Payment Trends August 2022 | FinTech News | B2B Vault: The Payment Technology Podcast Episode 105

What's up everybody, it's Justin live from B2B Vault, the payment technology podcast with your host Allen Kopelman, and we'll be providing you educational information about business payments, fintech, decentralized finance, and the technology businesses use in today's world. And in today's podcast episode, we're going to be talking about the payment trends for August. Every, you know, at the end of the month, we go over, uh, the payment trends that, you know, that were in the news for the, for, for the month.

Yeah, what's in the news? What are people talking about on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn?

When it comes all that happy stuff, and then, you know, we try to have a conversation about it. Uh, you know, we're not like super focused on one thing or anything like that. We're just gonna, you know, shoot the stuff. So what's first up to bat?

First up to bat, let's talk about cannabis. So cannabis has been in the news constantly the last few months with all types of bills from Congress, right, legalize cannabis, the the SAFE Banking Act with cannabis, the cannabis, you know, decriminalization, decriminalization, legalization, everything. Yeah, everything to do with cannabis and CBD. And, you know, what are they going to do with Delta-8, Delta-9, you know, all, all of these, you know, the cannabinoids and hemp and everything. So there was a conference going on in Atlanta after I was at my conference called called, and it was called the WeDeck. Most of the people kind of left because there was a lot of banks there. They were not really going to associate—

they weren't feeling it, right? So they weren't passing the dutchie, man.

So soon after that, there was a news release by The Green Sheet, which is the payment processing magazine.

And I shout out to The Green Sheet.

Yep, shout out. And you know, one of my favorite writers, Dale, So she did a synopsis of the meeting, all right, of what was going on at the WeTech. Okay, so some crazy news came out, and then while that, while that was coming out, there was also a lot of rumblings going on from the banks that process the ATM machines. Yes, and a couple of them really did a, a, uh, a crackdown on cashless ATMs, and they shut down a couple of the networks. So some of those companies, all of a sudden merchants had no processing using those machines. And then there was—

cool, right?

And then there was some articles going on from FinCann, F-I-N-C-A-N-N, and they were saying that, um, it seemed that cashless ATMs were going to become a target of federal enforcement.

Somehow. Yeah.

And then soon after that article came out, boom, I heard two banks went through their portfolio, you know, and they can figure out what kind of machines, right, are processing. So they didn't look like ATMs, so they started shutting them all off. And, you know, then there was a whole mention in the article about this company Ease and about how they had let, um, federal legal action against them. They got shut down.

For what? Why? Because they had cashless ATMs?

No, they were doing— they, they actually set up fake merchant accounts. So phony merchant account, like for something else, like for t-shirts, but they were actually processing marijuana. Oh, so there was a whole talk about, uh, phony merchant accounts for marijuana. In this whole discussion, and that how the processors are cracking down on that, finding these merchants. And then, or CBD merchants setting up, you know, extra credit card machines and then putting them in a dispensary disguised as the CBD store.

Oh really?

Yeah, like someone owns this vape shop, then they have like 2 credit card machines, they take one to the dispensary. So they started cracking down on a lot of that because now they can pick up like the IP address and then look at the location, right?

So there's a lot of this Wi-Fi enabled. I mean, they know where you are, right?

So there's a lot of that going on from that standpoint. Rocky, there's no cannabis over here. I don't know what you're looking for.

We got Rocky the mascot, uh, he's, he's trying to get interpretation of a drug-sniffing dog. You will not stop scratching the podcast table.

Samantha is probably going to make a social media post with that now.

I would.

So, so now, and also, so, and then all these organizations, another one, CANRA, which is another marketing organization. Started, started coming out saying, saying that they need to get rid of these cashless ATMs because that's blocking the Safe Banking Act. Like, it's illegal activity. So what can, what can dispensaries do? So the, the National ATM Coalition, NAC, they're, you know, they're saying, you know, 8 There's a lot of banks basically that say like you can provide ATM financial services and licensed dispensaries, you know, where you follow the rules. So the rules are that the ATM is not owned by the dispensary, the cash is provided by a third party, and then simple rules, right? And then you can have an ATM. So there's several banks that are allowing that. Because they want to— they basically want to get rid of the cashless ATM. They don't feel like that's the right thing.

And, and the word cashless ATM just sounds super shady.

