Visa throws down gauntlet on fees:Swan FEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan has praised card provider Visa's decision to restrict retailers from imposing excessive fees on customers using credit cards for goods and services. New rules come into force on Monday aimed at better protecting consumers from excessive surcharges that could deliver a $350 million a year worth savings to card users. The changes follow a review by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and give credit card companies the power to force retailers to limit what they charge consumers to use credit and charge cards. Visa says the majority of surcharges should be close to the merchant service fee charged to the retailer by the bank. "I think Visa has really thrown down the gauntlet to the other major credit card providers and I'd encourage them to follow suit by banning excessive surcharges for their customers too," Mr Swan said in a statement on Monday. Mr Swan said these new rules follow government's credit card reforms which crack down on unfair over-limit fees - a saving of $250 million each year, according to Treasury estimates - and protect customers from being flooded with offers to increase their credit limit. "We've also put in place tough new laws to save Australian cardholders money by forcing credit card lenders to allocate repayments to higher cost debts first," he said. It means payments on a credit card balance should paydown the debt on the higher rate first, rather than that of any part of the card debt that attracts a special lower interest rate, such as for a 'balance transfer'.