AppTech Payments Corp., a specialist in business-to-business and business-to-consumer payments, has agreed to acquire Alliance Partners LLC and its FinZeo money-movement software. With the deal, expected to close Oct. 31, AppTech will become a payment facilitator, a company that allows merchants to accept payments on the company’s merchant account. Terms …

Eric Cohen’s Commentary, “Whey the Credit Card Competition Act Falls Short,” posted here Oct. 9, makes three key claims about how the Credit Card Competition Act would supposedly harm small businesses and consumers. All of them are wrong.First, he says the bill would allow merchants “to choose their own network” …

Payments platform Klarna AB announced a series of new services, including Shopping lens, which enables shoppers to take a picture of an item in their surroundings to find out where to buy it on the best terms. The service uses artificial intelligence to render the item in a search term. Technology consultancy Thoughtworks said …

Experian PLC on Monday launched its Smart Money digital checking account and debit card. The product is part of the credit bureau’s strategy to offer consumers with no or minimal credit histories an opportunity to quickly build a credit score. To that end, Experian has embedded in the new product …

Varo Bank entered the peer-to-peer payments fray with Varo to Anyone, which allows Varo accountholders to send funds to anyone who holds a U.S. debit card. Varo says the service carries no fee. Mitek Systems Inc. announced it has agreed to offer its biometric-based identity verification technology to complement the credit-reporting agency Equifax Inc.’s …

Bitcoin Depot Inc., a Bitcoin ATM operator, has expanded the footprint of its BDCheckout program to more than 400 retail locations in Iowa and Louisiana. BDCheckout enables consumers to fund digital wallets with cryptocurrency at checkout through Bitcoin Depot’s network of merchants. Consumers can access BDCheckout at 246 convenience stores …

Upgraded, a service that lets Apple MacBook buyers pay over time, announced it is launching in the United States in a partnership with Citizens Pay, a point-of-sale financing service of Citizens Bank. Adyen NV, a Dutch payments platform that competes in the U.S. market against companies like Stripe, Fiserv, PayPal, …

Credit Sesame, which allows consumers to access their credit information, launched a Mastercard debit card called Sesame Credit Builder. The card is aimed at enabling consumers to build a credit history via routine transactions. NCR Corp. announced the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has declared effective a Form 10 registration statement …

The Waffle House restaurant system has adopted chainwide contactless payment capability, including mobile-wallet acceptance, through the Oracle Payment Cloud service. A startup called iWallet said it will adopt FedNow for mobile check deposits. The Federal Reserve launched the FedNow real-time payments service last month. MarginEdge, a bill-payments provider, launched a mobile bill-payment app for restaurant operators …

Instances of electronic benefits transfer (EBT) fraud have become more prevalent in the United States as criminals become more brazen and increasingly prey on society’s most vulnerable. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries are one of the largest targets for EBT fraud. Last year, SNAP distributed over $113.9 billion to …