So basically, like, when I first started in processing, they used to have all these machines, and they call them a script machine, and it was like an ATM except it was running on the debit network. And then it would— and even there were some ATMs, like, even you go to Vegas, you see a few of these ATMs in the older hotels. You go to the ATM machine, but it doesn't spit out money, it spits out a piece of paper. Then you got to go up to the counter, show your ID, and then they give you the cash. So, you know, those type of machines have been around for a long time, point of banking. But now they crack down on it. Like the ones that, like, uh, actually Taco Bell used to have them. Like every Taco Bell, you could use your debit card and you paid 79 cents. And we actually sold tons of them. We had a client that owned a bunch of Burger Kings and McDonald's, and we had them in there too. And you just ran your debit card, plus it charged you 79 cents. So the customer, right, charged the customer 79 cents. So for using the card, for using the card, so instead of paying cash, but it did your actual total, but it was pin debit, not on the ATM network. Network. But then there were other ones that were on the ATM network, you know, and that did that. But then they put a stop to that— those machines, script machine, cashless ATM— the banks put kiboshes on it. Now it looks like the banks are putting the big kibosh on it, and, uh, not so many banks are allowing it, and they want to stop allowing it. And there's a big push from the cannabis some of the cannabis associations to stop it, saying that, you know, ATM companies can provide ATM machines and be within the rules permitted by Visa and other networks. And then other schemes have resulted in guilty pleas, hefty fines, and settlements. And they're now— some of the ATM associations are trying to encourage the of licensed dispensaries to stop using the cashless ATMs, put a real ATM in, and to obey the rules. So that the— possibly they think that that's going to help them if they're obeying the rules and not trying to do— use all these third— these workarounds to get to take payments, that maybe the government will go forward with the SAFE Banking Act.

Well, why don't they just legalize marijuana and make it— uh, it's just stupid anyway.

I know, it's just crazy, you know, it's crazy.

It's legal but it's not legal, right?

It's legal but it's not legal. It's legal on a state level but not a federal level because people can go out, like dispensaries, they can go to a state-chartered bank, you know, community bank or a state-chartered bank, and get a— and, and get, uh, bank accounts. They just can't do it from a federal bank. So it's kind of crazy. And some of the big banks get around it because they partner with like a credit union, you know, and then they're able to say, hey, Justin's Marijuana Store, you know, we know like you have— you're a good customer here at blah blah blah XYZ Bank. Oh, we're partnered with Allen's Credit Union, so we're gonna, you know, get you an account over there.

Nice.

And service you, right? Even though we're not supposed to be doing that. So, but that's, you know, I think that the cannabis needs to get legalized. They need to do the SAFE Banking Act. They need to allow for actual credit card processing and figure out like whatever the compliant methods are going to be.

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All right, back to the action.

Back to you, bucko.

So a few things that were going on, some other stuff that's been in the news is small banks and how they're monetizing, you know. So like the neobanks and the credit unions and the community banks, how they're, how they're monetizing. So they're having a very hard time with like getting people to get their credit card, to get their debit card. So they're trying to come up with more, you know, robust solutions for that so they can get people approved quicker.

You mean for merchant accounts.

No, no, for like use business cards, personal credit cards. Like people are going to other cards for their business, you're saying? Yeah, I'm confused. Okay, so like let's say you have your Justin's Cowboy Store, which we talked about last episode, and where you sell cowboy boots. So the, uh, you instead of you getting the credit card from the bank—

I got the name, it's going to be called CitySlicker.com.

Okay, so instead of getting their credit card, you go to a big bank and get the credit card from there because the benefits are better. So these banks are trying to come up with ways to get— have better—

so a smaller bank in your neighborhood, like whatever, I don't even know. Yeah, that's the name of a smaller bank, ABC Community Bank. Okay, they are having a problem with getting people to get Business cards?

Yeah, like their, their credit cards from their bank. So they're trying to partner.

So, right, so like I bank with Navy Federal, right? And they offer a credit card, or instead I went to Credit One Bank, right, for the credit card and didn't go with Navy Federal. Why would people do that?

Because they want better benefits. So those banks are trying to come up partner with different types of credit cards to give their customers better credit, better credit cards with more rewards and points and stuff like that. So to capture— and then also on the merchant card side, you know, speaking to quite a few community bankers at this event I was at, and they were saying the same thing. They were like, the people, they go, you know, they can analyze, you know, who's getting deposits, right? So they see that a lot of their customers are getting away from the traditional merchant account and going to PayPal, Square, Stripe. So they're looking to figure out ways how to combat that.

The traditional— what do you mean?

