When you use your credit card to buy an airline ticket, pay for a meal, or for most everyday purchases, you should not be charged any fee. And any merchant, airline or restaurant that charges you a fee for your credit card purchase is breaking the law. You should also be aware that because these merchants have charged you a fee, they are facing a fine of Dh100,000.
The clarification in consumer rights over credit card fees was issued by the federal Ministry of Economy, its Consumer Protection Department and economic development departments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The clarification came following numerous consumer complaints to the national Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection over extra fees — sometimes amounting to 5 per cent of the purchase price being added onto the final bill — simply for using the convenience of a card. Retailers had resorted to tactics of obfuscation in the past, telling consumers that they were passing on a “bank processing fee” — a move that the government departments concerned have branded illegal.
There can be no excuse for such charges and any retailer that knowingly and deliberately adds such fees to consumers is violating the law and needs to be held accountable to authorities.
Every level of the UAE government has embarked upon a path to make this nation progressive and modern — moving towards a cash-less society, where electronic forms of payment replace cash. That long-term goal is undermined when merchants purposely take advantage of consumers and pass on fees to deliberately increase their profit margins. Such fees are the cost of doing business — not an additional revenue stream for unscrupulous retailers.
