May require account to read. It is getting more expensive to pay for things with a credit card. More small businesses—and even some larger ones—are charging shoppers a fee for credit-card purchases or offering them discounts when they pay with debit cards, cash or checks. The moves are meant to offset the various fees businesses pay on credit-card transactions, costs that have grown alongside generous cash-back and travel rewards.
Data on surcharging is hard to come by, and less than 5% of 8 million card-accepting small businesses in the U.S. charge fees for credit-card payments, according to estimates from payments consultancy The Strawhecker Group. But that share has risen steadily in recent years. Five years ago, an estimated 2% or less of businesses charged fees on credit-card purchases.
Mastercard is phasing out the use of magnetic stripes on its credit and debit cards over the next decade, as the industry moves towards more secure or convenient alternatives like chips and contactless payments, the company has announced. It says it will be the first payments network to phase out the technology, which dates back to the 1960s. Mastercard says the transition will start in 2024, when the stripe will no longer be required on new cards in regions like Europe where chip cards are already widely used. In the US, where the adoption of chip payments has been slower, the transition will start in 2027.
Starting in October, new purchases in the U.S. made with PayPal’s buy now-pay later option won’t have any late fees if a consumer misses a payment, the company said in a press release today. Currently, late fees in the U.S. range up to $10 per missed payment, a spokesperson for PayPal said by email. The company is also jettisoning late fees on purchases in the United Kingdom and France in October, making a clean sweep of the penalties worldwide, the spokesman said. It never had late fees for purchases in Germany and Australia.
A London court on Wednesday approved a 10 billion pound-plus ($14 billion-plus) class action against global payments processor Mastercard that claimants said could entitle 46 million British adults to roughly 300 pounds each if it is successful. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) had been expected to certify Britain's first mass consumer class action, brought by former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks, after the UK Supreme Court overruled objections to it in December.
Building on a strategy of growing share of payments in the unattended retail market, Cantaloupe Inc. announced Tuesday its acquisition of Delicious Nutritious LLC, a Los Angeles-based micro-market payments company that operates under the trade name of Yoke Payments. The purchase price was not disclosed. The deal gives Cantaloupe, which earlier this year changed its name from USA Technologies Inc., a point-of-sale terminal and application specific to micro-markets that can be integrated into its Seed Markets platform. Micro-markets can be retail locations built to fit spaces the size of a walk-in closet, for example, or refrigerated cases containing food and beverages.
Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) eponymous amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is the epitome of unnecessary federal overreach. Now, some lawmakers are discussing the expansion of the Durbin amendment to credit cards. The continuation of this bad policy is one thing, but the expansion of it to credit cards will only further restrict lending for small businesses and individuals and eliminate credit card rewards and promotions, thus narrowing choices for consumers. It is nonsensical to expand a policy that has not worked since its inception.
OnlyFans, which has amassed a base of more than 130 million users largely for adult-oriented subscription fan pages, announced that it will ban sexually explicit content this fall. The U.K.-based company said it is making the changes “to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers,” in a statement provided to Variety. Effective Oct. 1, 2021, “OnlyFans will prohibit the posting of any content containing sexually explicit conduct,” the company said in a statement.
Not with a bang but, perhaps, with a whimper. Novi is here, or at least it’s coming. And the question will be whether the new digital wallet, via Facebook, makes a splash in a field that is becoming, well, crowded. As noted in this space on Thursday (Aug. 19), the Big Tech juggernaut said its Novi digital wallet, which allows for transactions to be done domestically and across borders, is ready to go to market. The company said in its announcement that it had sought to work with regulators and legislators as it developed the wallet over the span of two years.
The meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which got its start as a joke, accounted for a whopping 25.6 percent of commission-free trading app Robinhood’s revenue in the second quarter, giving the company a major boost in its first earnings report since going public last month. In its second-quarter earnings report, the company said it made over $565 million in revenue for the quarter, more than doubling from a year ago, largely thanks to a surge in interest in cryptocurrencies.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset-management arm invested in Plaid Inc., joining a fundraising round that previously valued the data company at $13.4 billion. JPMorgan Private Capital Growth Equity Partners, along with American Express Co.’s venture-capital arm, invested as part of Plaid’s Series D fundraising round, the company said Tuesday. The round was originally announced in April and led by Altimeter Capital and Silver Lake Partners. “We’re excited to work with JPMorgan and AmEx as both partners and as investors,” Plaid Chief Executive Officer Zach Perret said in an interview.
