Local councils charge taxpayers extra for paying by credit card

surely you've got a very big problem if you're paying your council rent/council tax by Credit Card...

One thing is for certain if you are going to be ripped off it will be in Britain - we are rapidly becoming a nation who are ripped off at every oportunity nowhere more than by banks.

It wasn't that long ago that credit card surcharges were banned in the UK. Something must have happened in the last few years that has allowed it back in again - rip-off Britain rules again

Bath & North East Somerset Council wants as many people as possible to pay for services through methods which are cost effective to the local taxpayer, like Direct Debit, and not encourage payment methods which have a relatively high cost to the public purse, like credit cards. Our Direct Debit collection remains one of the highest in the country and over 70% or our residents choose to pay their Council Tax this way every year.

We are very open and transparent about the purpose behind the credit charges https://secure.bathnes.gov.uk/payments/Section/info/FAQ.asp?id=mop-Card1 and that we make no profit from these - it should be noted that many Council's do not offer a facility for customers to pay bills, like Council Tax, by credit card. We offer an extremely wide range of payment methods and customer feedback on our service is very good. We have received no official complaints about the level of administrative charge.

The exact costs are covered by Commercial agreements with providers so the ranges for the merchant are between 1.5% - 2.5% for credit card payments. We also use a payments service provider to host the payment securely and authorise and bundle the payments together for us which is an additional 1% charge on credit cards. So in total - between 2.5% and 3.5% total additional charge for both Merchant & PSP charges.

The fact of the matter is, that if the Council didn't charge credit card users in order to help cover these costs we would have to find the money from elsewhere through either cuts to services or increases in Council Tax and/ or other service charges. We want people to pay their bills through low cost facilities, like Direct Debit.

Please also note there is no credit card surcharge applied to parking fines.

Bath and NE Somerset Copuncil like all councils wish to keep the cost to the public as low as possible and so charge credit card fees. However, cost to the public could be kept much lower if Councillors paid their own pensions and did not subsidise it from the Council Tax public purse. Further, the amount of expenses that Counsillors get for site meetings and council meetings could be cut substantially if there was less bureaucracy and more prudent use of the public purse. I would go further even, and merge council wards so that the number of councillors would be reduced. Overall, a great saving to the public purse

Why is Bath & North East Somerset Council posting on this investment website?

Why should anyone open their account to a Council who will not reciprocate by allowing the individual to help themselves to anything that said Council may owe them?

What is sauce for the goose should also be sauce for the gander I say. After all it usually takes Councils a long time to pay out anything they owe to individuals, usually a result of overcharging in the first place.

Sam walker is incorrect in his assumption that paying council tax by CC indicates that the payer has a problem. Most certainly not if a cash back CC is used and there is no surcharge!