Interchange fees

More lending regulation and interchange restrictions are on tap, says Intrepid Ventures' Eric Grover.

The pandemic has altered a variety of consumer behaviors, and that could make a difference in what sort of interchange and interest revenue financial institutions see in their credit and debit portfolios as they close out 2020.

Deposits have piled up, curtailing overdrafts and other fees. The trend could force lenders to find other ways to make money — or start cutting to the bone.

As the pandemic has stretched on further into 2020, with more lockdowns and economic disruption predicted heading into the fall and winter, continuing to offer fee waivers has not always proved financially viable.

Advocates of allowing merchants to add a surcharge to defray the cost of credit card interchange have had to overcome network bureaucracy, state laws and even ingrained habits among the merchants themselves.

The industry will have to grapple with pressure on net interest margins, interchange income and credit quality, said CUNA Mutual's Steve Rick during a virtual conference.

A new study from WalletHub finds nealry 40% of parents are planning to spend less in advance of the upcoming academic year.

Big banks will need to show how well they can withstand three different scenarios before they can pay dividends; the German payments company is still looking for $2 billion of missing funds.

Merchants prevailed in a long-running legal battle with Visa and Mastercard in the U.K. over whether interchange fees the payment card networks charged for years in Britain were anticompetitive, which could increase scrutiny on U.S. card interchange rates.

H&R Block intends to break off the relationship since the parties have been unable to restructure compensation to reflect new interchange fee caps at Axos.