Why virtual cards can be safer than plastic

Many companies are swapping plastic payment cards for virtual because they’re less prone to fraud, Boost Payments Chief Revenue Officer Seth Goodman said.

By Patrick Cooley • Feb. 13, 2026

Cash App to sell its credit score

Block on Thursday opened up a waitlist for companies that want to access deeper insights from its Cash App consumer scoring.

By Patrick Cooley • Feb. 12, 2026

Explore the Trendline➔

Payments industry seeks to keep pace with fraudsters

As losses from fraud in payments have climbed, companies are seeking new tools to combat illicit schemes.

By Payments Dive staff

GAO details CFPB’s downsizing

The scope of the CFPB’s downsizing were explored in two reports released Monday, one of which concludes that the changes cost consumers $19 billion.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Feb. 11, 2026

Block to chop up to 10% of employees

The company is reducing its workforce to trim overhead costs and stay below a 12,000 employee cap, analysts said.

By Patrick Cooley • Feb. 9, 2026

Fed ‘skinny’ account idea draws criticism

A prototype payment account carries undue restrictions, fintech groups said in response to a Fed proposal that offers expanded real-time payments access.

By Justin Bachman • Feb. 9, 2026

Zip debuts pay-in-2 option

The buy now, pay later company on Wednesday started letting U.S. customers split everyday payments in half, rather than into four installments.

By Patrick Cooley • Feb. 6, 2026

How AI commerce threatens eBay, Amazon

Agentic robots that shop and pay without human involvement could potentially render retail marketplaces obsolete – and big merchants are responding.

By Justin Bachman • Feb. 4, 2026

Amex buoyed by big spenders

The card network reported a 15% year-over-year increase in cardholder spending at luxury merchants.

By Patrick Cooley • Feb. 2, 2026

Charting 2026 payments trends

Here are 4 stories that round up our deep dive outlook for this year, including coverage of agentic payments, fraud and personalization.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 30, 2026

Embedded finance to ‘explode’: panel

Tucking financial services, like payments, into a broader range of consumer situations is about to take off, bank executives said Thursday.

By Justin Bachman • Jan. 30, 2026

Mastercard reworks Cap One pact

The card network's CEO said the company signed a new agreement with Capital One, reaffirming ties despite the bank’s purchase of rival Discover.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 29, 2026

Fiserv sued over alleged lax security

A Tampa credit union alleged that the processor failed to protect customers from cyber hacks, but charged extra fees for a security upgrade.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 29, 2026

State legislatures mull remittance restrictions

Battle lines are being drawn in Florida and Missouri over legislation that would bar money transfer firms from servicing “unauthorized aliens.”

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 28, 2026

Amazon to halt palm payments

The online retailer said all Amazon One palm readers will be removed from physical stores by June 3.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 28, 2026

DailyPay seeks to dismiss NY lawsuit

The earned wage access provider and MoneyLion cited a federal agency opinion last month in asking judges Friday to dismiss the New York AG’s complaints.

By Justin Bachman • Jan. 27, 2026

Credit card delinquencies drop, says Fed bank

The decline happened even as U.S. consumers spent more on their credit cards, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia shows.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 27, 2026

Secret Service foils card skimmers

The federal agency last year identified and deactivated some 400 illegal card reader inserts in major U.S. cities.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 26, 2026

How payment personalization could change the way we pay

The emerging trend will require payment companies to jockey for position in payment suggestions offered by agentic shopping tools.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 26, 2026

Affirm seeks Nevada bank charter

The company said Friday that it submitted applications to state and federal regulators to start Affirm Bank.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 23, 2026

Klarna to offer after-purchase BNPL

Shoppers will be able to convert purchases into installment loans after the transaction, the company said Tuesday.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 21, 2026

Payments fraud risks burgeon with AI

The artificial intelligence threats are mounting, but so are the defenses, as new industry trends take hold, from agentic commerce to passkey adoption.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 21, 2026

Consumers push back on swipe fees: survey

A third of merchants reported customers cancelling purchases when a credit card surcharge is included in their bill, analytics firm J.D. Power found.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 20, 2026

Afterpay tallies BNPL repayments

Most Afterpay customers have repaid their Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases, the company said, pushing back on consumer “debt spiral” concerns.

By Tatiana Walk Morris • Jan. 20, 2026

FTC blasts payments processor Cliq

The Federal Trade Commission lashed out at the firm formerly known as CardFlex, saying this week it should pay $52.9 million to consumers.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 16, 2026

Affirm to offer BNPL for rent

The buy now, pay later player is one of the first to offer pay later installment financing for tenants paying their monthly rent.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 15, 2026