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Most consumers don’t think about payment processing. They choose what they want to buy, place it in a physical or virtual cart, pay with a credit or debit card, and go on their way. Unless there is a problem –like a credit card denial at the register or a double charge later discovered on a bill– they’re blissfully unaware of everything that goes on after the merchant collects their payment data.
The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), on the other hand, is very aware of the players involved in taking that data and processing the actual payment. As the leading trade association for the payments industry, looking out for those companies is the ETA’s sole purpose. RewardExpert recently spoke with Interim CEO Amy Zirkle to find out more.

If you’re like me and you have a high FICO score above 800, welcome to the club – the 20% of us, consumers who have excellent credit. Our high credit score means we have access to some of the best credit cards that exist.
I don’t mean “excellent” in the subjective sense. I mean “excellent credit” in terms of the official ranking system the credit industry uses to determine the risk you won’t repay whatever credit you’re extended.

Technology has come a long way in the past few decades. And it has connected people in ways that generations before would have never thought possible. RewardExpert had the opportunity to speak with Director of Financial Services Solutions Marketing, Damien Simonneau, of Vidyo, a company that has revolutionized the world through its real-time video and cloud-based services.

With so much information out there these days, it’s often difficult to pinpoint how to get the best service or the best price. Lots of ratings sites claim to have honest information, but with sponsored ads, it’s hard to tell whether the reviews are really what they should be. Consumers’ Checkbook offers advice to help people save money, time and hassle, all ad-free on a variety of local services. RewardExpert spoke with Executive Editor, Kevin Brasler, about how Consumers’ Checkbook puts consumers first, and provides accurate, fair assessments on lots of industries from personal finance to travel to healthcare and more.

It’s not the data that companies collect, but the data that’s analyzed that can lead to higher revenue, bigger profits and a more successful business. For nearly a decade, a company called Mixpanel has been helping over 26,000 companies analyze user data and detect the newest trends to grow their business. Vice President of Global Sales at Mixpanel, Pierre Berlin, gave RewardExpert the inside story about the growing company.

A new report by credit-scoring service Experian shows that the average American consumer is slightly better off compared to last year, at least in terms of their credit score.
But have you ever wondered what is the average credit score, and where you fall within the mix, particularly for your age group?

E-commerce is a competitive business, and any edge companies can gain could be the difference between success and failure. The Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) @ RetailX has been helping businesses gain that edge and grow their profits since 2005. Doug Hope, RetailX Show Director and Senior Vice President, Emerald Expositions, spoke to RewardExpert about this year’s exhibition. “IRCE brings together all facets of e-commerce – including platforms, marketing, social media, SEM, fulfillment and merchandising – to give attendees a 360-degree view of what it takes to win hearts, minds, and dollars online right now,” he said. This year’s event occurs June 25-28, 2019 at McCormick Place South in Chicago.

By some estimates, gift giving drives between 20 to 25 percent of today’s retail sales. That means that one out of every four retail purchases a consumer makes is likely to fall under the gift category. With U.S. gift card sales reaching $160 billion last year, smart retailers are establishing engaging and efficient gift card programs to capitalize on this lucrative market.
CashStar, a leading provider of merchant solutions and services for gift card commerce, is at the forefront of the industry. RewardExpert spoke with Alex Barseghian, Group Vice President for North American Retail at Blackhawk Network, CashStar’s parent company, to learn more.

Air Canada has finalized its purchase of the Aeroplan program as part of a larger plan to roll out a new frequent-flyer program in 2020.
For Aeroplan members with Aeroplan miles in their account, the obvious question is: What changes to Aeroplan and to my Aeroplan rewards can I expect from Canada’s purchase?
Here’s how the deal could likely work out for the Aeroplan program.

In an age when credit cards offer all sorts of benefits – from free cash back to airline miles that can lead to free trips to exotic destinations – accumulating as many miles and points on a credit card has become something for a sport. And the easiest, quickest way to build a big base of miles or points is paying for big-ticket items with your piece of plastic.

