U.S. Consumers Want Government Out of Debit Card Payments, As Merchants Are Pocketing Savings
Morning Consult conducted a national survey of 1,999 registered voters in the U.S. from Oct. 13 -15, 2016, and came up with data that shows that more than six in ten consumers want a repeal of the merchant markup, known commonly as the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Act. As a part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the Durbin Amendment lowered debit card interchange fees — charges that stores pay banks every time a customer swipes a debit card to make a purchase — costing consumers an estimated $4 bln annually. According to the Federal Reserve, a transaction involves five main parties: the....
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Nearly every physical retailer is accepting in-store card payments, either through credit, debit or bank cards. Most consumers have access to these types of payment in the Western world, and cashless payments are slowly but surely becoming the norm in several countries. But when merchants are not receiving the funds from these card payments due to the third-party company processing these transactions, it becomes clear once again why alternatives such as Bitcoin are so valuable. Depending on which part of the world you live in, paying with a bank-issued debit card – not Visa or Mastercard –....
Bitcoin merchant services provider BitPay has introduced its latest product offering, a bitcoin-funded Visa debit card. The prepaid bitcoin debit card allows users to spend their bitcoin anywhere Visa is accepted. The BitPay Card is currently available to customers anywhere in the United States. BitPay’s core business lies in providing services for....
Coinbase has introduced the first U. S. -issued bitcoin debit card, the Shift Card, in partnership with Shift Payments. The Shift Card is a Visa debit card that currently allows Coinbase users in 24 states to spend bitcoin both online and at physical points of sale at more than 38 million merchants worldwide. "Merchant adoption has come a long way over the past few years, but it's still difficult for people to make regular purchases with bitcoin," notes the Coinbase announcement. "Buying gas at a local gas station or groceries at a neighborhood grocery store with bitcoin has not been....
Coinbase is now offering its merchant partners a way to incentivize bitcoin payments with a new feature that will allow businesses to extend discounts of up to 25% to consumers. The California-based company framed the move as one that will provide merchants with a dynamic way to incentivize their customers to shift away from traditional payment methods. As the costs of a credit or debit card transactions fall largely on the merchant - who may find themselves charging more to make up for these expenditures - a discounting feature can make it more enticing for customers to spend bitcoin.....
Unreasonably high card fees continue to be borne by retailers and ultimately by consumers. Merchants are paying billions of dollars to have issuers process their debit and credit card transactions. The high transaction fees issuers charge retailers is despite the 42 percent cost reduction card issuers have achieved over the past five years. Another issue....