Once upon a time, cash was king. But more and more technology has tied purchasing power to credit and debit cards for their ease of use. Smartphones are even beginning to play a part in the credit-card payment business with …
debit cards
Would You Pay to Use Your Debit Card?
Banks have been scrambling to find ways to boost their revenue after the government stepped in to quash overdraft abuses and cap interchange fees. Free checking accounts have already become harder to come by as banks have upped …
Visa Puts Its Weight Behind New Smartphone Payment Systems
This week, Visa began campaigning to get retailers in the U.S. to upgrade their payment terminals — what we used to call cash registers — to devices capable of reading EMV chips, the technology behind “chip-and-pin” cards now …
4 Reasons a Prepaid Debit Card Can Cost You Big
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that a TSA worker was caught after stealing valuables from passenger luggage. Among the pilfered items was a prepaid debit card with $1,000 loaded on it. While having a debit card stolen is …
CFPB Will Tackle Credit Card Issues Soon, Advocates Predict
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officially opens its doors today. Conceived in the wake of the subprime meltdown and the subsequent financial market crash, the CFPB was envisioned as a financial services version of something like the Consumer Product Safety Commission, except that instead of pulling lead-tainted toys or …
Debit Card Rewards Aren’t Dead
Most banks have been killing off or scaling back their debit card reward programs. JP Morgan Chase, for instance, is scheduled to end its programs for nearly all debit card customers next week, with interchange swipe fee changes cited as a main reason for the debit reward demise. Just as the typical brick-and-mortar-based bank’s perks …
Free Movie Tickets Used to Push Prepaid Plastic
The push is on: Financial institutions are doing their darnedest to get consumers into the habit of using reloadable prepaid cards—which can be used similarly to credit cards or standard debit cards tied to bank accounts, but …
Finally, Money Advice That Will Make You Skinnier
One more reason to opt for paper over plastic as often as possible: your health (physical and financial).
Where’d All the Cash Go? U.S. Treasury’s Printing Press Slows
Many economists and investors complain that the federal government has effectively been “printing money” through its loose monetary and fiscal policies. But in a strictly literal sense, the very opposite turns out to be true: In …
New Reward Programs Coming to a Card Near You
Traditionally, banks have paid for reward programs with fees they earn elsewhere in their business. But the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and interchange and overdraft fee reform all cut into this revenue. The type of reward program …
Fed Ticks Off Retailers With Debit Interchange Ruling
The Federal Reserve Board isn’t really known for being shocking, but banks and retailers were shocked — and fighting mad — when the agency delivered its verdict on the contentious battle over debit interchange fees, capping fees at 21 cents per swipe — roughly half of the 44 cents banks currently collect every time a consumer uses …
How Debit Card Swipe Fee Changes Will Cost You
The banks have lost the swipe fee battle, and soon it’s expected that every time a debit card is used, the store where that card is swiped will collect a little more money, and the institution issuing that card will collect a …
