Will CUs Pay For The Rise Of Capital One And PayPal?: Developing Payments Technologies Could Cut Out The Middleman-CUs

Credit unions should be wringing their hands over PayPal, Capital One and the like, which are siphoning off interchange revenue from credit unions, according to one technology leader. He thinks the industry needs to wake up, said Butch Leonardson, CIO for BECU. Online merchants are increasingly attracted to PayPal, which charges either low or no card interchange fees. Payment volume for merchant services increased more than 50% last year, to $4.4 billion in the first quarter, at the online payments provider. Capital One, a top card-issuer, launched its decoupled debit card, which links to any bank account and lures consumers with the promise of better rewards.