Carrier billing outfit Boku has unveiled what it claims is the world's largest mobile payments network, reaching 5.7 billion payment accounts in 90 countries. The network, M1ST, promises to simplify the fragmented mobile payment acceptance market, bringing together more than 330 methods, including mobile wallets, direct carrier billing, and real-time payments schemes into a single, scheme-like network. Boku says that M1ST-enabled payments are built to support the 0-tap subscriptions and 1-tap checkout transactions that enable new, online business models.
Amazon is looking for its next conquest. After years of growth, most recently fueled in no small part by the COVID-19 pandemic that also has decimated physical retailers across the country, the company is reportedly planning to open its own department stores. The move would represent a subtle shift in strategy for the e-commerce giant. Though it has experimented with its own brick-and-mortar locations, Amazon's few-dozen currently branded stores tend to be small affairs that offer a selection of goods.
7-Eleven is teaming up with on-demand alcohol delivery service Minibar Delivery in select markets. The convenience giant, which offers on-demand delivery via its proprietary 7Now app, as well as through partnerships with Instacart, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Postmates, DoorDash, Google, and Favor, is kicking off beer and wine delivery with MiniBar Delivery in Florida, Texas, and Virginia. Approximately 600 stores are participating in the pilot launch.
Retail has obviously been among the hardest hit industries by the Covid-19 pandemic given the various lockdown policies enacted across the nation to stem the spread of the virus. Simultaneously, retailers have also had to contend with an evolving security landscape that has seen both changing threat dynamics and the utilization of new tactics by organized retail crime (ORC) gangs. In fact, according to the results of the 2021 National Retail Security Survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) on Wednesday, many retailers are facing increased risk to their organizations due to the pandemic.
The names, Social Security numbers and information from driver's licenses or other identification of just over 40 million former and prospective customers that applied for T-Mobile credit were exposed in a recent data breach, the company said Wednesday. The same data for about 7.8 million current T-Mobile postpaid customers appears to be compromised. No phone numbers, account numbers, PINs, passwords, or financial information from the nearly 50 million records and accounts were compromised, it said.
On August 13th, United States Senators questioned Amazon's new biometric data payment system. Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, was asked to disclose Amazon's plans for the palm print technology called Amazon One. Amazon must provide a report to the Senate detailing their plans to keep palm-print data secure, how much data Amazon has, and if Amazon plans to palm-print data for advertising purposes.
It is thought to be the largest crypto heist of all time, surpassing the $534.8 million in digital coins stolen from Japanese exchange Coincheck in a 2018 attack and the estimated $450 million worth of bitcoin that went missing from Tokyo-based exchange Mt. Gox in 2014. In Poly Network’s case, the hacker has taken the unusual step of returning most of the stolen money. All but $33 million of the crypto has now been returned.
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid said on Thursday it was hit by hackers in a theft estimated to top $94 million, in the latest targeting of a crypto platform. "We are sorry to announce that LiquidGlobal warm wallets were compromised, we are moving assets into the cold wallet," it said on Twitter here, adding that deposits and withdrawals were suspended. Liquid later said it was tracing the movement of the assets and working with other exchanges to freeze and recover funds.
Americans shopped less than expected last month as the Delta variant swept across the country, fueling concerns that the pandemic might once again weigh on consumer spending and the economic recovery. Sales declined by 1.1% in July adjusted for seasonal swings, the Census Bureau showed Tuesday. It was a steeper decline than the 0.3% economists surveyed by Refinitiv had predicted. It was also the second decline in three months, suggesting that the pent-up demand that fueled the recovery in the winter and spring spring may have evened out.
Federal Reserve officials at their July gathering made plans to pull back the pace of their monthly bond purchases likely before the end of the year, meeting minutes released Wednesday indicated. However, the summary of the July 27-28 Federal Open Market Committee gathering indicated that the central bankers wanted to be clear that the reduction, or tapering, of assets was not a precursor to an imminent rate hike. The minutes noted that “some” members preferred to wait until early in 2022 to start tapering.
