Merchants’ disdain for interchange is well documented, but one aspect of card-acceptance costs that gets drowned out by the outcry over interchange is that rising processing fees are hitting merchants harder than interchange hikes, according to some observers. Processors’ rate hikes have been running between 0.25% and 1.5% in recent …

Consumers are using their debit cards more frequently than ever and generating higher tickets in the process, according to a report based on data from the Pulse electronic funds transfer network. Active debit card holders now use their cards 34.6 times per month on average, up more than 4% year …

Greenlight Financial Technology Inc. has partnered with Google Wallet to enable its debit card to be loaded into the Google Fitbit Ace LTE smart watch. The partnership is expected to help parents teach their children how to manage their spending and finances through Greenlight’s banking app, the company says. The …

PayPal Holdings Inc. Tuesday announced its Fastlane By PayPal checkout service is now officially available to merchants of all sizes in the United States. PayPal began piloting Fastlane, which speeds guest checkout by allowing online shoppers to complete a purchase in one click, earlier this year with BigCommerce Inc. merchants. …

Bitcoin Depot Inc. has added more than 1,500 merchants across six more states to its BDCheckout program, which allows consumers to load cash into their Bitcoin Depot wallets at participating merchants. The expansion brings the number of BDCheckout merchants to 7,723 in 31 states. The new states into which Bitcoin …

Block Inc.’s top management late Thursday said the company’s focus for the remainder of the calendar year is on enhancing its go-to-market strategy. That means improving sales, boosting partnerships, sharpening marketing, and product innovation, Block chief executive Jack Dorsey said during the company’s 2024 second-quarter earnings call. Dorsey lost no …

Chase, the banking arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co., has expanded its relationship with third-party delivery service DoorDash Inc. to non-restaurant merchants. The deal will enable Chase Sapphire and other eligible Chase cardholders to receive recurring benefits on orders from more than 150,000 grocery, convenience, and non-restaurant stores in the …

Stripe Inc. has partnered with Newline by Fifth Third, a provider of embedded payments from Fifth Third Bank, to expand embedded financial services for Stripe’s platform users and their customers. Newline by Fifth Third’s API-based platform allows businesses to launch and scale payment, card, and deposit products directly with Fifth …

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a report highlighting what the agency calls “junk fees” charged by processors when parents add money to students’ school-lunch accounts. Such fees cost families upwards of $100 million a year, according to the CFPB. In its study, the CFPB found that, on average, …

Financial technology provider Kasheesh Inc. on Thursday launched a virtual card that allows consumers to split payments for online purchases across up to five existing credit, debit, and prepaid cards. The card is intended to provide an alternative to buy now, pay later loans.  The Mastercard-branded card can be loaded …