China And Your Card Information; Making Cards Less Vulnerable To Fraud

Forget Balloons: China is Coming for Your Credit Card

Since the Dodd-Frank financial reform law was passed in 2010, an under-the-radar company called UnionPay has been processing debit card transactions in the US thanks to a provision in the law known as the Durbin Amendment. UnionPay was founded by China’s central bank in 2002 and is funded by the government. A 2010 law requires banks to include alternative networks, including UnionPay, as an option for merchants to process debit card transactions. Now, even though waves of spy balloons are being shot down by the American military, the same people pushing debit card policies want to do the same to the credit card market. Giant companies include Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot. Target and Kroger have worked with several US lawmakers to push for legislation that would allow UnionPay to process your credit card transactions. [The Washington Times]

do to make your cards less vulnerable

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Make Your Credit Card Less Vulnerable to Fraud

Last year, one of my family’s credit cards was used to collect hundreds of dollars in fake charges on Apple.com. Dealing with the aftermath taught me to value safety over comfort, and to change some of the bad habits that made me an easier target. Sites where you make multiple purchases each month need to be monitored carefully for fake transactions. Compare what your credit card statement says you’ve charged with your purchase history on the site. And if you spot fraud, report it, even if it’s past the 60 day deadline. I also noticed that I can “lock” my card in the mobile app to prevent unauthorized use. Opening it when I want to charge only takes a few seconds. I already have two-factor authentication, which requires a code and password to log in, on my financial and email accounts. I’ve also added it to my most used retail sites. I also started using mobile payment systems wherever possible. These systems—which include Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay—generate “tokens” that are sent to merchants so that your credit card number is never revealed or stored. [Associated Press]

Credit Card Debt Is Higher Than Savings for a Record Percentage of Americans

Month after month of sky-high inflation has strained America’s budget to the point that many rely on credit or spend their savings to make ends meet. Now, the percentage of US adults who have more credit card debt than emergency savings has hit a new high. In a survey released by Bankrate, more than a third, 36%, of US adults reported that their credit card debt exceeded their emergency savings. That is the highest level recorded since the poll was launched 12 years ago, and it is a marked increase from 22% in January 2022. Nearly half of respondents, 49%, said they had little or no money for emergency savings compared to last year. [Fox Business]

The rate of credit card arrears for new users is higher than those with old credit

In the US, the ability of many new borrowers to service debt is slightly disadvantageous compared to more established credit-served customers, according to the Empowerment Credit Inclusion study by TransUnion. New credit consumers (NTCs) who opened credit cards within the last two years reflect higher credit card delinquency rates after the first six months after opening their accounts, compared to people with established credit and similar credit scores who opened new credit cards over the same time period. The same. The credit card delinquency rate for near-prime NTC consumers was 3.4% compared to 2.2% for near-prime consumers with established credit. For primary NTC consumers, the delinquency rate is 1.2% compared to 0.7% for primary users with established credit. [Fox Business]

Americans Have a $21 Billion Collective Gift Card

Some people love them, some people hate them. Worse, the large number of us who receive it on special occasions ignore it, or even forget about it altogether. Such is the sad fate of gift cards; millions of these are not used each year and have a collective value estimated at billions of dollars. Nearly two-thirds of American consumers have at least one unused gift card tucked away in a drawer, pocket, purse or purse. And at least half of those consumers lose gift cards before they use them, according to a new report from Credit Summit. The report says there is as much as $21 billion of unspent money tied up in unused and lost gift cards. [CNN]

Senate Panel Targets Credit Card Companies’ Collection of Arms Sales Data

Credit card companies can face fines of up to $10,000 per violation for tracking the sale of firearms and ammunition in Florida, under an act approved Tuesday by a Senate committee. The Republican-controlled Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted 7-3 along party lines to approve a bill that would target plans not yet enacted by some credit card companies to create separate “merchant category codes” for sales in the firearms business. . Similar four-digit codes are already used to separate purchases and gather data from places like grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants and bookstores. [WUSF]

Biden Picks Former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga for World Bank President

President Biden will nominate Ajay Banga, former president and CEO of Mastercard, to serve as president of the World Bank. Banga is currently co-chairman of General Atlantic, a private equity firm, and will replace David Malpass as head of the World Bank. Malpass was selected for the post by former President Donald Trump and this month announced his plans to step down on June 30, four years into his five-year term. The president of the World Bank has been an American citizen since its inception after World War II, and a US candidate is traditionally chosen to head the bank. Candidates must be confirmed by the executive board of the World Bank. [CBS News]

Citibank Offers Up To $2,000 Bonus For New Current Account Customers

Over the past year, the Federal Reserve has worked tirelessly to tame record-high inflation rates. As a result, the federal funds rate has been raised consistently in increments of 25 to 75 basis points in an effort to get the economy running smoothly once again. The catch: raising interest rates increases borrowing costs. But for savers and checking account holders, it’s not all bad news. Having fewer borrowers means banks are looking for other ways to acquire new customers, often in the form of a higher annual yield percentage or lucrative checking account bonuses. For a limited time, Citibank is offering cash bonuses of $200, $500, $1,000, $1,500, or even $2,000 to new customers who open a Citibank, Citi Priority, Citigold, or Basic Banking checking account between now and April 4, 2023. [Fortune]

ACH Network Sees Same Day Payouts Up 15.5% and B2B Up 11.8% in ’22

ACH and B2B Same Day Payments on the ACH Network saw double digit growth in 2022. This gain occurred during a year in which, overall, the number of payments processed by the ACH Network grew 3% to 30 billion and the value of those payments increased by 5 .6% to $76.7 trillion. 2022 marks the 10th year in a row that the total value of ACH payments has increased by at least $1 trillion. Same Day ACH recorded a 15.5% increase in volume and an 86.3% increase in payout value over 2022. [PYMNTS]

Stripe Extends Tap to Pay to Android, Turns NFC Enabled Android Devices into Payment Terminals

Stripe, a payments and financial services startup, made waves in the mobile commerce world last year when it became Apple’s first payments partner for “Tap to Pay,” the iPhone giant’s move to turn any iOS device into a payment or payment-taking terminal. Now, Stripe is expanding that business with the googol factor. Starting today, businesses that use Stripe Terminal to make in-person payments can now also make Tap to Pay transactions on NFC-equipped Android devices. [Tech Crunch]

Klarna Jumped Back into Y2K with Help from Paris Hilton

Klarna has partnered with Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media on a global advertising campaign starring hotel heiress and social influencers. Creative refers to the Y2K fashion trend and shows Hilton responding to fintech marketers’ payment and shopping services with “It’s Smooth”, a spin on the “It’s Hot” catchphrase she popularized in her early days. Ads and stills associated with the effort launched globally on February 27 and will appear throughout March across social, digital, broadcast and out-of-home channels. 11:11 a.m. The media handles the digital execution aspect, including posts from Hilton’s personal account. [Marketing Dive]

Wells Fargo Seeks to Catch Faster Growing Competitors by Increasing Engagement with Wealthy Clients

Wells Fargo is launching a new platform to increase digital engagement with its 2.6 million wealth management clients. The service, called LifeSync, enables users to set and track progress on financial goals, ingest content related to their plans, and contact their advisors. It will ship via a mobile app update at the end of March. Banks are racing to provide personalized experiences to their customers through digital channels, and these tools will allow Wells Fargo to increase satisfaction and loyalty. CEO Charlie Scharf highlighted wealth management as one of the company’s sources of growth, along with credit cards and investment banking, amid his efforts to overhaul banks and appease regulators. [CNBC]