What's changing and why it matters
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has confirmed that from 1 October 2026, businesses across Australia will no longer be permitted to add a surcharge to card payments.
Key Date:
1 October 2026 — the RBA surcharge ban takes effect. Adding a separate surcharge to card payments becomes prohibited for all Australian businesses.
If you currently use Ignition to pass card processing fees onto your clients, you'll need to change your approach before this date as Ignition will be disabling surcharging on 1 October 2026 for Australian accounts.
Under the current rules, businesses can pass card processing costs to clients as a separate line-item surcharge. Once the ban takes effect, that option goes away.
Rather than losing that revenue, we recommend rolling your card processing fees into your service prices at renewal for the simplest customer experience and minimal impact to both you and your customer.
Before doing this, we strongly suggest sending your clients communication in advance so the change isn't a surprise when they receive their next service agreement. The steps below walk through this recommended renewal approach, with an alternative method included at the end.
Step 1: Notify clients ahead of their renewal
Before making any changes in Ignition, send clients a heads-up email explaining that card processing fees will no longer appear as a separate line item ‒ they'll be incorporated into service fees instead. This prevents confusion when they see the updated pricing in their next service agreement.
💡 Tip: Send this email in bulk well ahead of your renewal period ‒ ideally 4–6 weeks before proposals go out. We recommend using your email provider first before sending the proposals from Ignition.
Below is an email template that you can copy and use:
Subject: Upcoming Update to Card Payment Fee Presentation |
Dear {{ contact.addressee | default.name }},
We wanted to let you know about an upcoming change to how card payment processing fees will be presented.
Following updates from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), from [Effective Date], any applicable credit or debit card processing fee of [X%] will no longer appear as a separate line item on your invoice notifications. Instead, this amount will be incorporated into your service fees within your upcoming annual service agreement.
Please note, this change does not increase the total amount you are paying, outside of any standard adjustments to service pricing at a practice level. However, it may appear as though your service fees have increased slightly (typically around 2%), as the fee is now included rather than itemised separately.
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch.
Kind regards, {{ practice.name }} |
Step 2: Apply a ~2% price increase at renewal
For clients currently paying by card with surcharges enabled, you'll apply a ~2% price increase during the bulk renewals flow to build the card processing cost into their service fees going forward.
1 - Identify and tag clients with a Credit/Debit Card payment method
1. Navigate to your Clients tab in Ignition
2. Click the Active sub tab at the top of the Clients list (or apply the relevant filters you want)
3. Click Filters → Payment Methods → select Credit/Debit Card.
4. Then, to identify clients that are currently paying surcharges, apply 2nd Filter by clicking Filters again → Pass on Card Fees → Yes. This narrows the list to clients who are actively paying surcharges.
Please note: In some cases, some clients may have both credit card and direct debit payment methods.
If you have identified that some clients have both payment methods active, we recommend you address these clients manually by either navigating to the specific client file to remove the ‘inactive payment methods’ before tagging clients.
Alternatively, you can exclude these clients from the tagging process and deal with these manually
5. Once you have the filtered list, click Export → Clients in the top right corner to download a CSV of these clients.
6. Open the CSV and scroll to the Tag List column.
For every client that needs the ~2% uplift, add 'surcharge' (or another custom tag of your choice) in the Tag List column.
Important note: Do not modify any columns containing Client IDs or Contact IDs. Editing these will cause duplicate records when you re-import.
Once the Tag List column is updated:
Export the sheet as a CSV.
In Ignition, go back to the Clients tab → Import → Upload CSV → Select CSV for Import and upload the updated file.
2 - Filter for tagged clients and apply a bulk ~2% increase in renewals
When you're ready to run your renewals, go to the Proposals tab and click Filters → Client Tags, then search for and select your 'surcharge' tag.
Once the list is filtered.
Use the drop-down arrow next to the multi-select checkbox to select 'All Results' across all pages.
Click Renew in the top right corner to enter the bulk renewals flow.
When prompted to apply a price increase, enter ~2% to account for the credit/debit card surcharge, plus any additional price increases you planned for the new renewal period.
Complete the remaining steps of the bulk renewal process.
This will then effectively build the surcharges into the clients’ service prices for the new year, rather than a separate line of billing on their invoice notifications
3 - Disable the surcharge feature before your renewal start date
Prior to your renewal start date (e.g. 1 July 2026), go to Settings → Payments and disable the surcharge feature to avoid double-billing clients (i.e. accidentally billing once for the surcharge and again within their new service price)
Important note: You must disable your surcharging in your account before your renewal date (e.g. 1 July) to ensure you do not double charge your clients.
You can choose to continue capturing surcharges up until renewal, or you can disable surcharging earlier. The RBA ban takes effect from 1 October 2026, and Ignition will disable all surcharging for all Australian accounts under the ban from that date forward.
