Tag Archives: credit

Amazon UK won’t ban Visa credit cards on January 19th after all

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Last November, Amazon notified customers that it would stop accepting Visa credit cards in the UK as of January 19th, 2022, blaming the high fees Visa charges for credit card transactions. Now, the company has backtracked on that, telling customers via email that it will continue accepting Visa cards, at least for the time being.

"The expected change regarding the use of Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk will no longer take place on January 19," an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget. " We are working closely with Visa on a potential solution that will enable customers to continue using their Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk."

The dispute has been simmering for a while, with Amazon previously accusing Visa of charging high credit card transaction fees, and Visa saying that Amazon was "threatening to restrict consumer choice in the future." Both companies, global leaders of their respective industries, previously said that they were attempting to work towards a solution. 

Amazon didn't elaborate further on its statement but also didn't set another deadline — so presumably UK buyers will be able to use their Visa cards for the foreseeable future. 

Amazon says it will stop accepting UK-issued Visa credit cards on January 19th

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Amazon has escalated its fight with Visa: Starting on January 19th, 2022, the e-commerce giant will stop accepting Visa credit cards issued in the UK. It notified Amazon UK customers in an email about the change, blaming the high fees Visa charges for credit card transactions. Buyers can at least continue using their Visa credit cards throughout the holidays, but after that, they'd have to switch to a Visa debit card or another credit card like a Mastercard or an AMEX.

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement:

"The cost of accepting card payments continues to be an obstacle for businesses striving to provide the best prices for customers. These costs should be going down over time with technological advancements, but instead they continue to stay high or even rise. As a result of Visa’s continued high cost of payments, we regret that Amazon.co.uk will no longer accept UK-issued Visa credit cards as of 19 January, 2022. Customers can continue to use all debit cards (including Visa debit cards) and other non-Visa credit cards to shop on Amazon.co.uk. With the rapidly changing payments landscape around the world, we will continue innovating on behalf of customers to add and promote faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment options to our stores across the globe."

Meanwhile, a Visa spokesperson said the company is disappointed that "Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice in the future." They added: "When consumer choice is limited, nobody wins." They also said that Visa is working towards a resolution with the e-commerce giant so that cardholders can keep on using their UK-issued Visa credit cards on the website "without Amazon-imposed restrictions come January 2022." It's worth noting that Amazon has a much better relationship with other credit card providers. The e-commerce giant currently has a partnership with Mastercard for consumer credit cards and with AMEX for business cards in the UK.

The companies may be engaging in a public war in an effort to get better terms from each other. Amazon has been putting pressure on the credit card brand over the past few months and started imposing a 0.5 percent surcharge on Visa credit card purchases on its Singapore website on September 15th. A month-and-a-half after that, Amazon also started imposing a surcharge on Visa transactions in Australia. In both instances, the company offered customers a gift card (AU$20 and SG$30) to add an alternative payment method that isn't a Visa credit card.

TurboTax maker Intuit buys Credit Karma to corner personal financial data

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Intuit wants to manage more of your financial data. The TurboTax developer has bought Credit Karma, best known for helping people track and control their credit, for $7.1 billion in cash and stock. It intends to use Credit Karma to craft a "personali...

Senators ask credit agencies why they don’t report FBI data requests

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Tech companies have long disclosed the number of national security letters (NSLs) they get from authorities, but the credit reporting agencies that often dictate your financial future have been silent -- and Congress wants answers. Senators Elizabet...

That Apple Card may not be as private as you think

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When it came time to pay for dinner with my friend and his wife the other night, he said, "No — let us get this." It was a kind gesture. When you don't have to pay for a meal out in San Francisco, the feeling of relief is similar to narrowly a...

Apple’s latest product/service is designed to disrupt the banking industry

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I’ll just list a few features that Jennifer Bailey, the VP of Apple Pay, had to say about Apple’s latest offering… Apple Card. Designed to be the most efficient, useful, transparent, financially beneficial, and well-designed thing to happen to the banking industry, Apple Card is both a physical and digital credit card for Apple users to make payments through. The card works universally, encrypting all your payments and related data, it records all your transactions in a way that’s more easy to understand than looking at your bank statements and trying to figure out where the hell you spent all your money, it breaks down all your payments into easy-to-understand blocks, and even uses map data to remind you where you made what payment. The card works all your life and never expires, it allows you to make credit payments in a way that helps you save on interest, Apple doesn’t charge late fees on your bill payments, ever, and even does you the benefit of giving you a 2-3% cashback on all your transactions… ALL of them. Signing up for the Apple Card takes all of 10 minutes, unlike banks that require days to process your applications, and the card service can be used internationally without incurring any international fees. In every way, this is Apple saying that it cares about its customers and promises to do good by them, and is pretty much a mic-drop moment for Apple as it transitions from products to services. The card resides within your phone, and can be used anywhere Apple Pay would… but in the event that you’re required to make a payment at a place that doesn’t support Apple Pay, Apple even supplies its users with a solid titanium credit card. Designed to be used all your life, the card is simplistic, and has your name etched into it. No card number, no CVV, no expiration date, and no signature. It’s literally the iPod of credit cards…

Apple Card comes as a result of Apple’s collaboration with Goldman Sachs on the banking front, and with MasterCard on the tech-enabled payments front. With how popular Apple Pay has become over the past few years, Apple finally thought it was time to show banks how it should be done. Apple Card as an interface is incredibly intuitive. Rather than listing down various irrelevant details, it organizes all your payments data in a way that’s expected of Apple. The interface is absolutely beautiful, and Apple’s littered it with a whole bunch of incredible features, including payments that are secured using TouchID or FaceID, encrypted payments that don’t even allow Apple to know what you’re buying, where you’re buying it from, and how much you’re buying it for, along with a cashback rewards system that’s instantaneous. With every transaction you make using the digital Apple Card, you get 2% of it as cashback (actual cash that you can use as money, or send to friends as payments), while using the physical Apple Card yields a 1% cashback reward.

With over a billion users across the world, Apple’s card service is an instant feature that helps you make any payment, anywhere, anyhow, just with your smartphone. Designed to provide value to its users, Apple even promises to provide lower-than-usual interest rates. The card service, in return, will never expire, will yield rewards, will be internationally compatible, will never incur late fees… and perhaps the most important part of this entire experience, will remain absolutely secure and private… even from Apple.

Designer: Apple