The Irish Bankers' Federation (IBF) has joined with the Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI) to call for a Government review of retail surcharges on credit or debit cards.

Both groups want the surcharges to be abolished or, "at the very least" more carefully controlled.

They see the surcharges, typically charged by concert or theatre promoters, as imposing an unfair cost on consumers who choose to pay by card.

Promoters of concerts and other theatrical events are allowed by law to levy charges in addition to the ticket price, as long as the extra charge is notified to the buyer in advance.

In practice, this has given rise to "handling fees" and "surcharges", particularly when tickets are bought by card.

The IBF and the CAI note that other retailers and service providers have started to copy the charges, even though they are not specifically permitted to do so.

In a statement issued yesterday, the two associations also said that banks are "not happy" with a recent change in the rules for using MasterCard, which specifically allows for surcharging.

Traditionally, retailers and service providers were prohibited from imposing additional charges on credit card users that were not imposed on other forms of payment such as cash.

This rule continues to be applied by Visa but Mastercard has removed it.

"Banks here are now all the more concerned that surcharges on card payments may become even more widespread," said IBF president, Diarmuid Bradley, last night.

"We now believe the only effective solution lies in national legislation to specifically disallow surcharging," he added.

Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the CAI, accused the sector applying surcharges of becoming "skewed and unrealistic" in its pursuit of profit.

"While the regressive nature of such surcharges will come as a shock to some, it is the calculated intention to bleed the customer dry that more readily reflects today's mindset," he said.

The CAI and the IBF are hoping to enlist the financial regulator in support of their campaign.