By Dave Yohe Selecting the right partner to process payments is essential for organizations taking payments directly from consumers. While it might be tempting to choose the provider offering the lowest rate, the short-term gains from saving a little money can risk longer term business revenue. In the following paragraphs …
Read More »Eleven States—But Not the DoJ—Ask the Supreme Court to Review AmEx Steering Case
By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews A landmark anti-steering case against American Express Co. is going to the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorneys general from 11 states have asked the high court to review a decision handed down in September by a federal appeals court that upheld AmEx’s policy of banning merchants from
Read More »From the Wreckage of the Durbin Repeal Effort, Will ‘Son of Repeal’ Emerge?
The decision to strip repeal of the Durbin Amendment from a Dodd-Frank overhaul bill puts a brake on the movement to get rid of the amendment’s debit card rules, but that may not necessarily be the end of the matter. Leading advocates for repeal vow to keep fighting, while a …
Read More »Surcharging Ahead
Merchants like programs that cover their credit card acceptance costs. So do ISOs and acquirers, some of which see a big opportunity in programs that help merchants with surcharging. Surcharging for credit card transactions or offering a cash discount may have obvious benefits for merchants, but these programs also carry …
Read More »Dwolla’s Tokenized ACH Move and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• Opponents and proponents of repealing debit card interchange controls known as the Durbin Amendment prepared for a hearing on the Financial CHOICE Act Thursday with dueling press releases. The National Retail Federation, as reported earlier this week by Digital Transactions News, led a meeting of retailers interested in keeping the …
Read More »Surcharging Programs May Appeal to Merchants, But ISOs And Acquirers Like Them, Too
Offering a surcharging or cash-discounting program to merchants has obvious revenue benefits to merchants, but they have the potential to grow an independent sales organization’s or acquirer’s bottom line, too. Such programs enable merchants to cover their costs to accept credit card transactions by adding a fee to the purchase …
Read More »OptBlue Acquirers Signed 1 Million Small Merchants for AmEx in 2016
Bank card merchant acquirers participating in American Express Co.’s OptBlue program signed 1 million small businesses for AmEx acceptance last year, an AmEx executive tells Digital Transactions News. The push came as New York City-based AmEx drives toward chief executive Kenneth I. Chenault’s goal of having AmEx’s merchant base reach …
Read More »Small Merchants See Value in Debit Acceptance, Less Concerned About Fees, Survey Says
A survey of 500 small merchants that accept debit cards finds that 66% of them are satisfied with the fees they pay, says the Electronic Payments Coalition, a bank and network advocacy organization. Javelin Strategy & Research completed the survey, which the EPC sponsored. The findings are part of the …
Read More »A Supreme Court Decision Favors Merchants in Latest Round in Battle Over Surcharging
Merchants won a skirmish on Wednesday in their long-simmering battle with the card networks over acceptance costs with a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to void a lower-court ruling that upheld a state law banning credit card surcharging. The decision, in which all eight Justices concurred, sends the case …
Read More »A Supreme Court Rebuff Sends a Massive Credit Card Interchange Case Back to Brooklyn
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heightened the uncertainty surrounding crucial payment card rules and practices by refusing to hear an appeal of a lower-court decision last summer that threw out a $5.7 billion antitrust settlement. The top court’s decision will likely lead to years of continuing litigation and negotiation, …
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