Retailers hate it once you buy big things in your laptop
Shoppers intend to make greater purchases on their laptops. Retailers want them to do more on their phones. Lately, retailers are increasingly the winners. Mobile e-commerce has been touted as the long run of looking for years. Online stores, in addition to airlines and hotels, have been improving and pushing apps or mobile-optimized web sites to grab our attention—and access our wallets. Through push notifications, mobile-only offers and other means, sellers can entice customers to make quick, unplanned purchases. It’s finally working, because last holiday season, mobile sales surpassed desktop for the primary time, reaching 61% on Christmas Day, data from Adobe shows. The extra hassle of the laptop makes shoppers more cautious: Many people say they were too quick on the phone and by accident bought the flawed airline tickets. [The Wall Street Journal]
Retailers can entice customers to make quick, unplanned purchases via mobile devices
CFPB desires to ban medical debt from credit reports
The CFPB wants to scale back the financial consequences of unpaid medical debt, a growing problem within the U.S. This week, the agency proposed a rule that will remove medical debt from most credit reports. This would improve the credit scores of tens of millions of Americans and stop debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to pressure people into paying bills for debts they could not have. In announcing the proposed rule, the CFPB said the brand new rule would help improve credit scores and loan approvals, prevent credit bureaus from passing on medical debt to lenders, and stop lenders from making credit decisions based on medical information. [Consumers’ Checkbook]
Federal Reserve keeps rates of interest stable, lowers forecast to 1 rate cut in 2024
The Federal Reserve kept rates of interest at a 23-year high on Wednesday, while also lowering its forecast for rate cuts this yr to at least one from three previously. At the top of its two-day meeting, the central bank decided to maintain its benchmark rate of interest in a spread of 5.25 to five.50 percent. The benchmark rate has been in that range since July 2023. At the identical time, Fed officials raised their joint forecast for the variety of cuts expected next yr. They now expect there to be a mean of 4 more rate cuts in 2025, up from the previous forecast of three. [Yahoo Finance]
Credit card arrears are increasing
The variety of seriously delinquent bank card debts is at its highest level in greater than a decade, and other people under 35 are struggling greater than other age groups to pay their bills. The proportion of Credit card debt The share of severely delinquent bank card debt, that’s, that which is greater than 90 days overdue, rose to 10.7% in the primary quarter of 2024, in keeping with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A yr ago, only 8.2% of bank card debt was severely delinquent. [Associated Press]
Affirm Buy Now, Pay Later loans will likely be integrated into Apple Pay later this yr
Apple device users will soon give you the chance to make use of Affirm’s buy now, pay later credit to make purchases. Affirm will likely be available as an option for US Apple Pay users on iPhones and iPads later this yr. The move is a lift for Affirm and the buy now, pay later sector typically. When Apple unveiled its own BNPL product last yr, investors were nervous that the tech giant would crowd out standalone providers like Affirm. But the proven fact that Apple has decided to incorporate Affirm products in its ecosystem as well shows that the fintech company has something unique to supply. [CNBC]
Visa relaunches SavingsEdge discount program for small businesses
Visa has relaunched its SavingsEdge program designed to assist small businesses. The SavingsEdge program now includes an updated program website with more features and functionality, in addition to a whole bunch of additional merchant offers via Instant Coupons and money back offers in additional categories. SMBs can even receive real-time notifications when participating cardholders earn money back on qualifying transactions, in addition to a money back tracker to see how much they’ve saved. [PYMNTS]
CFPB: Buy now, pay later products must be treated like bank cards
The CFPB will apply bank card rules to Buy Now, Pay Later products. As a result, BNPL lenders must follow the federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z rules that apply to bank cards, in keeping with an announcement from the CFPB. This means consumers will likely be granted some necessary legal protections and rights that apply to traditional bank cards. These include the suitable to dispute charges and to hunt a refund from the lender after returning a product purchased through a BNPL service. A CFPB report published in 2022 found that greater than 13% of BNPL transactions included a disputed charge or a return. [Fox Business]
New Wells Fargo Attune Card: 4% cashback categories, $100 bonus and more with no annual fee
The Wells Fargo Attune World Elite Mastercard currently offers recent cardholders a welcome bonus of $100 money back once they spend $500 on qualifying purchases in the primary three months. New cardholders also receive 0% introductory interest on purchases in the course of the first 12 months of account opening. With the Attune, you will earn a powerful 4% money back in categories we rarely see on rewards cards: personal care purchases, including gym memberships, fitness classes, salons and spas; select sports, leisure and entertainment items, including live shows and sporting events, gardening and flower shops, pet supplies, pet boarding and grooming; and on “high-impact” and environmentally friendly purchases like public transit, electric vehicle charging stations and choose thrift stores. Cardholders earn 1% on other purchases. [CNBC]
Sacramento man convicted of nationwide Target gift card fraud
A person convicted in a multimillion-dollar, nationwide Target gift card scam has been sentenced after his arrest in Sacramento. The verdict was handed down Tuesday against Ningning Sun after he was found to be a “runner” for an alleged organized crime network that ran Target gift card fraud from the West Coast, Midwest and Deep South. “The cards were in bags marked ‘completed’ and ‘incomplete,'” the district attorney said. “The cards in the ‘completed’ bag contained gift cards that had been tampered with and were intended to be returned to storage so money could be diverted from them once a customer purchased them. The cards in the ‘incomplete’ bags contained cards that had not yet been tampered with.” [Fox 40]