If you’ve found yourself increasingly anxious about your financial situation, you’re not alone. A recent study by Northwestern Mutual, an American financial services organization, found that 54 percent of Americans have experienced financial anxiety, 52 percent have dealt with financial insecurity, and 48 percent have felt financial fear. In fact, money was identified as the survey respondents’ dominant source of stress—with finances even more stressful than relationships and work.

Whether you run multiple restaurant or retail locations or have a single bank branch, your customers’ experiences need to be top-notch and consistent. If they aren’t, you risk damage to your brand and –over time– a negative impact on your organization’s bottom line.
Market Force Information (also known simply as Market Force) is a customer experience management company that has been recognized as one of the top 50 market research organizations by the American Marketing Association.

There’s no doubt that it’s sweet to save money, anytime, anywhere. And shopping online is no different. After all, how many times have you added an item to your cart, and then hunted around for discount codes, only to come up empty handed? Now, a company called Honey is making it easier to save money online.
Honey’s technology scans the internet to help shoppers find the top discounts at thousands of stores, automatically adding discounts and promo codes. Janine Kamwene, the director of communications at Honey, spoke to RewardExpert about the sweet shopping experience Honey provides.

We all end up with too many credit cards at some point.
You go to the department store or a specialty retailer and you’re making a big purchase, and if you sign up for their branded credit card at check out, the clerk lets you know, “you can save an additional 20% off your purchases today.” So, you sign up. Or you decide you want to start collecting airline miles or travel points and, so, you sign up for a new card. And sooner or later you find one day you have more credit cards than you know what to do with.

It was September 1958 when Bank of America launched the first credit-card network with its BankAmericard. A month later, American Express launched the first worldwide credit-card network. Since then, consumers have seen a veritable arms race as credit card companies raced to build the biggest, most-reliable networks.
Today, so many credit card networks exist it begs a big question:
What credit card is the best?

Since the release of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrency mining has frequently made headlines in the media. But the industry has seen significant changes over the last decade. While in the early days it was possible for anyone with a computer and enough CPU or high-speed video processor cards to make a tidy profit mining cryptocurrency, specialized hardware and machines, mining groups and cloud-mining services have since risen to the forefront.

A variety of reasons exist for wanting to know how to increase your credit limit.
The most obvious is that your credit card balance is running up against your existing credit limit, and without a credit limit increase you will max out your credit card and not be able to use it until you pay down the balance.
But you might also want to increase your credit limit (even just temporarily) to afford a very expensive item. Many people do this just so they can collect a large batch of travel miles or points with a single purchase … but they know they will immediately repay the card with cash they’ve already set aside for the purchase.

Or, maybe you want to improve your credit score. An increased credit limit will immediately reduce your credit utilization (how much of your total available credit you have already used), and credit utilization is one of the factors that determines credit score, since lower credit utilization typically improves a credit score.

Over the years, the word ‘brand’ has meant many things. Where it was once only a piece of burning or smoldering wood, or an identifying mark burned on livestock, it’s now a common term for products manufactured by a particular company under a particular name. From Google and Facebook to AT&T and Nike, most of us interact with dozens of brands every day.
When you’re running a business, your brand is a valuable part of it. But how do you define that value and use it strategically to increase your company’s success? RewardExpert recently spoke with Laurence Newell, Director Americas at Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent branded business valuation and strategy consultancy, about how the company can help you answer those questions and more.

As a consumer, you’ve probably heard of J.D. Power  and J.D. Power ratings. Millions of Americans have considered the company’s ratings, reviews and awards when shopping for a new car or truck. But did you know that J.D. Power is also in the business of helping brands improve their customer satisfaction and company profitability?

Cash back credit cards have become standard in the credit card world. With each purchase, you’re earning money that you can ultimately use to reduce your credit card balance, or which you can direct into your bank account to use for other spending desires.
So, here’s everything you need to know about how these cards work.