Check your bank statements! You could have extra charges due to changes made at Coles, Kmart and other big retailers.

Shops in the Wesfarmers group, including Coles, Kmart, Officeworks and Target, have recently swapped from Visa to Eftpos for their Tap and Go payments.

This may be a cost-cutting measure for the stores, but it’s been a costly change for some shoppers, who have been stung with additional processing fees.

Hidden Fees

Visa machines are generally free from processing fees, while some banks put a cap on Eftpos transactions, and after that limit is reached, extra charges will then apply.

One shopper told Yahoo News Australia that she had been smacked with $18 worth of transaction fees after a month of her normal shopping at Coles.

She explained that she has unlimited credit transactions, which was how Coles processed payments when using the Via system.

But Coles no longer wanted to pay transaction fees to Visa, so they’ve switched to Eftpos, which then inadvertently slugged consumers with unbudgeted extra charges.

Only Impacts A Few

“This issue impacts a very small percentage of consumers who bank with financial institutions that continue to charge per transaction fees on a small number of accounts,” Eftpos Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications, Warwick Ponder told Yahoo News Australia

Mr Ponder said that “Eftpos strongly believes that customers should not be impacted, as the funds come out of the same account.”

He continued saying that most cards are dual network cards and it is the merchant’s choice to route transactions to either Eftpos or the other schemes to manage costs.

Mr Ponder urged shoppers who noticed these fees to contact their bank or use a different card. He said that most “financial institutions changed this practice a long time ago.”

How To Avoid Tap And Go Fees

There’s a very easy way to avoid these additional fees, even if your bank does still charge for them. All you need to is insert your card into the Eftpos machine and choose the “credit” option. That way, you will force the transaction to go through the Visa network instead of Eftpos.

Do you even check your bank statements at all? Tell us in the comments below.