Well, instead of like you walk into your community bank, oh, I want to get a merchant account. Oh, we're partnered with whatever, Nationwide Payment Systems. Nationwide Payment Systems, call Allen So they don't— a lot of the younger people, they shy away from that. They just go to the internet and go to one of them, go to Stripe, go to Stripe, Square, PayPal, and get an account.

And then they pay the rates, right?

But then they're missing out. So those companies are missing out on that business. We're working on a solution for that, right?

So when you say that they're working on— I mean, like, what are banks doing to stop that from happening.

Literally, they're not. They don't have a way. But we're working on our project.

That's what I was getting at. So like, what are— so what are the reasons that it's the business owner wouldn't use that?

The barrier to entry. They don't want to deal with the paperwork. They don't want to deal with negotiating rates. They don't understand the rates. They don't understand the service. And they just go to one of these companies where they can just fill everything out online. They don't have to make a phone call.

They don't have to answer any questions.

Very little questions, you know. And then some— not everybody qualifies for that type of merchant account. You have a higher risk type of business, yeah, you're gonna have to go to a— come to a merchant company who can help you, right, with a higher risk type of business.

Like, I was reminiscing the other day, and, uh, I a project came to mind of one that I did a long time ago. It's for a furniture company. And the website, everything was great. They love the website. And then we got to the point where we were ready to start selling furniture online. Well, that's when—

that's high risk.

Yeah, it is high risk, because that's when I learned that You know, like, so for instance, PayPal, you couldn't, you couldn't have a product over a certain amount of money.

Right.

So like some of these furniture pieces were like $25,000. Right. Well, there's no, you know, payment processor available for, you know, like WooCommerce like that.

Right.

You know what I mean? You have to— that's when you got to step up and go into your Authorize.net, right? Or, you know, whatever one that—

right, then you got to get a regular payment processor.

So I know, but my point is, this is my point, is like these businesses, these companies, he couldn't do it. He couldn't get approved, right? He couldn't go to an— he couldn't— the one comp— one bank wanted a million dollars in his bank.

Well, no, like furniture is very high risk because somebody's ordering it, then it's getting shipped, then it's getting delivered, and it's broken, it's broken, and then there could be a lot of problems.

Chargebacks.

Yeah, chargebacks. It's a very difficult industry.

I, uh, honestly, the reason I was thinking about this, because I'm pretty sure all of it, you know, they closed those furniture stores, you know. And I used to feel terrible about this, and I was trying to do everything I could, you know. I was literally— I felt so bad like that I couldn't help them. But there was nothing that I could have done. No, like the website was functioning, the store worked, you could buy things, but I couldn't get them approved. I couldn't get that company approved for a high-risk merchant account, which I had no idea about, which is why what I'm saying about this is, this is what we're trying to bring a solution for, you know, for high-risk businesses.

Yeah, well, we're trying to provide a solution. One easy way to get a merchant account so you don't have to go to one of those companies. You can go to, well, you know, you can go to somebody else's, right?

That rabbit hole— I'm just thinking the Symphony Bank we had, I mean, Synchrony we had, synchronicity, they got denied. They got— went to another bank, they got denied.

No, because they want, you know, when you're doing a business like that where you're selling a high-ticket item, yeah, yeah, the bank wants to see your financials, they want to see your bank account, they want to know you have the money. Listen, one time we had a client come to us and the first business they opened up was this, um, lawn furniture that was kind of like an IKEA style thing where it was like put together with PVC pipe and then you choose your fabric and all this, like whatever. So they had it, it was in like these like warehouse type situ— you know, type stores.

Got it.

And you walk through and you made your furniture. Right? You picked out the designs that you wanted. It was pretty high— it was kind of high-techy.

That sounds pretty cool, right?

And then the guy tried to open up this store and it was going to be all custom furniture from Brazil. Uh, the bank was like, no, you're good. They want someone to put a deposit down for like 5, 10 grand, wait 6 months, the furniture is going to come from Brazil. The bank whatever. They went out of business. I mean, I felt bad, but I told the guy, I said, listen, you know, you just don't understand how credit card processing works.

I literally tried every workaround for that, for that. Like, all right, how about we just sell lamps, you know? Well, they were okay with that, but that mean like they're not gonna make it.

What I would have done, you know, if I would— if you would have contacted me, I would have said, listen, why don't you put stuff that one, you have it in stock right? No special order. Load up like every small item you could possibly sell, put it on the website, and build your business.

Oh, believe me, that's what I tried to have them do.

Yeah, but build your business that way. I mean, no, I had the furniture—

shout out to you, Salem. I believe his name was Salem.

