Credit Card Debt in the U.S.

Credit cards have become indispensable tools for millions of consumers. In this episode of Truth in Data, we look at the level of credit card debt in the U.S.

The Business Model Behind Buy Now, Pay Later Apps

Buy now, pay later companies like Affirm, Klarna and Afterpay boomed during the pandemic as consumers looked for an accessible alternative to credit cards. But even as their customer bases grow, these companies are struggling to turn a profit. 

PayPal, Apple and even credit card companies themselves are trying to get in on the action. 

WSJ explains how these services work, how they differ from traditional credit card payments and why some consumers have concerns.

How do card networks operate? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 3

From 11:FS. Mastercard and Visa are the two biggest credit card networks in the world. But what is a card network? How did they begin? How do they operate?

What are payments rails? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 2

From 11:FS. Ever wanted to know what’s going on behind the scenes every time we make a payment? We break down what a payments rail actually is, the different types, and why achieving real time payments is so difficult.

Is 'Buy Now, Pay Later' the Future of Consumer Lending?

Some view soaring BNPL as an existential threat to credit cards and traditional bank loans. Others argue there are strong opportunities.

Read the full article HERE

Why CBDC's may not be such a good idea

Samson Williams sets out 3 reasons why CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) may not be such a good idea.

• 96% of current currency is already digital.
• Digital Currencies, as conceptualized under CBDC would be programmable and “programmable” money is a problem.
• Cash is King.   

Read the full article HERE. 

The problem with Artificial Intelligence ….. it’s artificial

There is a problem with artificial intelligence and that is because it is artificial. No amount of coding can replace human intelligence and more than that, intuition; the ability to see the bigger picture and to make the correct assumptions and decisions from a myriad of factors. Hence the major concerns that the overhyped driverless automobile will never really become a reality.


Let us look at a much simpler example, something that happened to me today and that has left me totally frustrated, with the amount of time wasted and the sheer incompetence of the technologists and the lack of understanding of business.


A close relative indicated that a certain Apple accessory would be a suitable gift for a coming birthday and given that the closest Apple Store to where I live is some 50 km distant (not to mention all the restrictions relative to the pandemic), I sat myself down to order the item online. I was quite happy to pay the exorbitant delivery charge as it was still cheaper than the cost of petrol, parking costs and the road tolls involved in getting there in person.


Great. I find the item I want, I enter my name and delivery address, mobile number and confirm that this is all ok and then proceed to the checkout. I enter my credit card details and my national ID number (a requirement in the country I live in), card expiry date and CSV number and hit enter ….. and?


Well then my problems began. A second or two later a message pops up on my screen “Thank you for submitting your card details. As soon as the credit card is authorised we will advise you”.


Odd that. I am used to getting an immediate confirmation of payment. After all, the amount is tiny too, in the region of $90. This was at 1:30 pm.


Five minutes later I get an SMS on my mobile with a link asking me to do a verification on the credit card details. The verification consists of confirming that it is my own credit card and confirming my address. The address verification is semi-automated. As soon as I begin entering the name of the town the system pulls up a list of towns to choose from. The same happens with the street names. All very smart. Then I have to enter my national ID number, and press submit.


At 5:07 pm I get another SMS. Big problem, I am told. Some of my credit card details are WRONG! Which ones? My address and my mobile number. Apple cannot process my order. They have the gall to give me the telephone number of the credit card company.


Well the details are NOT wrong! I have lived at my current address for 14 years now and it's the same one that shows on my credit card account that arrives in the post each month. I have had the same mobile number since mid-1999!


I try to telephone Apple, but after hanging on for what seemed an age I give up. My fuming is slowly rising to boiling point. It's then that I notice that the notification came through to me via WhatApp and possibly gives me a way to communicate with the folk who don't answer the phone. So I craft a diplomatic enquiry.


17:20 <This is wrong. Please call me>

17:54 <I am waiting for a reply...... Please!!!!>


I have just about given up when at 8:16 pm I get the following reply.

<credit card company claims they have different contact details of the credit card owner>


What follows becomes a comedy of errors.


I send a reply together with a copy of the address section of the last credit card account, clearly showing the same address, but to no avail. I am told that Apple can do nothing. I must contact the credit card company.


So, seeing that they won’t (or can’t) take my money I ask them to cancel the order. Yes, they can do that, they tell me, BUT am I aware that there is a 5% cancellation fee, with a minimum of $29? NO I am not. How, I wonder, are they going to collect the cancellation fee as they can’t charge my account (or can they if it suits them)?


I have no intention of contacting the credit card company and no, I am not cancelling the order either. So much for Artificial Intelligence which is clearly at the back of all this - one machine talking to another with not intuition. Any natural intelligence would have seen the stupidity of the two errors and adjusted for them.


Perhaps the paranormal will help and someone at Apple can organize a seance to contact Steve Jobs and ask him for a solution.