Paysafe, a leading specialized payments platform, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SafetyPay for USD 441 million in an all-cash transaction. SafetyPay is a leading payments platform that enables eCommerce transactions via an unrivalled choice of open banking and eCash solutions, operating primarily in Latin America. For Paysafe, this latest deal strengthens its strategic foothold in Latin America, building on its recently announced acquisition agreement with Peruvian payments platform, PagoEfectivo.
Bank of America announced it has recorded the most patents granted in the first half of any year in the company’s history. The U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) granted the bank 227 patents during the first half of 2021, a 23% increase over last year, covering a range of solutions for clients including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), information security, data analytics, mobile banking and payments. The bank also applied for 403 patents, despite 85% of its workforce continuing to work from home during the pandemic.
Fiserv, Inc., a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, announced that Carat has expanded the digital payout options available to businesses to include payments to PayPal and Venmo accounts. The innovation allows businesses that deliver mass payouts to provide additional choice in how customers quickly receive funds, while also unlocking new opportunities to market their brands through a social community such as Venmo.
Adyen announced Just Eat Takeaway.com, a leading global online food delivery marketplace, will implement its card issuing solution in the form of Takeaway Pay Card. Adyen’s solution enables Just Eat Takeaway.com to issue pre-funded cards to employees for meal expenses. While Takeaway Pay has allowed corporate clients to purchase from a broad offering of restaurants online, employees can now use the Takeaway Pay Card offline to spend their meal allowance for on-the-go commutes, business trips or regular outdoor team lunches, without the hassle of submitting an expense report.
Worldline and Bitcoin Suisse announce the go-live of their omnichannel crypto payment solution for the more than 85’000 Swiss merchants in the Worldline network. Now all merchants in Switzerland using the Worldline point-of-sale and e-commerce payment services can let their clients pay in Bitcoin and Ether as easily as with other traditional payment options.
GoDaddy Inc., the company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, announced the launch of new Pay Links and Virtual Terminal features within GoDaddy Payments, enabling small business owners to take online and remote payments without the requirement of a website or an online store. Small businesses without websites are often left out of ecommerce solutions, despite consumers' increasing preference for paying online.
i2c, a leading global provider of payments processing technology and digital banking solutions, announced they are working with Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, to launch point of sale installments capabilities for their participating issuers in North America. Through this new collaboration, issuers and participating merchants can have an accelerated path to Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) promoting a consistent cardholder experience.
Nuvei Corporation, the global payment technology partner of thriving brands, announces an agreement with Carousel Group, a rapidly-growing privately-held licensed sports betting and casino operator. Through the agreement, Nuvei is powering payment transactions for Carousel Group’s flagship brand, SportsBetting.com. Launching initially in Colorado, the Company will support Carousel Group’s expansion across the U.S., as it plans to make its online sportsbook available in additional regulated markets, including Iowa, Indiana and New Jersey.
The 2021 Debit Issuer Study portrays a debit market evolving with the rapid transformation of commerce. Response to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted U.S. consumers to make fewer but larger debit purchases in 2020, resulting in a strong increase in total debit spending. The study also identifies merchant categories that expanded in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, such as digital retailers and home supply stores, as well as those that contracted, such as travel and dining.
Stax by Fattmerchant, the industry's only complete all-in-one solution for managing everything in the payments ecosystem, announces the addition of credit card surcharging to its already feature-rich technology. With prices of processing fees continuing to rise, it is more critical than ever for companies to consider additional ways to cut down on the costs associated with the growing need to accept every payment type.
ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time digital payment software and solutions, announced a collaboration with PayPal to bring digital wallet payment options to ACI’s biller clients like Monroe County Water Authority (MCWA). PayPal and Venmo will be integrated with ACI Speedpay, giving consumers more options to make bill payments conveniently and securely using the digital methods that suit them best.
Falfurrias Capital Partners (FCP), a Charlotte-based private equity firm focused on growth-oriented, middle-market businesses, today announced it has invested in Chargeback Gurus (CBG), a global leader in providing chargeback prevention and recovery services for eCommerce and Card Not Present (CNP) businesses. CBG's platform and services help businesses create a scalable, fully interactive, and trusted strategy to serve customers from start to finish through the dispute and recovery process.
