March 29, 2024

Bucks Blog: Nordstrom Opens Its Cards to Mint and Others

Holders of Nordstrom’s store credit card can once again monitor their accounts using Mint.com, the online money management site.

Late last year, Nordstrom angered some cardholders by terminating access to their accounts from Mint, which allows users to track multiple financial accounts, including bank and credit card accounts, in one place. Users register at Mint and enter account information and passwords, so the program can obtain the information electronically and aggregate it. (Mint.com was acquired by the financial software company Intuit in 2009.)

At the time it terminated access, Nordstrom told customers it was exploring “a variety of options” for online financial management services. The store’s cards are issued by its own Nordstrom bank.

Last week, Nordstrom notified customers that it had reinstated access to its accounts for Mint as well as Quicken, also owned by Intuit, and the bill payment app Pageonce, a Nordstrom spokeswoman, Tara Darrow, said in an e-mail.

“When we made the decision back in November, we heard from customers that they really value these services,” she said. “While our decision may have made sense from a business perspective, we missed the mark on meeting their needs.”

She said Nordstrom customers would have the same experience they had before the service interruption.

There is still no change, however, in access by Mint.com to store cards issued by GE Capital’s retail bank, including Amazon.com, Brooks Brothers and Gap. A GE Capital spokeswoman previously cited security concerns. “We are continuing to work together with Mint to resolve with the goal of making this accessible for cardholders,” Dori Abel, the spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Mint, which has about 10 million users, says it uses bank-level security. Also, users can only view and sort information about their accounts. They can’t move money in or out of accounts via Mint.

Have you encountered problems accessing your account information by Mint or other online sites?

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/nordstrom-opens-its-cards-to-mint-and-others/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bucks Blog: Nordstrom and GE Capital Block Mint.com Users

Nordstrom, the retailer widely known for its excellent customer service, recently caused a ruckus among some of its credit card holders by terminating access to their accounts by Mint.com, the online money-management site.

Mint allows users to track multiple financial accounts, including bank and credit card accounts, in one place. To do so, users register at Mint and enter account information and passwords, so the program can obtain the information electronically and aggregate it. (Mint.com was acquired by the financial software company Intuit in 2009.)

On Twitter, various Nordstrom cardholders voiced dismay, after the retailer notified them of the change, which took effect Nov. 15. “So disappointed @Nordstrom has decided to end @Mint account access. Not a great move,” said one tweet.

Nordstrom, which issues store-brand cards through its own Nordstrom Bank,  isn’t the only retail-branded card that doesn’t let cardholders participate in Mint. Accounts for store cards issued by GE Capital’s retail bank, including Amazon.com, Brooks Brothers and Gap, can’t be accessed by Mint, either.

GE Capital cited security concerns. “We have established a core set of requirements before permitting cardholder participation in aggregator services via the GE Capital Retail Bank system and are actively working through those requirements with the aggregators and conducting comprehensive evaluations,” said Dori Abel, a spokeswoman, in an e-mail. “Our primary concern is ensuring the safety and security of our customers’ personal information, and all of our actions are being taken with this objective in mind.”

Mint, which has about 10 million users, says it uses bank-level security. Also, users can only view and sort information about their accounts; they can’t move money in or out of accounts via Mint.

Nordstrom’s explanation of its move was a bit vague. The store’s notice to customers said Nordstrom will “explore a variety of options for online financial management services.” Meantime, it said, customers can manage their account online at nordstromcard.com.

Tara Darrow, a spokeswoman, repeated that Nordstrom is “exploring other options” and declined to say how many Nordstrom cardholders use Mint. She initially said Nordstrom had been paying for the service on its customers’ behalf, but later elaborated in an e-mail that she was referring to “vendor costs associated with providing the service. We can’t provide specific details (they are proprietary).”

Martha Shaughnessy, a Mint spokeswoman, said there was no cost to account holders, or to card issuers and banks, for using Mint.com. She said the site earned revenue from referral fees for various financial products pitched to users — for instance, by suggesting a credit card that can help a frequent traveler maximize travel rewards. If the customer applies for the card, Mint makes a commission.

Ms. Shaughnessy said GE Capital and Nordstrom were the only companies known to block Mint.

The card companies’ moves sound a bit like tactics used recently by some big airlines to block outside Web-based sites from gathering frequent-flier information, so travelers can track all their mileage information in one place.

Do you use Mint? Are there any accounts you would like to access with it but can’t?

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/nordstrom-and-ge-capital-block-mint-com-users/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bucks Blog: A Different Skirmish Over A.T.M. Card Fees

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The latest skirmish over card fees is about the fees charged at independently operated A.T.M.’s — those cash machines not affiliated with banks that you see in convenience stores, hotel lobbies and airports.

The National ATM Council Inc., an industry group, and about a dozen individual firms filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Visa and MasterCard, accusing the payment networks of fixing prices by forcing the independent operators to charge consumers set fees.

The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, seeks class-action status and sheds light on the often-arcane payment arrangements underlying the country’s A.T.M. networks. The suit contends that Visa and MasterCard prevent nonbank A.T.M. operators from charging users discounted access fees, even when consumers use cards that can use alternative, cheaper payment networks.

Visa and MasterCard both declined to comment on the suit.

While MasterCard and Visa are the biggest networks, there are also less well-known networks, like Star and Shazam, that process debit transactions.

A.T.M. operators, the suit says, may charge cardholders an access fee — but only if the same fee is charged, whether the machine performs a Visa or MasterCard transaction or uses another debit network. So even though the Visa and MasterCard networks can be more costly for operators to use, the rules bar an operator from offering consumers a lower fee for A.T.M. transactions not completed over Visa or MasterCard’s networks, said Jonathan Rubin, the lawyer for the operators.

“By restricting their ability to attract customers to lower-cost A.T.M. services through lower prices, the A.T.M. restraints put a competitive straitjacket on A.T.M. operators,” the suit says.

The practice, the suit says, artificially raises the price that consumers pay for A.T.M. services and limits the revenue that A.T.M. operators can earn. If operators could put a sign on their cash machines, for instance, saying the fee is $2 for Visa or MasterCard, but $1 for cards using other networks, the machines could charge lower fees, Mr. Rubin said. The operators, he added, would make more money because more people would use their machines.

“We’re looking for more machines and more competition,” Mr. Rubin said.

There are about 400,000 A.T.M.’s in the United States, and about half are run by nonbank operators, he said.

Do you think consumers would benefit from more competition among payment networks?

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c81ff2a8eaf6cac5d5fc9e7e1e519477