Amazon has revamped its credit card line with new features, names and looks. The Prime Visa and Amazon Visa boast increased sign-up bonuses and instant access to rewards. To get the Prime Visa, users must have an eligible Prime membership, either $139 annually or $14.99 monthly.
Goldman Sachs is reportedly looking to end its partnership with Apple and is in talks with American Express to take over. This could include the Apple Card, Apple Pay Later and Apple Savings account as well as other credit cards it offers, such as one for General Motors.
The fierce debate about credit card costs is escalating in Washington. Legislation is being proposed to lower the fees merchants pay to accept credit card payments and the fees big banks and card networks collect. It has also highlighted issues like how credit card purchases at gun stores are categorized and how banks parcel out rewards points like airline miles.
Democrats have asked the nation’s consumer finance watchdog to take action against medical credit cards such as CareCredit. They say these cards’ deferred interest features can lead to consumers paying high interest rates after an initial promotional period has ended.
The 30-plus-days delinquency rate for major US card issuers tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence was unchanged at 1.11% in May, and 32 basis points higher than a year ago. The average delinquency rate of the six major card issuers in the last 12 months was 0.97%.
Mastercard has introduced its Engage program to help bring cryptocurrency card programs to market and create crypto-to-fiat conversion capabilities. It identifies and builds partnerships with companies that issue cards or are bank identification number sponsors looking to launch a crypto card.
Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Ant Group have announced that they will allow users to link international credit cards to their platforms. This is a long-awaited move for foreign visitors who had previously been unable to use credit cards in the country.
Bitcoin has had a good start to the year, with the cryptocurrency now at around $31,000, 87% higher than the start of this year. Other digital assets have also had an impressive first half of the year.
Overall, it has been an eventful year for credit cards, with new features, legislation and partnerships coming to the fore. Despite rising interest rates, borrowers have held out, while the debate over credit card costs shows no signs of slowing down.
