Follow the Money Trail

You tap a card and the screen says approved — but where does the money actually go? Follow a five-dollar purchase through the merchant, acquirer, processor, card network, issuing bank, rewards economics, fraud risk, and settlement.

Sources:

Federal Reserve — Regulation II and payment systems — https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/regii-about.htm

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Credit Cards — https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/credit-cards/

Visa USA merchant and interchange resources — https://usa.visa.com/support/small-business/regulations-fees.html

Mastercard merchant interchange resources — https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/business/overview/support/merchant-interchange-rates.html

A Narratique production from Rogue Media Network. Features synthetic narration and original generated music.

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