No, I have a furniture store that's in Boca Raton, and they were like, oh, why we— you know, and it's basically they buy furniture from like people's houses estate sales, um, furniture showrooms. Like, let's say someone has like a really upscale furniture show.

Yeah.

And that, you know, a designer—

that's what I'm— that's the type of guy I'm talking about.

And then they have— and then whatever is like, you know, now it's time for them to change, you know, they change out the furniture in the showroom every 3 to 6 months, right? So they basically just like, they, they put it on consignment to this place and then they sell the firm, you know, they sell it. So the place is humongous. It's like a giant massive warehouse of— it's never-ending.

There's just furniture in my hometown in Milwaukee. There's like a part of the city, it's kind of going towards downtown, like where the, you know, Bucks play, but from 27th and Valy all the way to 12th. Yeah, it's just furniture stores.

So it's like first of all, cash and carry. You buy it and you take it home.

Oh yes, I mean, they deliver it to you, but right, but I'm just saying, no, none of them places have a website.

Right, but I'm saying it's all buy it now. You either take it home in your car, truck, SUV, or they're delivering it. Those are, those are not easy to get approved either because the banks always ask, oh, is there anything they can order? You got to go back and forth and explain it. But yeah, just, you know, I think that the, these community banks— watch out for our community bank program, probably going to release it within 90 days. You know, it's going to be 90.

We're doing 30.

Okay, 30 days within— I would say, let's just say, we'll, we'll say it'll be done in 90. If we get it done in 30, then we'll be good, we'll be golden. But watch out for the announcement, it's coming. You know, the other thing is, is, you know, I was reading about Cash App, right? And so I heard a rumor Cash App was going to come out with a business plan. They did, I thought, right? But they— so now they really started to release it, and they started to crack down on people using Cash App and saying, oh well, oh, we looked you up, you're a business, you got to sign up for the business side of Cash App. And I want to tell you, it's a lot cheaper to take credit cards than it is to take Cash App. But I did look into it. Why? Because the rates are higher than it is for a credit card.

What about taxes?

You still got to pay taxes on—

are you paying taxes in Cash App?

Yes, now you are. Okay, because the government put the kibosh on Cash App, Venmo, PayPal.

So if I send somebody $20, how much do they get?

No, they get $20, but I'm saying they're going to get a 1099.

That's my point. Cash App is not deducting taxes, for all you business illiterates out there. You do not get taxes deducted from your Cash App balances, yo. So every time you make a—

you know, you get 100%.

Exactly.

End of the year, you got to pay taxes.

You have to pay. No one is— you know, like, you have to go fill out your forms and pay your taxes, right? So everybody out there thinking that you're getting over— oh, I'm using Cash App, they don't— you know, I get all my money. No, you don't, sir. You might get it all up front, but at the end of the year Trust me, Uncle Sam's gonna come knocking on that door and you're gonna get a bill. I just got 10 years worth of them, trust me.

Yeah, so, so then I was looking into Cash App a little bit more and I saw that there— so that there's a— they're trying to come out with something new where a business can put a little, a little QR code thing in their business with a little machine. And then they can actually take Cash App in their business. What's— what I thought was interesting about it is, is that Cash App has a lot of people that are unbanked, right? So they don't have a bank account.

I mean, I know kids that get their bank accounts, their checks directly deposited straight to their Cash App, right?

So I was thinking about it, and then I was reading that they're coming out with a machine. And I actually looked up the company who's working— some of the companies working with them. One of them we've been talking to, so we're trying to see how we can establish a relationship for that, because I would like to bring that to the, to the communities where there's a lot of people in the minority communities. Unbanked.

Great.

Because that is a business.

I just, in my head, I could just imagine like all the barbershops that could benefit from that, you know, like Because so, so like barbershops?

No, just anybody in the community. Like, people go into— let's say you go into the small local grocery store, right? You're in a, in a community, you know, for the desert, minority community. You go into the bodega, right?

Yes.

And now you want to purchase something, and then you're like, hey, all I have is Cash App. And then the guy's like, do you What's happening is, is so the guy takes Cash App from people, but then the Cash App now sees, oh, this guy's taking too much Cash App, right? Or so they kick them off Cash App, right?

Right. I know this one guy, or he gets a— he had a lot of trouble because what he was doing is he was helping out. He was— kids would come in, they'd pay him the Cash App, right? And then he put the money into the register.

We didn't put— oh, that's not good.

You see what I'm saying?

