Rogers to Charge New Credit Card Processing Fee on Bills in 2027

Telecommunications company Rogers Communications signage is pictured in Ottawa on July 12, 2022. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Rogers Communications says it will begin charging customers a fee for paying their phone or internet bills by credit card starting next year.

The Toronto-based telecommunications company recently announced on its website that it will introduce a 1.6 percent processing fee on credit card payments effective Jan. 17, 2027.

Rogers said the fee reflects the charges credit card companies impose on the company when customers pay their bills using credit cards. It added that businesses in many sectors charge similar fees.

Rogers noted that customers can avoid the fee by using other payment methods, including direct debit from a bank account, online banking, cheques, Rogers gift cards, prepaid cards, and Visa Debit or Mastercard debit.

The fee will not apply to customers in Quebec, those on certain specialized plans, or former Shaw Mobile customers who moved to Rogers following its acquisition of Shaw Communications in 2023.

Quebec customers are exempt because the province’s Consumer Protection Act prohibits businesses from imposing credit card processing fees of this kind.

Rogers’ planned fee follows a similar move by Vancouver-based telecommunications company Telus, which introduced a credit card processing fee in October 2022 before removing it in June 2023, after the federal telecommunications regulator rejected the proposal.

Telus had applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Aug. 8, 2022, for permission to charge a 1.5 percent fee, plus applicable taxes, on credit card payments for regulated services in Alberta and British Columbia. The company said the fee would cover its processing costs.

In its response, the CRTC said it had received numerous submissions opposing the proposal and that the application would not receive interim approval after the usual 15-day period. The regulator extended its review in a letter dated Oct. 13, 2022.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the National Pensioners Federation and other advocacy groups had opposed the proposal, arguing that the fee would disproportionately affect lower-income customers and people living on fixed pensions.

The CRTC rejected Telus’s application on Dec. 8, 2022, finding that the proposed fee would not result in just and reasonable rates. The regulator said credit card processing was an established business expense and Telus had not demonstrated that its existing rates failed to cover those costs.

The decision applied to regulated services and did not prohibit Telus from charging the fee for all telecommunications services. Telus had begun applying the fee to unregulated services, including wireless and internet services outside Quebec, on Oct. 17, 2022, without requiring CRTC approval. Telus subsequently removed the fee in June 2023.