Alternative: Migrate clients to direct debit before renewal
If you'd rather not increase prices across the board, you can encourage card-paying clients to switch to direct debit (bank account) before the renewal period.
There are no card processing fees on direct debit so the surcharge doesn't apply. However, this method is slightly more complicated as you first have to collect the new payment method and then switch all client payments over to the new method separately.
Note: Run this process before your renewals go out, so clients have time to update their payment details. For any clients who don't switch, you can follow Option 1 to apply the ~2% uplift at renewal.
1 - Identify clients with a Credit/Debit Card payment method
Navigate to your Clients tab in Ignition
Click the Active sub tab at the top of the Clients list (or apply the relevant filters you want)
Click Filters → Payment Methods → select Credit/Debit Card.
Then, to identify clients that are currently paying surcharges, apply 2nd Filter by clicking Filters again → Pass on Card Fees → Yes. This narrows the list to clients who are actively paying surcharges.
Please note: In some cases, some clients may have both credit card and direct debit payment methods.
If you have identified that some clients have both payment methods active, we recommend you address these clients manually by either navigating to the specific client file to remove the ‘inactive payment methods’ before tagging clients.
Alternatively, you can exclude these clients from the tagging process and deal with these manually
2 - Send a bulk payment method request to migrate clients to direct debit
With your filtered list in place, use the drop-down arrow next to the multi-select checkbox to select 'All Results' across all pages.
Then, click Request Payment Method.
On the request screen: disable the Credit Card payment option so clients are only presented with direct debit as a payment option.
Expand the Email Template section to customise the message your clients receive alongside the payment update request. Here's a template you can use:
Subject: Action required: update your payment details before [DATE] |
Hi {{ client.name }},
We're getting in touch about an upcoming change to how we process payments.
From 1 October 2026, the Reserve Bank of Australia is introducing a ban on card payment surcharges. To avoid these costs being incorporated into your service fees at your next renewal, we'd like to give you the option to switch to direct debit (bank transfer) — this means no surcharge, no card processing fee, and no change to the amount you pay us.
Please click the ‘Update Payment Details’ button to securely provide your bank account before [DATE]. It only takes a minute.
If you prefer to continue paying by card, no action is needed — however, please note that your service fees will be adjusted slightly at your aext renewal to incorporate card processing costs.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Kind regards, {{ practice.name }} |
Once you're ready, click Send via email to dispatch the payment update request to all selected clients. Ignition will send up to 3 reminder emails (3 days apart) until each client responds. You'll receive a notification when a client updates their details.
Please note: Any invoices generated prior to clients changing their payment method will continue to collect from the payment method associated with that invoice. Learn how to manage payment methods on invoices in this article!
3 - Apply Option 1 to any clients who didn't switch
Not all clients will update to direct debit. For those who remain on card by your renewal date, go back to Option 1 ‒ tag those clients and apply the ~2% uplift during the bulk renewals flow.
You can identify which clients still have a card on file by re-running the same filter: Clients tab → Filters → Payment Methods → Credit/Debit Card.
Reminder: Once all renewals are processed, remember to disable the surcharge toggle under Settings → Payments before your renewal start date to avoid double-billing (i.e. accidentally billing once for the surcharge and again within their new service price).
All surcharges must be off by 1 October 2026 at the latest.
Recommended action plan timeline
Here is a suggested timeline to help you get ahead of the October 2026 deadline:
When recommended | Action |
Now | Send the advance client notification email explaining the change. Start exporting your client list. Filter by Credit/Debit Card + Pass on Card Fees: Yes to identify who is affected. |
One month before your nominated renewal date | Begin preparing your renewal proposals as per Step 2.
Send your renewal proposals, and continue following up on all the proposals that have not been accepted yet. |
Before renewal start date | Disable the surcharge toggle in Settings → Payments to avoid double-billing. |
1 October 2026 | RBA ban takes effect. All surcharges must be disabled by this date. |
Frequently asked questions
When does the RBA surcharge ban take effect?
1 October 2026. From that date, businesses cannot add a surcharge to Visa, Mastercard, or eftpos debit, prepaid, or credit card payments in Australia.
Will my clients end up paying more overall?
The total amount they pay doesn't change if you're simply converting the surcharge into a service fee ‒ it's the same cost presented differently. The email template above explains this clearly. Clients will only pay more if you apply an additional price increase on top of the ~2% surcharge uplift.
What if I have clients on multi-year agreements?
If a client isn't due for renewal before October 2026, issue a new proposal with updated pricing rather than waiting. Use Settings → Proposal Templates to update your pricing and send a fresh proposal.
What if I turn off surcharges too early?
You'd stop capturing those fees before clients are on their new pricing, which means you absorb the cost during that gap. Keep surcharges active until your renewal proposals go live on the new pricing.
Will Ignition be disabling the surcharging feature?
Yes, Ignition will be disabling the surcharging feature for Australian accounts on 1 October 2026 to comply with the RBA surcharge ban.