The overwhelming major of small business owners think taking a personal vacation benefits their business, including improved focus, creativity and motivation. According to a new survey by Marriott Rewards Premier Business Credit Card, only 25% of small business owners are able to do so, and nearly three-quarters worry about the work and responsibilities they are…
San Francisco’s super prized restaurant, The Stinking Rose, specializing in all things garlic, has leaped into the new normal of accepting Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) payments by becoming EMV certified, thanks to Elavon. U.S. Bank’s Elavon is a Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and integrated its Simplify EMV solution within Oracle’s Point-of-Sale…
Mobile money service users worldwide are set to break the 1 billion mark by the end of 2016, equating to 20% of unique mobile users. According to a new forecast from Strategy Analytics’ Mobile Payment Service, mobile money transactions will more than double from US$200 billion in value in 2016 to US$571 billion by the…
MasterCard is bringing ApplePay to its Swiss and Hong Kong customers and cardholders. MasterCard contactless (NFC) in Switzerland has more than 100,000 locations including Migros, Coop or Kiosks. More than 3 million contactless purchases are made every month, up 100% compared to the previous year. MasterCard is working with several Swiss banks and card issuers to enable…
Walmart Canada is gearing up for a war with Visa as the retail behemoth is now informing customers it will cease accepting Visa cards starting mid-July. Walmart Canada says Visa fees are “unacceptably high.” Walmart Canada says it pays over $100 million in fees annually to accept credit cards. WALMART NOTICE: Following an evaluation of…
Visa Transaction Advisor (VTA) users have reported a 54% decline in counterfeit fraud rates and a 51% decline in lost and stolen fraud chargeback rates. VTA extends the power of Visa’s global risk intelligence to fuel merchants, helping to reduce fraud at the gas pump. More than 35,000 gas stations are actively using the service…
In Other News: SIONIC (ION); VISA (survey); TECHNAVIO (MEMS); and BOFA (Alaska Airlines). SIONIC – Sionic Mobile reports ION Rewards for Apple Watch are now available for immediate free download in the App Store. For each mobile checkout, users instantly earn IONs that spend like cash and can be used at more than 100,000 merchant…
When it comes to the best customer experience the credit card industry averaged a 63% rating out of 20 industries. A new survey reveals USAA and Discover deliver the best customer experience in the credit card industry. According to the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, USAA and Discover topped the list. Out of the 11 credit…
Credit card profits have rebounded nicely during the recovery period following the Great Recession. According to R.K. Hammer’s Card Knowledge Factory, the pre-tax ROA (return on assets) for credit cards, during the Great Recession (2008-2009) averaged 2.88% (between 1.50% and 4.25%), while the S&P 500 averaged 1009, (2008 EOY at 903 and 2009 EOY at…
Credit spending growth slipped downward in May to 2.4% while SIG and PIN debit each increased slightly over April. According to aggregate same store sales activity in the First Data Point of Sale Network, was impacted by performance in Food Services & Drinking Places, Food & Beverage Stores, Travel, and General Merchandise Stores, each of…
Two recent surveys have found conflicting data regarding millennials. Bankrate says 64% of millennials do not own a credit card, while FICO consumer research shows that 83% of Millennials fully use credit cards to fund their lifestyle. The Bankrate study shows that credit card usage increases with age, wherein 55% of 30-49 year olds have…
In Other News: VISA (EU); ADS (BBBY); CHASE (Shell); and PAYMENT SAVVY (API). VISA – The European Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of Visa Europe Ltd. by Visa Inc. Visa has now received all regulatory approvals required for the acquisition. The transaction has already been cleared by both the Jersey and the Turkish competition…