Coles and Westfarmers make changes affecting Visa Paywave transactions

From 1 October 2019, Coles and Wesfarmers have started to roll out software changes to update transaction routing capabilities on their EFTPOS machines where contactless payments are accepted. This software change will affect our Visa payWave debit card transactions.

What is changing, and how does it affect you?

When you tap to pay with your Visa debit cards, the EFTPOS machine will automatically process the payments via the EFTPOS network instead of the Visa network, which means the transaction will now attract a EFTPOS transaction fee. If you currently shop at popular merchants like Coles, Coles Express, Liquorland, Target, Kmart, Officeworks or others where you tap to pay with your Visa debit card frequently, you may potentially exceed your current fee-free transactions.

To avoid getting charged with excess transaction fees you should slot your Visa debit card into the EFTPOS machine and select 'Credit'. By choosing 'Credit,' your payments will be processed via the Visa network and will not be counted as an EFTPOS transaction.

If you need to speak to someone further about the changes or if there is an issue with your transaction fees, please give us a call on 02 6362 2944 and one of our Member Service Officers will help you.