Don’t pay for subscriptions and not using a virtual card
About 48% of U.S. adults have signed up for a free trial of a subscription service and forgotten to cancel, in line with a brand new CNET survey. If this error is made repeatedly, it will possibly end in a whole bunch or more per yr. But there’s a straightforward solution that may enable you to avoid this headache: using a virtual bank card. Many virtual cards can only be used once, making them ideal free of charge subscriptions. If you forget to cancel, the subscription shouldn’t have the option to be charged to your virtual card number. And even in case your virtual card number may be used multiple times, you possibly can often block your card to forestall recent charges or replace it with a brand new virtual card number. [CNET]
It’s a wise idea to get a free subscription to a service using a virtual bank card
GM is negotiating to shift its bank card business from Goldman to Barclays
Goldman Sachs is in talks to transfer its bank card program from General Motors to Barclays. This could be a significant step within the Wall Street bank’s withdrawal from consumer lending. Barclays is the leading candidate to take over the bank card issuer, which has assets value about $2 billion, and will strike a cope with GM by the summer. Other suitors, including US Bancorp and Bread Financial, were in the combo but recently dropped out. There is not any guarantee Barclays will complete a deal and one other suitor could emerge again. The company began issuing GM bank cards in 2022 and has struggled to draw customers. Goldman executives were increasingly frustrated by what they felt was a scarcity of effort by GM automobile dealers to advertise the cardboard. [The Wall Street Journal]
Capping bank card fees would hurt malls probably the most
If a consumer fails to pay their bank card bill on time, they might be assessed a late payment fee averaging $32. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau calls this a junk fee. And the Biden administration is attempting to crack down on that by capping the late fee that banks charge bank card users at $8 per transaction. This rule comes into effect on May 14th. That is perhaps good for consumers, but banks do not like it. And it’s probably secure to say that neither are retailers like Nordstrom, Macy’s and Kohl’s, stores which might be already going through a tricky time. Credit cards have develop into a vital think about the underside line of malls. One analyst estimates that Macy’s derives nearly half of its operating make the most of its bank card program. When you think that of bank cards, you would possibly consider one among the foremost issuers like Visa or Mastercard, or perhaps banks. But bank cards were invented by retailers. [Marketplace]
One in 4 consumers prefer bank cards from local banks or credit unions
Credit unions (CUs) and community banks proceed to achieve traction in the patron bank card space, in line with PYMNTS Intelligence. At one point, 76% of consumers turned to national banks to issue their primary bank cards; now only about 68% do that. The study found that if given this feature, 24% of consumers would like a more local option, similar to: B. Their credit union or community bank would issue the first bank card they use. CUs do best with high-spending revolvers: those that pay for greater than 40% of their purchases with bank cards and typically carry a balance. 19% prefer credit unions to issue recent cards. Close behind are the 2 low-spending personalities, each of whom put lower than 40% of their spending on primary cards and either repay their balance in full every month or not. 18% of low spenders prefer credit unions to issue their primary cards. Nearly 9% of every segment prefers community banks. [PYMNTS]
SMBs are increasingly choosing real-time payments, leaving bank cards behind as the popular alternative
In the healthcare sector, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly turning to RTP payments for A2A transfers, recording a rise over the past yr in comparison with bank cards and checks. Real-time payments are the popular alternative for 83% of SMB healthcare providers, outperforming any single payment method when it comes to usage. 38% of healthcare SMBs identified a real-time payment method as their primary payment method, with fast bank account-to-account payments topping the list at 15%, closely followed by fast PayPal at 13%. Healthcare SMEs usually tend to adopt a real-time payment system as their primary payment method in the event that they are affiliated with a national or regional bank moderately than a neighborhood bank or credit union (CU). This trend is especially pronounced amongst national banks: 55% of healthcare SMEs select a real-time payment rail, followed by 38% for regional banks and just 24% for local banks and CUs. [Tear Sheet]
Here’s how much bank card debt the common American has
The average American household currently owes $7,951 Credit card debt, in line with the newest available data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Census Bureau. But that is just the common. The amount of bank card debt also varies significantly by generation, with Generation X and Baby Boomers carrying probably the most bank card debt per person on average. This ends in: Generation X (ages 42 to 57): $8,134; Baby Boomers (ages 58 to 76): $6,245; Millennials (ages 26 to 41): $5,649; Silent Generation (age 77+): $3,316; Generation Z (ages 19 to 25): $2,854. [CBS News]
Buy now, pay later lender confirms he’s pushing for elective medical procedures
Fintech lender Affirm has begun quietly offering buy now, pay later loans for elective medical procedures, in a significant move beyond its core e-commerce market. Over the past yr, Affirm has greater than doubled the variety of elective retailers in its network, reaching around 130 at the top of 2023. The San Francisco-based company hopes to satisfy growing consumer demand for financing for cosmetic treatments, dental services, medical devices and veterinary services Procedure. [Reuters]
Mastercard: Tokenized transactions grow by 50% yr over yr
Mastercard said in its latest earnings report on Wednesday that the shift from money to digital payments is gaining strength, with contactless and tokenized transactions proving a powerful tailwind. He said that Tap to Phone is lively in greater than 100 markets and that tokenization creates a “flywheel effect” as “reduced fraud, higher approval rates and a better consumer experience drive more transactions and volume to the Mastercard network.” Tokenized transactions increased by 50% year-on-year. Approximately one in 4 transactions on the Mastercard network is tokenized today. [PYMNTS]
Are U.S. Lenders Offering Less Loans to Communities Highly Affected by Opioids?
A brand new study, “The Opioid Epidemic and Consumer Credit Supply: Evidence from Credit Cards,” found that to account for increased credit risk, bank lenders significantly reduced the provision of credit (by 10%) to opioid-affected populations. (In fact, the authors found that individuals in counties with high opioid use had more days overdue bank card payments.) When banks pitched bank card offers to consumers in counties with high opioid use, they charged the next rate of interest on the bank card debt (1–2 percentage points higher), reduced the credit limit (a decrease of 12-21%) and offered fewer rewards (a decrease of 4%). In counties with high opioid use, loan conditions were worse for certain groups, including people earning lower than $30,000 per yr, those under age 25, and minorities (particularly Black Americans). [Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia]
OJ Simpson’s Bank of America bank card auctioned for $10,000
OJ Simpson’s Bank of America bank card was auctioned just over two weeks after his death. The business account card, which expired in 2023, fetched $10,675 at Goldin Auctions, giving the vendor a large profit after purchasing it on eBay for just $70. But the vendor doesn’t keep the ultimate sale amount all to himself. He’s doing something good by donating 10% of proceeds to the National Network to End Domestic Violence. [TMZ]
