Rogers plans to charge extra for bill payments with a credit card

Rogers says it will begin charging most customers across Canada a 1.6 per cent processing fee next year for bill payments made using a credit card.

Those changes will take effect starting Jan. 17, 2027, and do not apply in Quebec, according to the company’s website.

Separately, the company said Friday that it was looking for “alternatives” to cover a loss tied to a CRTC ban from earlier this year.

Telecom companies, in March, were banned from charging customers fees to cancel or change internet and cellphone plans.

Rogers says charging a fee to process bill payments using a credit card is “increasingly common,” and it “reflects the fees we are charged by credit card companies.”

“When customers choose to pay their bill by credit card, we are charged a payment processing fee. These costs have gone up nearly 40 per cent since 2020, and we now pay about $150 million a year in fees,” said a Rogers spokesperson in a statement to Global News.

“It’s increasingly common across many sectors for a charge to apply when consumers choose to pay by credit card – and this change helps us recover our costs.”

The spokesperson also confirmed to Global News that if a bill payment is made using the Rogers Bank Mastercard, the same processing fee will still be charged.

To avoid being charged an additional fee, Rogers says customers can make bill payments using other methods, including a debit card or direct debit from bank accounts.

On Friday, Rogers reported earnings to shareholders from its most recent quarter, which included overall revenue of $5.44 billion, up from $5.35 billion in the same quarter last year.

But revenue from its mobile division declined slightly.

The average monthly revenue per mobile user was $55.22, down from $56.70 a year ago, and the company’s chief financial officer Glenn Brandt pointed the finger at the CRTC, saying the regulator’s ban on fees to cancel or change plans had the “largest impact.”

“The purpose of those setup fees was exactly that — to offset costs of account changes or new accounts coming on,” Brandt told analysts on a conference call Friday.

“The charge disappeared (due to) the CRTC decision. The costs don’t.”

Brandt said Rogers put in place some “early initiatives” during the quarter to recover some of those costs, but “there’s still more work to do.”

He added: “We’re now moving back to finding alternatives for covering those costs.”

Telecommunications companies in Canada, for the most part, are allowed to charge these sorts of fees depending on the type of service that is being billed.

Rogers’ rival Telus, in 2022, faced pushback from the CRTC for requesting to charge similar fees to its customers, specifically for home phone services.

“We received a request from a company that wanted to charge a fee to customers paying by credit card for services we regulate. We refused that request,” the CRTC says on its website from 2024.

“For services we don’t regulate (such as mobile and Internet services and phone services in urban centres), companies don’t need our approval to charge a fee.”

It adds: “We’re very concerned about companies who charge their customers credit card processing fees on services we do not regulate. If companies start or continue this practice, we’ll explore means to take action since it affects vulnerable customers.”

Global News reached out to the CRTC Friday regarding the new credit card fees Rogers plans on charging its customers.

“The provider [Rogers] does not require CRTC approval when the fee applies to services whose retail rates are not regulated, such as most mobile wireless and Internet services. A provider would, however, require CRTC approval before introducing such a fee for a regulated telecommunications service,” a CRTC spokesperson said in a statement.

“Affordability is an important consideration for the CRTC. The CRTC has taken action to increase choice and competition and help lower the cost of telecommunications services for Canadians. We will continue to advance this work so that Canadians benefit from more affordable, reliable, and high-quality services.”

– with a file from The Canadian Press