything other than DD payment

[Comps83]

Our nursery charge a fee for any payment made other than direct debit
So 2% if you pay by bank transfer or cash etc

Are they allowed to do this?

id assume so as they are a private business so can set any payment terms they want
plenty of companys offer a discount for DD payment so this is similar

It's illegal to add surcharges to credit or debit card transactions.

Bank transfer and cash can have surcharges added on, but that's very unusual.

@chipsandpeas

id assume so as they are a private business so can set any payment terms they want plenty of companys offer a discount for DD payment so this is similar

Without wanting to be snippy: this is legal and posters come here for legal advice. I can't stop you posting of course but why post when you clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about?

OP, as has already been sent they can't charge a surcharge for credit or debit cards. They can refuse to take them entirely though.

Perhaps the last two posters would care to explain how most energy suppliers and some other businesses are able to offer a discount for paying by direct debit. Indeed, the direct debit website run by BACS highlights the availability of discounts as an advantage of direct debit.

The nursery should offer a discount for paying by direct debit rather than charging a fee for payments made in other ways. If it does that, it is probably operating on the right side of the regulations.

@prh47bridge I'd explain it exactly as you describe.

Business are allowed to offer discounts for direct debit, that's totally fine.

A surcharge for cards isn't. It was banned to stop businesses (airlines in particular) advertising a headline price which was the massively inflated by a card fee.

The nursery would be entirely in the right if it operates as you set out, but not as set out by the OP.

Exact wording attached

Ok, so that is a surcharge for cheques, bank transfers and cash. No mention of credit cards. In that case they are fine. They are allowed to do that.