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Despite efforts from payment providers, point-of-sale (POS) adoption remains a sticking point: 40.1% of crypto owners who don’t use it for payments cite lack of acceptance as a top barrier, according to our August 2024 US Cash-Back Credit Cards Emerging Features survey. But that’s beginning to change as more merchants embrace stablecoins.

Roughly 7 in 10 US retailers (68%) said that ecommerce theft and fraud were a bigger concern in 2024 than the year prior, per an NRF report. 1 in 4 higher-income shoppers reported engaging in some kind of first-party fraud during the holiday season—such as disputing legitimate credit card charges or falsely claiming packages were stolen—compared with just 11% of low-income consumers, according to a survey

Why this matters: Synchrony’s earnings data offers insights into the state of private label and co-brand cards. And given private-label cards are often starter cards for consumers with thinner credit histories, it also offers insights into how that demographic is faring. Some of these consumers are struggling to pay off their balances due to private-label ³¦²¹°ù»å²õ’ record-high interest rates.

Given the success of its long-standing Sam’s Club card, the issuer could be in the running to restart Walmart’s program

Comparatively, the credit card default rate was 8.7%. Consumers with no FICO scores had a default rate of 4.1%, while 3.5% of deep subprime consumers defaulted. The CFPB attributes the stark divide between BNPL and credit ³¦²¹°ù»å²õ’ default rates to structural repayment differences. Most BNPL providers require automatic repayments.

The card issuer plans to expand it across its portfolio of co-brand credit cards. It’s also planning to let eligible cardholders view and redeem their rewards directly in Apple Pay later this year. How we got here: Apple Pay started partnering with BNPL players like Affirm shortly before shutting down its in-house Apple Pay Later offering.

´¡±è±è±ô±ð’s credit card, BNPL product, and savings account put it in direct competition with financial services incumbents. With 130.1 million US iOS users loyal to its unsurpassed UX and dominant digital platform, the threat will only grow.

Klarna’s consumer credit loss rate was 0.44% for the first nine months of 2024. (However, this isn’t a perfect comparison with credit card issuers—Klarna calculates its loss rate as a fraction of GMV rather than loans). Despite losses from the BNPL industry remaining low, it doesn’t mean BNPL habits aren’t a cause for concern.

Its main rival, WeChat Pay, has made similar moves, like letting users link their foreign credit cards to the wallet. Alipay and WeChat Pay should continue to benefit from this international expansion as travel in and out of China gets a boost from the country’s friendlier visa policies and a rebound in long-haul travel.

The news: Food delivery app Grubhub reported a massive data breach that compromised the names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, and partial credit card numbers of its customers. The platform, which serves over 32 million customers, 375,000 merchants and 200,000 delivery providers, said the breach was traced to a compromised account used by a third-party vendor that has since been terminated.

US card fraud losses will remain sky-high despite slowing growth as credit cards and card-not-present fraud drive risk for merchants, issuers, and consumers alike—pushing new technology adoption and consumer education strategies to lower risk.

But the data suggests a full credit card recovery will likely take longer than expected

The news: The Capital One-Discover merger could lead to frustration when cardholders try to use their cards internationally, per the Daily Mail. While merchant acceptance of Discover credit cards in the US is on par with that of Visa’s and Mastercard’s, Discover’s international acceptance is more limited.

But growing credit card borrowing comes with risks for issuers as delinquencies also rise

Forty-two percent of adults in Latin America don’t have a credit card, per BCG’s analysis of World Bank data. And less than a third overall have access to alternative credit options like loans and investments, according to Mastercard and AMI. For banks seeking growth, the rise of Latin America’s consumer class signals a surge in demand for financial products and services.

Elevated interest rates have consumers wary of charging big-ticket purchases on their credit cards, and the frozen housing market has dulled demand for items like refrigerators and TVs. Bankruptcies and liquidations pile up. Last year saw 51 retail bankruptcies—double the number in 2023.

But for non-revolvers, the ³¦²¹°ù»å²õ’ fixed monthly fees could end up being more costly. And given current iterations of these cards carry lower credit limits, they could end up hurting consumers’ credit scores by encouraging them to revolve a large portion of their credit limit to make the card worth it.

As consumers remain plagued by a higher cost of living, banks will see reduced credit card interchange fees, lending, and deposits. They’ll rein in ad spending once more to ride out the storm. Video and social ad spending is surging across financial services.

This can make it a more attractive network for issuers to partner with, given credit card rewards can make or break customer retention

This could make it harder for riskier consumers to get approved for credit cards in the future