Rogers will soon start charging a 1.6% fee to pay your bill by credit card

Rogers says on its support page that, starting January 17, 2027, it will add a 1.6% “credit card processing charge” to every bill paid by credit card, whether you pay once or through auto-pay. On a $100 bill, 1.6% works out to $1.60.

The new fee will not be applicable to Rogers customers in Quebec. The province’s Consumer Protection Act prohibits such fees.

What’s changing on January 17

On Oct. 21, 2026, the Rogers website stated the new fee will only apply to small business customers. However, over a phone call that same day, Rogers told MoneySense that consumer customers can expect to pay it as well.

As of Friday, the Rogers website reflected this.

The charge applies to every credit card payment, even those made using a Rogers credit card or via auto-pay.

Rogers customers are upset

Rogers customers are discussing the upcoming fee change online, sharing that they were caught off guard by it and aren’t pleased.

“I’d understand if they barely had any customers and needed to pass on the credit card fees to the customers… but they have so many customers, over charging plans, keeping overpayments, they have more than enough customers and money to absorb the credit card fees. They aren’t some small business,” u/iamsarahmadden said on Reddit. 

“I’m going to start using their ‘mail in a cheque’ payment option as a result to this change. I bet that costs them more than 1.6%,” said another disgruntled customer.

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Some Canadians are reminiscing on the internet about the days telecoms would offer $5 to $10 in cash back for enabling auto-pay. Others are lamenting a lack of competition in Canada.

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How much extra will you end up paying?

A $150 bill would carry a $2.40 fee. A 2% cash-back card would earn about $3.05 on the $152.40 charge, leaving you roughly 65 cents ahead. A 1% card would earn about $1.52, leaving you roughly 88 cents behind.

Though the fee will apply even if you pay with a Rogers credit card, given that there’s 5% cash back coming to Rogers Mastercards on November 18, you’ll still get a good enough deal.

How to avoid the Rogers credit card payment fee

According to Rogers, you won’t pay the charge if you use direct debit from your bank account, online banking payments, cheques, Rogers gift cards, prepaid cards, Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit.

Rogers says you can switch to direct debit in MyRogers, and it provides a “Set up automatic payments” guide. Before you switch, check what you’d lose.

In our analysis, a card earning 1% to 1.5% on telecom bills won’t cover a 1.6% fee, while a 2% card roughly breaks even. If you rely on the grace period between your purchase and your due date, factor that in too.

Why is Rogers doing this?

In a statement to MoneySense, a Rogers spokesperson said the company is charged a payment processing fee whenever customers pay by credit card.

“These costs have gone up nearly 40% since 2020, and we now pay about $150 million a year in fees,” the spokesperson said, adding that the change “helps us recover our costs.”

“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. Customers have other ways to pay their bill without the charge, including by debit card or direct debit from their bank account, and it’s easy to change payment methods,” the spokesperson further explained.

MoneySense asked Rogers the math behind 1.6%, but the telecom giant did not comment on it.

The 1.6% is below the ceiling Mastercard set for merchant surcharges.

Fees like this became possible in Canada after a class-action settlement led Visa and Mastercard to relax their rules against merchants adding surcharges to credit card payments. 

Mastercard says its surcharging standards took effect October 6, 2022. Under them, a surcharge on a Mastercard credit card can’t exceed 2.4% or the merchant’s actual cost of accepting the card, whichever is lower, and surcharges aren’t allowed on Debit Mastercard or prepaid cards.

Rogers isn’t the first telecom to try this.

In 2022, Telus asked the CRTC for permission to add a 1.5% fee, but the fee was dropped later. At the time, Rogers told MobileSyrup it had no plans to move forward with such a fee “at this time.”

Read more about credit cards:

• The best credit cards in Canada for 2026
• The best travel credit cards in Canada for 2026
• How to earn more rewards with your credit card
• Major cash back changes coming to Scotia Momentum credit cards

About Imaan Sheikh

Imaan Sheikh is the Managing Editor of MoneySense.

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