Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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, …

Georgia has joined a small but growing number of states that have introduced legislation to ban the portion of credit and debit card transaction fees that apply to sales tax. The Georgia bill, introduced late last week by Georgia state senator Billy Hickman (R-Statesboro), proposes prohibiting the fees from being …

Merchant satisfaction with payment processors has dwindled in the past year, as sellers cope with the impact of inflation on their processing costs as well as on their business in general, according to J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study. The merchant satisfaction score for merchant-services providers totaled 853, …

Despite consumer concerns over higher prices caused by inflation, spending for the holiday shopping season got off to a strong start over the weekend. Total retail sales in the United States, including in-store and e-commerce transactions but excluding the automotive sector, were up more than 12% on Black Friday from …

A prominent merchant trade group on Thursday began running a TV commercial that uses Visa Inc.’s sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup to decry credit card acceptance fees and advocate for a bill backed by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., that would regulate those costs. The 30-second commercial, which lays heavy …

As one who has spent an entire career working with community banks, credit unions, and merchants, I can say it’s abundantly clear how they all suffer from a broken payments system, with the Fed’s automated clearing house being the lone exception. While merchants and community banks don’t share the same …

One of the ways cryptocurrency is becoming more familiar to consumers and merchants is through debit cards backed by crypto holdings. The latest development in this trend came to light early Friday with an announcement that the crypto exchange FTX.com will offer Visa-branded debit cards around the world. A launch …

OnShift Inc., a provider of human-capital management software for caregivers, is dropping the fees for earned-wage access through its digital wallet. OnShift’s wallet runs on the Payactiv platform. As part of the new arrangement, senior care workers using the OnShift wallet can access a portion of their earned wages outside …

The Federal Reserve said late Monday it has completed work on a clarification that reinforces a more than decade-old requirement that issuers enable a choice of at least two competing networks for online debit card transactions. The release follows months of research and investigation by the Fed and will go …

Indications emerged late last week that Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., has embarked on a strategy for his credit card routing bill that follows a path similar to one he forged a decade ago for his rules governing debit card routing. The veteran senator, along with co-sponsor Roger Marshall, R-Kan., have …

Everybody knows the U.S. retail arena is changing, but a new report from Checkout.com reveals that four trends, among them the growth in digital payments, currently are most affecting it. Rising prices, consumers seeking new shopping channels, and increased competitiveness are the other three trends altering the retail landscape. United …