Getting Clear on Automated Clearing House — What ACH Can Do For You

ACH, or “Automated Clearing House,” has been in the financial news of late, particularly in a couple of MarketWatch articles about ongoing changes to the system of payments, particularly in this era of instantaneous digits.

Cards in Hand: What Your Customers Like Using Charge and Debit For

Georgia-based Total Systems Services Inc., or TSYS, is out with their 2013 Consumer Payment Choice Study. And while the main purpose of the study was to find out how anxious, or ready, customers were to turn their mobile devices into wallets, though the secondary information in the survey — what types of plastic consumers prefer for which kinds of transactions — was perhaps just as illuminating.

“Mobile” Ambivalence: Consumers Want Ease of Use, Payment Options

Some interesting stats and trend-lines are emerging from a recently discussed Forrester Research study on  Smartphone-based sales in the coming years. The data notes that Smartphone-based retail numbers will hit $12 billion in 2013, all the way up to $31 billion in 2017. Those are exciting numbers, but it’s worth noting that the 2013 figure actually represents just 5% of current e-commerce sales, and the 2017 number clocks in at 9%.

“The Other Big Trend I’d Really Highlight Is The Move From Cash to Debit”

That may be the most germane quote — the “takeaway” if you will — from an interview that  Nitin Sumangali did regarding MasterCard Global Insights’ recent white paper on consumer spending habits and whether they’re still in a “recession mindset.”

The Fed Wants You to Help Make Payments Better

The Fed — that quasi-accountable Federal banking system that sets our interest rates, and determines how much cash liquidity we should all be awash in — now wants your help. Or at least,  they want your comments.

Online, or In-Store, Your Customers Shop With Devices In Hand

Online, or In-Store, Your Customers Shop With Devices In Hand The Blurring Lines Between Online and Offline Shopping Online marketing…

Changes in Attitude, and in Credit Score Latitude

Two news items this week show that your customers relationship to the credit cards they use to buy from you are changing. And also, more of them might be deemed worthy of that credit that previously thought.

Checks, Charges, and Changes

We always like it, here at the AVPS blog, when pieces of “separate” financial news combine to make a single, bigger story, or to provide a trendline.

That’s happened again this summer, when a story about checks — and then another — caught our eye. The first was an article written in anticipation of an upcoming report from the Federal Reserve, which charts consumer payment habits.

Late Card Payments Decline — New Customer Use Patterns Emerging?

In increasing signs of a perking — or at least, stabilizing — economy, comes the news that late payments on credit cards are at a 20-year low. According to an AP article, the credit reporting bureau TransUnion is reporting “ the second-lowest recorded since the second quarter of 1994, when the rate was 0.56 percent, and it’s running ahead of the historical average of 1.03 percent. The firm’s records go back to 1992.”