05/10/2026
Five days. That is the whole story.
The RBA’s card surcharge ban took effect on 1 October. Agencies are already getting the calls.
Tenants asking to pay the rent by card.
Not because they prefer it. Because they do not have the money sitting in the account for a bank transfer. Card was the bridge to payday. Pay the rent now, clear it when the wage lands.
That option is being switched off.
I’m not blaming the agencies. I’m not blaming the landlords.
Property management margins are thin. Landlords are already carrying rates, land tax, compliance and strata. Eating a merchant fee on every rent payment was never going to happen. Turning cards off is a rational call.
The rule did not remove the cost of accepting a card. It only stopped anyone showing it. So some stopped accepting the card.
That is the part the policy did not price in. A tenant one pay cycle short. A transfer they cannot fund. A card button that no longer exists.
And it does not stop at rent. The ATO is stepping back from cards. Small businesses still live on them. Landlords cannot put strata on a card either. People are being pushed onto bank details they do not want to share, at the exact moment the cash is not there.
A blanket rule across every industry was always going to miss the person who needed the option most.
Five days is early. The pattern is not.
If this is already landing in your portfolio, say so.
