Card network news from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and JCB.
Agentic checkout, where software agents pay on a shopper’s behalf, likely faces its first mainstream consumer test in the 2026 holiday season. Three signals from the last month suggest the win goes to infrastructure, not consumer volume, with agent purchases staying in the low single digits.
A practical 2026 playbook for retailers on cutting card decline rates: why soft declines are recoverable, and the data, retry and routing fixes that win back lost sales.
Surcharging is legal in most states in 2026 but capped and banned on debit, while cash discounting is protected nationwide. Here is the real legal state for retailers.
Payments deep dive: Tools and vendors for card networks in 2026.
Payments deep dive: The 2026 card network rule changes US retailers should plan for.
Payments deep dive: How card networks handle chargebacks and what merchants should do.
Payments deep dive: PCI DSS compliance for retailers without a compliance team.
Payments deep dive: Interchange fees explained in numbers retailers can use.
Payments deep dive: Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover compared for merchants.
Payments deep dive: How card networks really work behind every retail checkout.