Sunday , June 14, 2026

Jim Daly and John Stewart

Jim Daly joined Digital Transactions in 2006 after covering payments and merchant acquiring at Thomson Media’s Credit Card Management, Credit Card News, and CardLine publications. Before that, he was a reporter and editor at the daily Leader-Telegram in Eau Claire, Wis.

Visa Remains Profitable Despite Pandemic Hits; eBay Volume Jumps 26%

Visa Inc. reported Tuesday that it managed to make nearly $2.4 billion in its June-ending quarter despite massive hits to its international volumes and credit card spending caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and its chief executive also addressed the latest debit card controversy. Separately, online marketplace eBay Inc. reported its …

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Durbin Asks Fed Chairman for ‘Appropriate Enforcement Action’ Involving Debit Card Transaction Routing

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and a Vermont Congressman want the Federal Reserve to look into what they say are efforts by debit card issuers “aided by the dominant card networks” to prevent PIN-debit networks from getting a bigger share of booming card-not-present payment volume. “The Federal Reserve should consider appropriate …

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Garmin Says Outage Doesn’t Affect Payment Data

The ability of hackers to disrupt connected devices was on display over the weekend with Garmin Ltd., a major purveyor of fitness trackers, smart watches and related tech gear, including products that can make contactless payments, reporting service interruptions that some observers say have been caused by a ransomware attack. …

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Google Announces Test With No Commissions for Sellers Using Its Shopping Platform

Expanding on an initiative it began April that offered free listings for some merchants, search-engine leader Google on Thursday announced a test that charges zero-percent commissions to online sellers when they sell a product through its Shopping Actions service. In addition, sellers can use Shopify Inc.’s payment service as well …

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Discover’s Credit Volumes Take a Hit, but the Pulse Debit Network Posts a 12% Increase

Discover Financial Services on Wednesday became the first major payment network operator to report its second-quarter performance, and things weren’t pretty on the credit card side in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Volumes on Discover’s Pulse debit network, however, rose by double digits. Taking the biggest hit was the …

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Shopify Pairs Up With Affirm To Offer an Installment-Payment Option for Small Businesses

The installment-payment movement has gained the big e-commerce services provider Shopify Inc. as a convert with Wednesday’s announcement that Shopify will offer a credit option to its U.S. customers through Affirm Inc. San Francisco-based Affirm, an online credit-services provider, said approved Shop Pay customers at checkout will be able to …

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Synchrony’s Retailers Suffer a Blow to Purchase Volume

The hits merchants are taking from the Covid-19 pandemic were apparent in the second-quarter financial results the big retail and cobranded card issuer Synchrony Financial reported Tuesday, results which include a 19% year-over-year drop in purchase volume. Stamford, Conn.-based Synchrony posted purchase volume of $31.2 billion versus $38.3 billion in …

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Zelle Users at BofA Defy the Pandemic Gravity

Payment card usage in the U.S. might be taking a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, but not the Zelle person-to-person payments service among Bank of America Corp.’s customer base. Charlotte, N.C.-based BofA reported Thursday that it had 11.3 million active Zelle users, including small businesses, in the second quarter, up 41% …

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Big Banks See Credit Card Purchases Plunge by More Than 20% in the Second Quarter

Three of the nation’s largest banks reported Tuesday that their credit card purchase volumes fell by more than 20% in the second quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic slammed the brakes on the economy, though things were better on the debit card side. New York City-based JPMorgan Chase & Co., the …

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Eye on the Point of Sale: Behind the Coin Shortage; The Decline in ATM Cash Withdrawals Slows

Consumers have been spending considerably less in most stores over the past four months, but that hasn’t prevented a shortage of coins from developing. But in one sign of a nascent revival of cash usage, the number ATM cash withdrawals by credit union members has finally broken a 15-week streak …

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