Payments
Payments 101: How Online Payment Processing Actually Works Behind the Scenes
A single card payment crosses at least four companies between checkout click and settled funds. Here is the route, and where the fees sit along it.
Payments
How authorization, clearing and settlement work across card, bank transfer and instant rails, including where fees accumulate and when money truly arrives.
Payments
Cross-Border Payments Explained: Why Money Takes Days and What Is Fixing It
Correspondent banking chains, fee stacking and FX spreads explain the lag; newer instant rails are starting to cut it.
Payments
What Interchange Fees Actually Are — and Who Ends Up Paying Them
Interchange is the fee a merchant's bank pays the cardholder's bank on every card transaction, and it is set by the networks, not negotiated by the store on the…
Payments
How Regulation II Caps Debit Interchange Fees at 21 Cents
The Federal Reserve's Regulation II limits what banks with $10 billion or more in assets can charge merchants per debit swipe, and the gap between covered and…
Payments
Credit Card Competition Act Returns in 2026 With Presidential Backing
The Credit Card Competition Act of 2026, introduced January 13, would require the largest banks to enable a second credit routing network; it remains in Senate…