Responding to pressure from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and other critics, Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are delaying planned adjustments to their credit card interchange rates until April next year, Bloomberg News reported. The rate adjustments had been set for next month and involved an estimated net $889 million in increased fee income for …
Read More »Debit Use And Contactless Payments Are up After a Year of Covid, PSCU Notes
Debit is the most preferred payment option among consumers and contactless payments have doubled in the year since the declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s the assessment from the “Tracking Transaction Trends” report for the week ending March 7 from PSCU, a credit union service organization. Debit card spend for …
Read More »COMMENTARY: To the New Congress: Beware of the Durbin Amendment’s Failures
With the Covid-19 pandemic still imposing a huge financial weight on the nation’s small businesses and families, many legislators are understandably eager to pursue policies they feel will ease that burden. But lawmakers must be careful that they are looking at policies that really will help. Unfortunately, some sectors—in this …
Read More »ParkMobile Expands in Memphis and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/15/21
Parking-app provider ParkMobile LLC announced an agreement with the city government in Memphis, Tenn., and with parking-lot manager Premium Parking to offer mobile payments for parking on several city blocks in commercial districts, expanding ParkMobile’s presence in the city. Earlier this month, European parking-technology firm EasyPark Group announced its plan to acquire …
Read More »Exploding Online Business Helps Fuel ‘Strongest Growth’ in Nuvei’s History
With the first anniversary of the coronavirus crisis having been reached in the United States, payments processors are reporting strong results as consumers shift to e-commerce, many for the first time. The latest is Nuvei Corp., which on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter results that reflected what the 18-year-old processor called “the …
Read More »A Sneak Peek From Visa Shows U.S. Debit Volume Growth Continues As Credit Volume Dips
Visa Inc. said U.S. debit volume increased 31% in January and 16% in February over the comparable 2020 months, while its credit volume dipped 6% and 8%, respectively. In an 8-K filing, Visa, which did not release actual volume data, said for the quarter to date overall U.S. payments volume …
Read More »Hotelier Adds Bitcoin Acceptance and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/10/21
All eight hotels in The Kessler Collection will accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies under an agreement with digital-currency processor BitPay Inc. Guests will receive an email, from which they may pay using their crypto wallet.Personas Social Inc. launched its Paysonas payment-processing platform, which supports online real-time debit and Bitcoin.Menufy, a provider of online-ordering …
Read More »How the Pandemic Helped Drive a Startling Increase in Identity Theft Losses
Some 47% of U.S. adults have reported identity theft over the past two years, while the fraud’s toll ballooned to $712.4 billion in 2020, up 42% from 2019, according to a report released Tuesday by Aite Group, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, and sponsored by Giact, an Allen, Texas-based …
Read More »Handpoint To Use MagicCube POS Technology and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/9/21
Point-of-sale technology provider Handpoint has agreed to adopt the i-Accept technology from MagicCube Inc. The technology allows merchants to accept card transactions on off-the-shelf mobile devices.Citcon, a provider of mobile-wallet acceptance at the point of sale, has agreed to integrate its technology with that of Agilysys Inc., a vendor of point-of-sale technology …
Read More »As Its ACH Traffic Climbs Rapidly, Paya Manages a ‘Very Strong’ M&A Pipeline
Payments on the automated clearing house network have been gliding upward for some time, allowing processors that handle ACH volume to tap into that growth. On Monday, Paya Holdings Inc. showed it’s among the beneficiaries. ACH volume for Atlanta-based Paya reached $3.5 billion in last year’s fourth quarter, up fully 46% from …
Read More »