World Payments Report for 2020 just published by Capgemini

Capgemimi has just announced the publication of its “World Payments Report 2020”. The report is the leading source for data, trends and insights on global and regional non-cash payments, the key regulatory and industry initiatives, and today’s dynamic payments environment especially in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new edition analyzes how the payments industry can respond to evolving retail and B2B customer expectations and highlights the need for payment firms to rapidly prioritize technology transformation in order to become digital masters and stay competitive.

You can download it directly from Capgemini. Click HERE.

6 Features Merchants Need from Payment Gateways for Transaction Processing

A new research report from Mercator Advisory Group, “Gateways Become Rising Force in U.S. Payments Industry, Part 1: A Market Overview”, provides analysis and insight on the current state of the U.S. payments gateway market, supported by a Mercator Advisory Group e-commerce sales data forecast.

 

Credit Card 101

What Does a Payment Gateway Do? Credit card processing and security can be overwhelming. A secure gateway can help simplify the process and protect customers' credit card data from breaches.

Mobile payments – why the latest technology may not be such a good idea just yet

By Stanley Epstein

In a recent article (‘Reflections on the fintech revolution’) I referred to technology vendors who constantly harassed the financial services industry with a range of new technologies and tech-solutions leaving it up to the banks to find the problem for their solution to solve.

The reality was that there are dozens of problems and for the most part they are all partially solvable by these new technologies. In truth however many of these solutions are simply just not viable. This is either as a pure business proposition or because somewhere along the line the technology is not quite as perfect as one is led to believe.

Just look at the modern banking scene with its miracle device – the mobile phone.

The mobile phone has, among many other uses given us mobile banking and mobile payments. Many people confuse mobile banking with mobile payments, so let’s put some of the myths to rest before we take another step.

Mobile payments are having either stored value or an electronic version of your credit/debit card on your mobile phone. Nothing really new here – just a different human/system interface in the form of your mobile phone.

Mobile banking is simply putting your old Internet or online-banking onto your mobile as well. Add to it some of the abilities that the technologies on your smartphone gives you, for example a digital camera to image your cheque for deposit, or you for that matter to have a live chat with your own personal banker, plus all the old standbys of bank balances, statements, transfers and payments and the like and – hey presto! We now have a ‘new’ animal called ‘digital banking’ (which of course can all be done from your old fashioned desktop or shiny new tablet too).

About a year ago Apple Inc. announced the development of its mobile payment solution, Apple Pay. Apple Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service that allows users to make payments using limited range of Apple iPhone models. Apple Pay will work with Visa's PayWave, MasterCard's PayPass, and American Express's ExpressPay contactless terminals. Users do have to preregister their credit cards for inclusion in the service. Once this is done the service allows use of the credit card or cards without the plastic needing to be present.

Apple Pay is not a new payment system but simply a new way of presenting ones credit/debit card with some high tech validation routines thrown in.

So-far-so good. No need for bulky physical wallets crammed with dozens of plastic cards. Stick them in your iPhone and you are set to go…or are you?

So you don’t have an iPhone (or the right model). Well, two options present themselves. Buy an iPhone or wait until a similar Android mobile payment mechanism appears. Samsung has just unveiled ‘Samsung Pay’. While similar it is not the same as Apple Pay; and it has yet to be launched. No doubt many Samsung mobile models won’t work with their new payment service. So one way or another it’s going to cost you a lot of money.

Other gremlins are lurking too. Battery life on your iPhone (or other smartphone) could prove to be a major headache. After the recent UK launch of Apple Pay TfL (Transport for London) issued a warning to tube, train and bus passengers paying with Apple Pay on iPhones and Apple Watches not to let their batteries go flat or they could get stuck at gates and face penalty fares. Other problems were in evidence too like the speed at which Apple Pay operates and the time it took for the system to authenticate the user and open the gates. This is slower than the less high-tech Oyster card.

As for me? Well I am going to hang onto my credit card a while longer yet.

 

Just How Vulnerable Are Mobile-Payment Apps to Hack Attacks?

From Mobile Marketing Watch –

“Making a purchase or other payment is not like it used to be. These days, cash and credit cards aren’t the necessities they once were because alternative-payment options are just a tap or two away on a mobile device through apps such as Google Wallet, Apple Pay, Square, Levelup, Kash and PayPal.

But just how secure are those mobile-payment apps and who makes sure that the companies behind them are doing all they can to keep your personal data safe?”

Read more>> 

Set up Android Pay on your mobile device

From Tech Republic -

“You might have noticed that a new app has been pushed to your device. That app, which takes the place of Google Wallet, is the long-anticipated Android Pay. If you don't happen to find it on your device (you may not if you never installed Google Wallet), you can easily get it from the Google Play Store.

This new payment app requires Android 4.4 or higher, works with NFC (so you'll need an NFC-equipped device), and makes it very easy to use your credit or debit card.

Here are the steps to install Android Pay…”

Read more>>