Amazon.com Inc. has beefed up the rewards for its Visa-branded cards issued by Chase, in response to cardholder’s desire for travel-related perks and the ability to earn more rewards for day-to-day expenses, such as commuting. Additionally, Amazon is allowing cardholders to redeem rewards daily and has rebranded its cards. Prime …
Read More »As FedNow Gears up for Its July Launch, Specific Applications Beckon, Including Payroll
The official launch of FedNow as a commercial service is set for July, but already the nation’s banking regulator, along with observers, have seen a pattern in where initial participants have been using the real-time payments service. “We’re starting to see more activity around business-to-consumer [payments], related to payroll front …
Read More »Will Visa’s 3% Surcharge Cap, Set for April 15, Push Merchants to Cash Discounts?
Visa Inc. is poised to lower on Saturday the amount a merchant can surcharge for transactions on its credit cards from a maximum of 4% to 3%, a move it announced early this year. Some observers acknowledge the reduction will happen, though Visa Inc. has not responded to Digital Transactions …
Read More »Square Parent Block Slaps Mastercard And Visa With an Antitrust Suit Over Card Acceptance Costs
In a major case whose effects could ripple widely across the payments industry, Block Inc. has sued Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., alleging the global networks worked together to fix interchange fees paid by Block’s Square operation. Square, which processes card transactions for millions of mostly small sellers, pays interchange …
Read More »CardX Expands Online Payment Capabilities with Mastercard Click to Pay
Payment processing platform CardX is making Mastercard Click to Pay available on Lightbox, its online payment form, to all existing and new card-not-present merchants on its platform. Mastercard Click to Pay stores a consumer’s payment information using an encrypted, virtual card number to enable secure online shopping. Lightbox enables consumers …
Read More »As FedNow’s July Debut Nears, the Roadshow Begins
FedNow, the impending real-time payment service from the Federal Reserve, was formally introduced to the merchant-acquiring industry Thursday at the annual Northeast Acquirers Association conference. Expected to launch in July, FedNow will enable participating banks to offer instant payments with a default limit of $100,000 per transaction and stretch to …
Read More »Early Warning Unveils Paze, Its Multi-Bank Wallet Aimed at Easing E-Commerce
Early Warning Services LLC, a fintech owned by seven of the nation’s largest banks, will launch its digital wallet with a pilot this summer followed by general availability in the fall, the top official in charge of the project said Monday. The new wallet, called Paze and aimed exclusively at …
Read More »Will Visa Follow Through on Lowering Its Credit Card Surcharge Cap in April?
Visa Inc. may be readying a lower cap on credit card surcharges—moving from 4% to 3%—in April, but there’s no guarantee it will happen then. While a bulletin sent to large acquirers says the change to the brand rules will go into effect April 15, its implementation could be delayed, …
Read More »A Looming Capitol Hill Meetup Triggers A Renewed Assault on Efforts to Cap Credit Card Costs
As industry lobbyists prepare to converge on Capitol Hill next week, payments interest groups are issuing salvos designed to move the argument over limits on credit card acceptance costs in their favor. One such advance move came Thursday with an email campaign launched by the Electronic Payments Coalition citing a …
Read More »Klarna’s Loss Widens And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/28/23
Buy now, pay later provider Klarna AB said its 2022 loss of 10.47 billion krona ($1 billion) grew on its 2021 loss of 7.1 billion krona ($680 million). This comes amid growth in 2022. The United States became Klarna’s largest market in December. Also, Klarna will begin collecting late fees from United Kingdom consumers who miss a payment, …
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