Daily Dash: Zero To Wero?

• EPI Unveils 'Wero' As Commercial Name For Digital Wallet
• US Regulator Proposes To Remove Medical Bills From Credit Reports
• No More Revenue-Based Finance Loans For Merchants, Says Uncapped
• If You’re A Fortnite Player, You May Be Eligible For A Refund, Says FTC
• US, UK Renew International Scam Fighting Commitment
• Stripe Launches Major Updates To Global Checkout Suite

EPI Unveils 'Wero' As Commercial Name For Digital Wallet 

"Wero" is to be the commercial name for the European Payments Initiative’s (EPI) digital wallet solution, which is expected to launch next year.

Wero will eventually be available through EPI’s member banks’ applications and as a mobile application on both Android and iOS platforms.

According to the EPI, choosing the name was a “meticulous process” involving extensive research, and quantitative and qualitative feedback from consumers. 

“In a market filled with predictable ‘pay’ brand names, wero stood out from a list of 238 candidate names we considered, since it combines different elements which we stand for,” said Martina Weimert, chief executive of the EPI.

Weimert explained that this includes the collective European character of the “we” and a pronunciation close to the word “Euro”.

Finally, wero is close to vero, which means true in Latin-based languages.

“I personally find it catchy, with its simple yet memorable structure,” said Weimert. “The short and snappy sound resonates with the fast-paced nature of digital transactions.”

Conceived in 2020, the EPI has had a bumpy ride, with some founding banks like Germany’s Commerzbank exiting in 2021 and the project moving away from its original plans to launch a card solution in 2022.

However, 2023 has proved to be more positive, and in April the EPI unveiled its planned acquisition of Dutch payment solution iDEAL and payment solutions provider Payconiq International (PQI).

US Regulator Proposes To Remove Medical Bills From Credit Reports

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has outlined new proposals to remove medical bills from US credit reports.

The proposed rule would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act that establishes rights and protections for consumers whose information is collected by consumer reporting agencies.

According to the agency, around 20 percent of Americans have medical debt, but medical billing data on a credit report is less predictive of future repayment than reporting on traditional credit obligations. Mistakes and inaccuracies in medical billing are also too common, the agency said.

“Research shows that medical bills have little predictive value in credit decisions, yet tens of millions of American households are dealing with medical debt on their credit reports,” said CFPB director Rohit Chopra. 

“When someone gets sick, they should be able to focus on getting better, rather than fighting debt collectors trying to extort them into paying bills they may not even owe.”

If adopted, the proposed rule would remove medical bills from consumers’ credit reports, stop creditors from relying on medical bills for underwriting decisions and stop coercive collection practices.

No More Revenue-Based Finance Loans For Merchants, Says Uncapped

Uncapped, a provider of credit to small businesses and start-ups, has announced the retirement of its revenue-based finance (RBF) service for merchants.  

The move comes after Uncapped had already reduced its issuance of RBF loans to almost zero over the past year, and had only offered them if customers specifically asked for them.

“Unfortunately, RBF loans are not the best funding product for high-quality businesses,” the company said.

‍”The best clients kept growing fast (and accelerated further after they took funding from us!) which meant they repaid loans much sooner than expected.

“On the other hand, worse quality clients didn’t see revenues materialising, and repayments took much longer time.”

In place of RBF, Uncapped has moved to fixed-term loans, where the lender agrees the loan amount upfront with the client and when it will be repaid.

If You’re A Fortnite Player, You May Be Eligible For A Refund, Says FTC

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that consumers who have made in-game purchases on Fortnite, the popular video game, may be eligible to receive a refund.

Last week, the FTC began sending emails to “millions” of Fortnite gamers, asking them whether they had ever been charged for unwanted items and, if so, to claim their refunds. The FTC added it will continue to send follow-up emails for one more month.

In December 2022, the FTC disclosed that Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite, had agreed to pay a $275m penalty for violating children’s privacy law, and had agreed to pay out $245m in refunds to customers.

According to the FTC, Epic Games charged parents and gamers of all ages for unwanted items and locked the accounts of customers who disputed wrongful charges with their credit card companies.

During the lawsuit, the FTC argued that Fortnite’s payment system was “counterintuitive, inconsistent and confusing”, and had used so-called dark patterns to trick customers into making unwanted purchases.

US, UK Renew International Scam Fighting Commitment

US agencies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with other national regulators to promote cross-border collaboration against scams, email and text spam and illegal telemarketing. 

Signed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agreement is an initiative of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (UCENet), whose members include the UK, Canada, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand.

In 2016, UCENet members signed an MoU aimed at facilitating information sharing, capacity building and enforcement assistance among the partners. The MoU also facilitated communication about emerging threats and complaint trends related to spam, scams and illegal telemarketing.

The FTC said members of the collaboration have decided to “renew and make evergreen” the MoU given the success of the original agreement.

Stripe Launches Major Updates To Global Checkout Suite

US payment firm Stripe has announced the launch of what it calls the “largest bundle of new payments optimisations to date” to its global checkout suite.

The upgrades will allow merchants to plug into more than 100 payment methods, now including RevolutPay, Denmark’s Mobile Pay, US bank transfers and Sweden’s Swish.

Stripe has also launched a A/B testing tool that allows merchants to identify the best-performing payment methods in their checkout and make data-driven improvements over time.

Finally, a new feature known as the Express Checkout Element will allow merchants to display multiple one-click payment buttons (such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, or LINK) with a single component.

In other words, payment methods will be presented in the order most relevant to a customer, showing only the ones supported by the device or browser a customer is using.