MEW subscription renewal cost

I Just got a email about renewing my digital subscription to MEW. The price was given as £48 for a single payment by direct debit. To pay by card or paypal is £52 for the year. How can this be? I thought charging more for card paments was outlawed a few years ago.

I thought it was hidden surcharges that often got applied at the last moment before checkout that were banned. By making it obvious from the start that they will charge you more to cover their costs that is not breaking any rules.

The situation is still not entirely clear … even from the horse’s mouth:

**LINK**

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/card-surcharge-ban-means-no-more-nasty-surprises-for-shoppers

MichaelG.

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More: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718812/payment-surcharges-guidance-update.pdf

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 25/09/2023 19:03:40

The Guidance seems to imply regulation 4 applies in this case (trader-consumer, digital content, direct debit or credit card. Section 13 says discounts to encourage a particular payment method are allowed but the discount must not exceed the actual dfference in costs of the two payment methods.

The direct debits are recurring, open-ended purchases (although you can cancel renewal).

The 12 and 23 issue credit card purchases are non-recurring, so different products.

The only recurring credit card purchase is monthly, which is not available by DD.

There's no overlap between any of the various options that I can see.

Neil