Like its bigger rival Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. managed to remain profitable during the pandemic-ravaged second quarter and in recent weeks has been seeing improving transaction trends. Mastercard on Thursday reported total U.S. purchase volume of $405 billion in the quarter ended June 30, down 5% from $427 billion a …
Read More »Visa Remains Profitable Despite Pandemic Hits; eBay Volume Jumps 26%
Visa Inc. reported Tuesday that it managed to make nearly $2.4 billion in its June-ending quarter despite massive hits to its international volumes and credit card spending caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and its chief executive also addressed the latest debit card controversy. Separately, online marketplace eBay Inc. reported its …
Read More »Durbin Asks Fed Chairman for ‘Appropriate Enforcement Action’ Involving Debit Card Transaction Routing
U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and a Vermont Congressman want the Federal Reserve to look into what they say are efforts by debit card issuers “aided by the dominant card networks” to prevent PIN-debit networks from getting a bigger share of booming card-not-present payment volume. “The Federal Reserve should consider appropriate …
Read More »Payments Gripes Soar During the Pandemic, According to CFPB Data
Consumer complaints about payment products and services have shot up since March, when the national emergency was declared to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Complaints about credit and prepaid card products are up 29% over the same period last year, and gripes about money-transfer, virtual-currency, and money services have soared …
Read More »Mastercard Agrees to Nets Concessions and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/28/20
Mastercard Inc. is offering some concessions in its bid to win approval from European Union competition authorities for its planned $3.2 billion acquisition of major parts of Denmark-based payment processor Nets Group, Reuters reported.California’s Department of Motor Vehicles selected payments provider Forte Payment Systems to oversee the DMV’s e-check verification process.Digital-banking technology provider Tyfone Inc. has …
Read More »‘Mid-April Was the Trough,’ AmEx Says As It Works to Recover From the Pandemic’s Impact
American Express Co. felt the full brunt of the global Covid-19 pandemic in the opening weeks of the second quarter, and on Friday it released numbers showing just how hard the swoon in travel and other key sectors hit the company. Executives also took time on a conference call with …
Read More »Repay Acquires cPayPlus and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/24/20
Payment processor Repay Holdings Corp. acquired cPayPlus LLC, a provider of accounts-payable automation technology. Repay paid $8 million at closing and could pay $8 million more in 2021’s third quarter depending on cPayPlus’ achievement of growth targets.After a limited release in May, a 3-year-old challenger bank called Dave announced it will issue debit cards …
Read More »75% of Consumers Prefer Contactless Cards and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/23/20
Some 75% of U.S. cardholders prefer contactless cards to card swipe, mobile payment, inserting a chip card, and cash, according to a survey of 1,000 cardholders by card-technology specialist Entrust Datacard.Alliance Data Systems Corp., a provider of private-label card programs, reported a 27% year-over-year drop in revenue for the second quarter to …
Read More »Discover’s Credit Volumes Take a Hit, but the Pulse Debit Network Posts a 12% Increase
Discover Financial Services on Wednesday became the first major payment network operator to report its second-quarter performance, and things weren’t pretty on the credit card side in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Volumes on Discover’s Pulse debit network, however, rose by double digits. Taking the biggest hit was the …
Read More »Small Businesses Continue to Rebound and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/22/20
Sales at small businesses included in the CardFlight Small Business Impact Report for July 22 experienced a 2.6% increase in sales week-over-week and are 25% above the baseline week of March 2-8. Food and drink sales were up 4.5% for the week and retail sales increased 4% week-over-week.Wells Fargo & Co. launched My …
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