E-Commerce

The city of El Monte, Calif., has extended its agreement with GiveCard, a prepaid debit card platform, to manage the city’s Guaranteed Income pilot program, which embraces 125 low-income participants. Togetherwork, a payments provider specializing in pet-care businesses, has acquired Petexec, a software provider for the same market. Terms were not …

Consumers may not be racking up more revolving credit card debt than they did in 2023, but their ability to pay their bills on time is coming under pressure, according to a report released early Thursday by J.D. Power. Consumers say they are having a harder time paying their bills, …

Capital One Financial Corp.’s proposal to acquire Discover Financial Services for $35.3-billion, announced in February, has been approved by the Office of the Delaware State Bank Commissioner. The proposal includes Discover Bank. Shareholders in both companies are set to vote on the transaction Feb. 18, 2025. Visa Inc. has closed on its offer to acquire …

Payments provider VizyPay said it processed $2.06 billion on 39 million transactions in 2024, as revenue climbed 14% to $24.1 million. PDX Global has completed tests for its PDX Beam technology, which converts cryptocurrency to cash in consumer-to-merchant transactions. The company will on Thursday embark on a public beta test of the system. …

Visa Inc. announced it dealt a significant setback to fraudsters hoping to cash in on Cyber Monday, the busiest online-shopping day of the year, by stopping about 85% more suspect transactions than it did a year earlier. The increase in fraud prevention is significant, as suspect transactions rose 200% globally …

Zelle, the peer-to-peer payments service from Early Warning Services LLC, will put the detective powers of its S.A.F.E. Squad to work again with the help of actor Christina Ricci in a new education campaign on fraud and scams. This is the second year of the campaign and Ricci’s participation. This …

Department-store chain Bealls Inc. is adding buy now, pay later as a payment option at its more than 650 stores nationwide. The provider is Minneapolis-based Sezzle Inc. The Bradenton, Fla.-based chain, which operates stores in 23 states, says it is adding the payment option to provide holiday shoppers more flexibility …

CargoSprint, a payments processor for the cargo industry, has acquired Advent Intermodal Solutions LLC, which provides technology for port operations, including payments. Terms were not disclosed. The payments network Modern Rails has begun using the FedLine Direct Solution to support connections to the Federal Reserve’s payment-settlement network for banks and credit unions. …

The American Bankers Association on Thursday issued a long and detailed letter it has sent to the Federal Reserve Board to argue its case against a Fed proposal that would reduce a longstanding cap on the interchange banks can earn on debit card transactions. The ABA’s action follows an analysis …

So-called hidden costs—such as overdraft charges, late fees, and identity fraud—linked to bill payments amount to $196 billion on an annual basis, up 18% from last year, according to a study from bill-payment platform doxo. Mastercard Inc. released its 2025 payment trends forecast that discusses AI, small business, and contactless payments, which …