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New Danish card charges ‘will be passed on to consumers’

Customers in Denmark can expect prices to rise in shops when a new charge for using the country’s Dankort card payment system takes effect on April 1st.

Published: 25 March 2024 16:17 CET

New Danish card charges 'will be passed on to consumers'

A new charge will be applied to stores which accept Dankort from April 1st, but the additional cost is likely to end with customers. Photo: Signe Goldmann/Ritzau Scanpix

Nets, which owns the Dankort network on which most bank payment cards in Denmark operate, is set to introduce an additional 8.9 percent charge for businesses which accept Dankort from the beginning of next month.

The charge will “ultimately” be passed on to customers, according to Jannick Nytoft, the director of the national interest organisation for store owners, De Samvirkende Købmænd (DSK).

“Ultimately there is only one place where the price [increase] can be recovered, and that’s with the customers because the costs [for businesses] will go up,” Nytoft said to newswire Ritzau.

Nets has raised the price for accepting Dankort in physical transactions following a decline in the total number of Dankort transactions.

READ ALSO: Dankort: What is Denmark’s payment card and how is it different from other card types?

Figures from the Danish central bank, Nationalbanken, show that the number of Dankort transactions fell by 27 percent last year, a trend related to the increasing popularity in Denmark of digital wallets such as Apple Pay.

If the costs of running the Dankort system don’t fall along with revenue from transactions, the cost per transaction must increase, Nets has said.

Nytoft said it was a “real shame” that Nets has found it necessary to raise the price for Dankort.

“Most Dankort cards are not compatible with Google Pay and Apple Pay. Only [bank] Danske Bank has them in there. We need a lot more Dankort on Google Pay and Apple Pay,” he said.

Nets is pushing for all banks to allow their Dankort payment cards to be used on Google Pay and Apple Pay.

At least two banks — Arbejdernes Landsbank and Nordea – have said they plan to do this no later than 2025.

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What happens if you don't pay a bill in Denmark?

What happens when you have a bill?

Usually, if you have a bill in Denmark (or receive a fine like a parking or speeding ticket), you will receive an invoice (faktura, also known as a regning or ‘bill’) either digitally or via post. This will include details such as the amount owed, who to pay and the date payment is due (betalingsdato or forfaldsdato).

If you don’t pay the invoice on time, the person you owe money to will initially send you a rykker or reminder. This can be sent from days to weeks after the original payment date has passed, and will often be accompanied by a rykkergebyr or late payment fee, for the a relatively small amount of 100 kroner. Up to three of these can be sent.

If you pay a bill after the due date but before a rykker reaches you, there are usually no further consequences.

If you still don’t pay after receiving these reminders, the creditor may turn the case over to inkasso, or a debt collection agency, who will again send you an invoice for payment, plus the agency’s fee – likely to be considerably higher than the late payment fee from the creditor.

It’s also worth keeping in mind other consequences of not paying bills – for example, a landlord may be able to cancel your rental contract if you do not pay rent within a given time. This will be stated in the contract.

What happens next?

If this invoice goes unpaid, the courts may eventually get involved.

If you don’t pay after the debt has been sent to an inkasso agency, you will be summoned to the fogedret, essentially a court for settling debts between individuals and businesses. The summons is usually delivered via e-Boks, the secure digital post system used in Denmark. Fogedret courts come under the district court system, so there will be one local to where you live.

At the court, you will be required to agree on a new payment system with the creditor. This could cost more than the original invoice because the creditor’s costs are accounted for.

The final step of this process allows the creditor to forcibly recover your debt through any assets you might have, like a house or car. These can eventually be confiscated and auctioned under the court’s authority if the debt is not paid off under the agreed schedule.

Denmark’s debt collection agency (Gældsstyrelsen) can meanwhile make deductions from your salary if you have unserviced debts to the state.

If you cannot agree a payment schedule and do not have any possession against which the debt may be recovered, you may be able to declare insolvency.

The RKI register

RKI is Denmark’s national register of people who have defaulted debts. Every big company subscribes to this register, which is important because it can make it harder to be approved for a mortgage or other loan, a rented apartment, credit card, or even a phone contract or fuel discount card.

You can check whether you are on Denmark’s RKI register by visiting the dininfo.dk website and logging in using your MitID digital ID.

Can I do anything to be removed from the RKI?

RKI registrations last for a standard five years per defaulted debt – so after this time, you may no longer appear on the register. Additionally, if you agree a payment schedule with a creditor, you may be able to include removal from the RKI register as part of this agreement.

Sources: dingaeld.dk, borger.dk

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