Cash, plastic or hand? Amazon plans to pay with a wave

Amazon wants to make your hand your credit card. The tech giant is creating payment terminals that could be placed in physical stores and allow shoppers to tie their card information to their hands. They could then pay for their purchases with their hands, without having to pull out a card or a phone. The company plans to offer the terminals to cafes, fast food outlets and other merchants who do a lot of business with their customers. Amazon, like other tech companies, is trying to integrate further into the financial lives of consumers, leaving banks and card networks on high alert. [The Wall Street Journal]

110 million consumers could see their credit score change under new FICO score

Americans who are struggling to repay their debt could see their FICO credit score drop in the future, especially if they miss payments. The FICO 10 model will begin to incorporate consumer debt levels into their scoring model. FICO estimates that around 110 million consumers will see a change of less than 20 points in their score under the new credit score model. Overall, around 80 million consumers will see a score change of 20 points or more in either direction, up or down, according to FICO. Those who fall behind in their loan repayments are more likely to see their score drop. [CNBC]

Senators nominate cybersecurity coordinators for each state

A bipartisan group of senators want to establish a cybersecurity leader for each state to increase states’ capacities to respond to cyber attacks. The Cybersecurity State Coordinator Act proposes to create a federally funded program that would create a cybersecurity coordinator position for each state. The program would be part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of Homeland Security. The 50 coordinators-employees of the CISA-will be responsible for working with all levels of government to prepare for, prevent and respond to attacks. The state coordinator would act as a security risk advisor, point of contact and facilitator between federal and non-federal organizations, including state and local governments, schools and hospitals. [Decipher]

Square pushes merchants to use its prepaid card

Square launched the Square Card about a year ago, giving merchants instant access to their Square account balance through a prepaid debit card. Square Card has retained the same value proposition for merchants since its launch: instant access to your Square account balance and a 2.75% discount on purchases made at other Square merchants. But after a successful 2019, it looks like Square is going to become more aggressive in pushing merchants to sign up and use Square Card. His first move is to increase the instant deposit fee from 1% to 1.5%, a decision he made on the consumer side in 2018. The move is expected to push more merchants to sign up for Square Card and to use it more often for less. instant access to their funds. [The Motley Fool]

Many millennials are drowning in credit card debt

We constantly hear about millennials and student loan debt. But a 2019 Northwestern Mutual study finds that credit card debt is the biggest source of debt for one in four millennials. The most expensive type of debt is credit card debt. The interest rate is significantly higher than on a mortgage, car loan or student loan. The survey found that two in 10 millennials don’t even know the interest rate they are being charged on these outstanding balances, so they may not realize how much this debt is costing them. [KOMO News]

JPMorgan Chase ranked best mobile repository user experience

Cornerstone Advisors released the 2020 Mobile Deposit Benchmark Report which ranked the top 20 US-based banks based on their mobile deposit user experience. According to the study, more than half (54%) of mobile banking customers have used the check deposit capability of their mobile banking app in the past year. Two-thirds of respondents aged 18 to 24 said mobile deposit is now their preferred method of depositing paper checks. There’s a new leader at the top of the dash: JPMorgan Chase. The bank knocked Capital One off the pedestal, which it topped for the previous two rankings. [Forbes]

The cards are in favor of Capital One

The content of Capital One Financial’s quarterly portfolio is often taken as an indicator of the state of consumer lending. This indicator looks like a green light at the moment. Against the grain of other banks, A capital letter increased its net interest income by a relatively high rate of 4% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year. [The Wall Street Journal]

History of the credit card: origins, laws and chronology

You cannot discuss a story of credit card without marking the name of Frank McNamara, less known as the unofficial founder of the credit card. McNamara, the founder of Diners Club, the first card provider, created the credit card out of frustration after dining out and forgetting his wallet in 1949. Diners Club managed to attract 10,000 members to New York alone this past year. first year, and 20,000 new users, all of whom could count on an increasing number of participating restaurants and hotels from the start. [The Street]

Facial recognition hardware can secure the future of mobile commerce

As mobile banking security adopts new forms of authentication technology, a report from Juniper Research found that facial recognition is likely to become the fastest growing use of biometric hardware on smartphones. The report says facial recognition will reach over 800 million mobiles by 2024, up from around 96 million in 2019. [Mobile Payments Today]

Foreign merchants are actively exploring Chinese mobile payments

An Alipay and Nielsen investigation found that foreign merchants are actively exploring digital operations through Chinese mobile payments to increase sales and customer traffic. This is demonstrated by almost 78% of UK merchants surveyed, saying they are likely to recommend Alipay to their peers, especially for using digital operations to improve efficiency and bottom line. [The Paypers]

Mastercard uses Marqeta for rapid issuance of Fintech cards in Europe

MasterCard works with the American card issuing platform Marqeta to provide a program for European fintechs to rapidly deploy new applications. The project plans to provide a simplified, developer-friendly path for Mastercard issuers to create, test and launch digital card programs, providing instant access to a sandbox and fully published API documentation. Marqeta has built its reputation in the United States, giving companies like Square, Doordash, Kabbage and Affirm the tools to rapidly expand their card issuance programs. [Finextra]