In order to push for a cashless economy, the Bank of Uganda (BoU) has officially made it illegal for merchants and banks to charge extra fees for debit (Visa and Mastercard) transactions. Several restaurants, cinemas, hospitals, hotels and gym have had the habit of charging extra fees for customers who would want to pay with their debit cards at Point of Sales (POS) terminals. This also applies to online VISA transactions.
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The extra charge has always been between UGX 2,000 – UGX 5,000 (between two thousand shillings and five thousand shillings) and the reason most merchants have been giving is that its a bank fee due to low volumes of people who use Point of Sales (POS) terminals to make payments.
Many people when have spoken to are happy to hear that BoU has prohibited all merchants from levying surcharges and imposing minimum transaction fees to customers using their debit or credit cards to pay for goods through a Point of Sale (PoS)/ Card terminals.
As we go cashless, card users are always advised to be vigilant to ensure that no extra fee is charged, also this saves you from withdraw fees that you would have incurred from ATMs and you will use the PoS directly as save some money. Card users have also been advised to please contact your bank in case any additional charge is levied on you when you use your Visa card to make payments for goods and services.
