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Don’t Expect a ‘Here Lies Interchange’ Epitaph Any Time Soon

With potential regulation of credit card interchange looming and with the unwavering demand from merchants for lower card-acceptance costs, the possibility that interchange as it’s known today may dramatically change can’t be entirely dismissed—but don’t count on its demise. That was the conclusion at the Money 20/20 trade show this …

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Visa’s CEO Downplays Potential Impact From a Fed Meeting on Debit Interchange

The Federal Reserve Board is set to revisit its longstanding limit on debit card interchange on Wednesday, and most observers expect the Fed to lower it. But ask Visa Inc. about the matter—as analysts did Tuesday afternoon during the network’s September-quarter earnings call—and its top executives outwardly at least profess …

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The Federal Reserve Is Set to Revisit the Debit Fee Cap

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will consider revisions to its cap on debit card swipe fees at its meeting next Wednesday. The announcement was made as part of a public notice about the upcoming board meeting. While no further details were provided about the Fed’s intentions, retailers made it …

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COMMENTARY: A Dose of Reality on the Broken Credit Card Market

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” …

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COMMENTARY: Why the Credit Card Competition Act Falls Short

The Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) looks to be headed for a vote before the end of the year, spurred in part by Sen. Dick Durbin’s recent urging that it be brought to the Senate floor. While the Illinois Senator is of the mind it will help increase industrywide competition …

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Pricing Rules Are at the Heart of a New Class-Action Lawsuit Against PayPal

A new lawsuit filed Thursday against PayPal Holdings Inc. alleges the online powerhouse uses illegally anticompetitive policies that increase costs for consumers. Filed by Hagens Berman, a law firm that specializes in class-action litigation, the suit contends that PayPal prohibits merchants that work with it to offer pricing discounts when …

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An Interchange Class-Action Settlement Inches Forward With a Recent Court Action

The federal court overseeing a $5.54-billion settlement between millions of card-accepting merchants, on one hand, and Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., on the other, over interchange costs recently took several steps that ultimately could get payments out to merchants. But checks still won’t be in the mail for some time. …

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Investors React to Expected Interchange Updates And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 8/31/23

The shares of Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. reached all-time highs Wednesday following a report from The Wall Street Journal that the two major card networks plan to raise interchange and network fees in October and April. Visa closed at $246.23 per share, and Mastercard at $413.91. The networks have historically introduced new pricing …

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Consumers Are Paying Record High Out-of-Network ATM Withdrawal Fees

ATM owners are charging consumers a record high $3.15 per transaction for making out-of-network withdrawals, up slightly from $3.14 a year ago, according to Bankrate.com. The new high is also the 22nd time in the last 25 years that out-of-network fees levied by ATM owners have hit a new high. …

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SoftPOS Offers Many Advantages, But a Few Drawbacks, Too

The recently developed ability to accept card payments on an ordinary smart phone, with no additional hardware, has electrified the payments industry. But the technology, known as SoftPOS, comes with complications that could slow progress, a panel of experts warned Thursday. SoftPOS, which as the name implies relies on specialized …

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New Jersey Limits Card Surcharging to Merchants’ Processing Fees

New Jersey has implemented a law that prohibits merchants in the state from profiting from credit card surcharging and requires merchants to clearly disclose any surcharges to consumers. The law, which was passed by the New Jersey legislature in June and went into effect immediately upon New Jersey Governor Phil …

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The U.K.’s Paysend Eyes U.S. P2P Payments Among Hispanics

Paysend Group is embarking on a campaign to make its name known among U.S. Hispanic peer-to-peer payments users with an advertising campaign and an offer of fee-free money transfers to Latin America, at least initially. Having opened a U.S. office in 2022, London-based Paysend hopes its advertising campaign, which debuts …

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As Consumer Credit Card Debt Rises, Satisfaction With Card Rewards Declines

As consumers take on increasing amounts of credit card debt, their satisfaction with credit card rewards and loyalty programs is eroding. That’s according to a report released Thursday by J.D. Power. The decline in satisfaction is being driven by consumers’ perception of the rewards earned per dollar spent, especially among …

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An Embedded Pricing Tool from TSG Aims for Fine Tuning

TSG, a payments advisory firm, released a service to help merchant acquirers and software vendors optimize pricing for merchants. Dubbed the Embedded Pricing Tool, it can help acquirers and software vendors get pricing right without over- or under-pricing merchants. Pricing data comes from the TSG database in its Acquiring Industry …

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Block’s Revenue Jumps 25% As It Continues Its Upmarket Push

Block Inc., corporate parent of Square and Cash App, posted $5.5 billion in second-quarter revenue, a 25% jump from $4.4 billion in the same quarter a year ago, as the payments provider pushes on with its move to add larger merchants. The midmarket segment now accounts for 40% of its …

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Shift4 Decries ‘Junk Fees’ Levied by Rival Restaurant Processors

Shift4 Payments Inc. said early Thursday it will pay restaurants a dollar for every online order they receive across the first three months that they use the company’s SkyTab POS system. Shift4 contends it is making the move in response to what it calls junk fees charged by other payment …

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The CCCA Won’t Harm Card Issuers’ Ability to Fund Rewards Cards, MPC Says

The latest battle in the war over the proposed Credit Card Competition Act has focused on the question whether the legislation would cut rewards and other benefits for cardholders. Citing research from the consulting firm CMSPI, the Merchants Payments Coalition, a lobbying group for sellers, argues that passage of the …

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It’s Time for Congress to Dump the CCCA And Modify the Durbin Amendment, a Report Argues

With proposals aimed at controlling merchants’ costs for accepting credit cards having re-emerged in Congress, research has been emerging on both sides of the issue this summer as advocates for sellers and card issuers compete to influence any eventual legislation. The latest thrust appeared Monday with a research report arguing …

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$16 Trillion in Digital Wallet Volume by 2028 And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/10/23

Services such as buy now, pay later loans and personal financial management will help drive the global volume of digital-wallet transactions to $16 trillion in 2028, up 77% from $9 trillion this year, according to a report from Juniper Research. Katapult Holdings Inc. said more than 20 merchants are now available on …

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Spotify Bumps Last Premium Users from Apple Billing

Spotify, the digital-music service, has notified long-time customers it will no longer support payments from Apple Inc.’s App Store for premium subscriptions. Those customers who use the Apple service will be moved to Spotify’s free service and must transition to an alternative, such as PayPal or a credit card, for …

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Digital Transactions