A trade group representing card networks and issuers is taking aim at restaurant surcharges and price increases by large grocers as part of its efforts to defeat the Credit Card Competition Act. The Electronic Payments Coalition’s first salvo in its new campaign against the CCCA was fired last week. In …
Read More »Despite BNPL’s Popularity, Overspending and Missed Payments Remain Top Issues, Bankrate Finds
Consumer demand for buy now, pay later loans may be high, but consumers are still at risk of overspending when using BNPL to finance a purchase or missing a payment. A survey released Thursday by Bankrate LLC reveals that overspending and missing a payment are two of the most common …
Read More »Embedded Payments Platform PayIt Aims at Hunters and Anglers Looking to Buy State Licenses
PayIt, a government-services platform and embedded-payments provider, has expanded its relationship with the Ohio Division of Wildlife to provide a digital-licensing system for hunters and fishermen. The deal is expected to offer a better process for online purchases and provide the agency’s staff with insights and tools to improve user …
Read More »How Discover Looks to Reap Call-Center Efficiencies With Generative AI
The generative AI revolution received a significant boost from Discover Financial Services with the card network’s announcement early Tuesday it is deploying the artificial-intelligence technology within the Google Cloud platform in Discover’s call center. With the deployment, Discover’s nearly 10,000 customer-service agents will have access to intelligent document summarization through …
Read More »Consumers Don’t See Any Benefit from the Credit Card Bill, a Bankers’ Group Contends
Merchants and credit and debit card issuers have controlled the bulk of the narrative, pro and con, about the proposed Credit Card Competition Act since the legislation was reintroduced last year. But now a recent poll from Independent Community Bankers of America says that most consumers feel they would not …
Read More »Mobile Wallets and Contactless Payments Growing in Popularity, NFC Forum Says
Consumers are not only favoring contactless payments more, they are relying more on their mobile wallets to initiate payments, according to the NFC Forum’s bi-annual Near Field Communication Usage and Adoption study. The study, conducted by ABI Research, reveals that 95% of respondents have left their physical wallets at home …
Read More »Klarna Launches a Web Page to Rebut the Idea That BNPL Burdens Consumers With Debt
Looking to dispel criticism that buy now, pay later loans are predatory-lending products, BNPL provider Klarna AB has launched Wikipink, a Web page that details information about its BNPL business, such as repayment rates, late fee rates, and consumer demographics. “By publishing our facts and figures with full transparency, including …
Read More »Mastercard Plans a Network Fee Hike for Later This Month. Merchants Aren’t Happy
Mastercard merchants will see a network fee increase later this month when Mastercard increases its Acquirer Brand Volume Fee from 0.13% to 0.14%, effective April 15. The increase comes on the heels of last week’s settlement between Visa and Mastercard, on one hand, and merchants, on the other, in their …
Read More »Nuvei Strikes a Deal With Advent International to Go Private
Nuvei Corp. announced early Tuesday it has entered into a definitive agreement with private-equity firm Advent International to be taken private in an all-cash deal valued at $6.3 billion. The deal comes less than a month after the Montreal-based processor announced it was fielding offers to take the company private. …
Read More »ACI Targets a Growing Digital Payments Market in the Middle East and Africa
ACI Worldwide Inc. announced early Monday it has signed a 10-year partnership with digital-payments technology provider Arab Financial Services. The deal is expected to accelerate ACI’s push to help financial institutions and fintechs in the Middle East and Africa modernize their digital-payments technology infrastructure, according to ACI. Under the terms …
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