This Week In Credit Card News: Buy Now, Pay Later Offers Abound; PayPal’s New Fundraising Platform

Shoppers Who Shun Credit Cards Will Still Borrow $20 for Candy

Consumers are flocking to buy-now, pay-later offers as online shopping surges in response to the pandemic. Soaring unemployment has left struggling consumers looking for ways to pay without busting their budgets. That has prompted a surge in interest in options that let consumers split up their purchases into smaller payments. Afterpay and its rivals—brands like Klarna and Sezzle and Quadpay—are now featured across thousands of merchants’ websites, with small ads popping up as consumers check out, encouraging them to pay off their purchases in installments. [Bloomberg]

PayPal Launches A New Crowdsourced Fundraising Platform, The Generosity Network

PayPal is expanding its fundraising efforts with the launch of the Generosity Network. The new Generosity Network lets people raise money for themselves, other individuals in need, or organizations like a small business or a charity. This puts the network more directly in competition with other crowdsourced fundraising platforms, like GoFundMe or Facebook Fundraisers. The Generosity Network will be open to PayPal customers in the U.S. only and will allow them to create fundraising campaigns of up to $20,000 over a 30-day period. [Tech Crunch]

Credit Card Issuers Are Gifting You With Cash Back, Points And Miles. Here’s How To Get In On It

This year, take advantage of several credit card offers and promotions that can help you save a bundle on your holiday expenditures. Here’s some of the best deals we’ve found to help you squeeze the most value out of your spending this holiday season. [Forbes]

How Bank of America Helped Fuel California’s Unemployment Meltdown

After the Great Recession, California signed an exclusive contract with Bank of America to distribute unemployment benefits through prepaid debit cards. A CalMatters investigation reveals that to this day, no one knows how much the bank has made off the deal. Lawmakers are examining the bank’s role in mass account freezes and untold amounts of missing money for thousands of struggling jobless Californians, as well as where the bank may have failed to keep unemployment money safe from fraud. [CalMatters]

Absent New Stimulus, Wealthy Pay Off Credit Cards, While Others Dive Deeper into Debt

Many people, including those who cannot access unemployment, are relying more heavily on credit cards to make ends meet, absent another stimulus, sufficient unemployment or a living-wage job. But credit card data also shows that balances have declined during the pandemic as higher-income people use this time to pay down debt. [KTVU]

Home Depot Agrees to $17.5 Million Settlement in 2014 Data Breach

Home Depot has reached a $17.5 million settlement with the attorney generals of 46 states and the District of Columbia over a 2014 data breach that exposed the payment card information of some 40 million customers. [Associated Press]

Citi Partners With Mastercard For Google Pay Plex Accounts

Citi and Mastercard are teaming up as network partners for the digital checking and savings account Citi Plex on Google Pay, available for both Android and iOS. Citi Plex account holders will receive a debit Mastercard, an auto provisioned instant digital debit card. People can opt for a contactless-enabled, physical debit Mastercard with access to 60,000-plus fee-free ATMs. [PYMNTS]

Pros And Cons Of Using A Personal Loan To Pay Off Credit Card Debt

People use personal loans for so many different reasons—-from buying an RV to paying off medical bills—-but consolidating your credit card debt may be one of the most popular uses. By taking the proceeds of a personal loan to pay off credit card debt, you can eliminate multiple monthly high interest card payments and consolidate the debt into one monthly personal loan payment, often at a reduced cost. Before you choose a personal loan to pay off your credit card, make sure you know the pros and cons. [Forbes]

Mobile Banking App Users Pull Ahead Of Financial Institutions On Expectations

According to the November Mobile Banking Report, 51.1% of consumers who now use mobile banking apps are using them more often than they did before the pandemic’s onset in March. Consumers are 8.7% more likely to be using mobile banking apps now than they were in 2019. Mobile banking is on the rise, with more than half of all bank customers in the U.S. now using mobile banking apps. [PYMNTS]