Yeah, I'm just saying, no, but what I'm saying is, is like, yeah, they're taking Cash App, then surprise, lo and behold, they get the 1099. They're like, oh, I didn't know I was gonna have to pay taxes on that, right? So this would be more of like a business Cash App situation, and it would be all trackable because you'd have like a little, a little piece of equipment That makes sense.

I'm surprised Cash App hasn't released that already. Well, I mean, PayPal did that really.

So they're working with a few companies to try to figure out how to do that. And I was talking to somebody who was telling me they're working on it, actually sent me the paperwork, and I was like, wow, this would be really good for, you know, to, to promote to businesses because they probably just don't— they don't know about it.

Just imagine like at fairs like, or like small community events, block parties.

That's what I'm talking about. Like, they're— no, but you— they're going to want people to sign up and have a business bank account, and they're going to put— they're going to put the money in Cash App. It's like mer— it's like merchant service, but you're using Cash App. That's what I'm talking about. I know, it's pretty interesting. We're trying to find out how they're going to do it, you know. Is it going to be a set QR code or just like a little scanner thing? So we're trying to figure out how they're going to do that, and we're also trying to figure out if there's maybe a way to take it and connect it to a credit card machine. So it's pretty cool stuff. Well, I'm just saying, otherwise, where's all the records for where— you know what I mean? People don't want to have like 50 payment methods and then have to go look it all up on 50 different apps. You want to try to— you want to try to aggregate it so it's all going through.

That's the reason why I got rid of all of them. Because I didn't want to deal with it anymore.

Yeah, so it's easier to have a merchant again, but definitely like alternatives to credit card processing. It's— people are talking about it. How are they going to do it? Like now, the Fed—

now what's an alternative to credit card processing?

Is that everything? Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, it's all alternative. But now since all those companies got the new 1099 thing from Joe Biden they're more expensive than credit card processing.

Oh, you mean Zelle?

Yeah, like all of those companies have to do reporting. They're all raising their prices. I just saw another thing where PayPal and— oh, PayPal's crazy. PayPal is raising prices. Square is going to raise prices. Stripe's going to raise prices. Um, Cash App just raised their prices. And it's all a result of that. Now they have to follow the same compliance that the credit card companies do and issue 1099s. So they're, you know, they're raising their prices.

Can I say something?

They're more expensive than credit card processing.

We had it good for a long time, man. Yo, it's to everybody who's been running around getting the Cash Apps and saved by the Zelles and, you know, in the, uh, PayPal money, you know, We've had— we had a hell of a run.

You know, the story now is the party's over.

Yes, the party's over. Join the rest of the crew.

But, but, you know, when you compare those services to merchant services, we're, we're offering merchant services for way less— 20, 30 basis points less than what they're charging.

So the reason why people don't— are like— I know why I've been getting, you know, like resistance, right, is because I'm not—

we're not a big—

we're not this name brand. We're not, we're not Pepsi, we're not PayPal, right? But you guys are going to learn because those guys are going to keep raising their prices and we're going to stay right here. I mean, you might go up here a little bit, but we're going to stay right around here just so we can give it to those guys a little bit, you know what I mean?

Yeah. So, so now, like FedNow, which is this push for what's called real-time payments, but you know, when we look— when I look at this, there's they're not off— the banks that are doing it are not offering it to the SMB market, and the fintech companies who are trying to offer it also have— are being very selective about what merchants, which businesses, yeah, how to do it. And it's kind of— but I don't see people really wanting to do that versus credit card, you know, versus credit cards, because with credit cards people are getting cash back, miles, points, rewards. You know, gift cards, also loyalty programs. So gift cards, it's going to be interesting. I think that the real-time payments could really benefit in B2B.

What's a real-time payment?

Well, so like you instead— so like let's say I need to pay your company for $20 grand. If I— if you were set up with real-time payments, you could send me a link, I could click it, it takes the money right out of my bank account. Sends it to you just like a wire, but no wire transfer fees and all that stuff.

And that's something we offer, right?

We can do— we can set up ACH, but we don't have real-time send the money. Like, you request it, you get it in a couple of days. The Fed now is going to big companies and going, hey, why don't you do this real-time transfer? But not many, you know, there's going to be some adoption of that at the large level, But at the lower level, I think people like their credit cards.

Thanks to me.

And you know, the same stuff's going on with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau monitoring payment innovation. A lot of talk about that every day, like in all the payment news. Another thing that people started talking about is how restaurants can recover better from the pandemic. By having their workers treat— paid like gig workers, like pay them daily. And that's pretty interesting. And there's been a lot of discussion about that. And also a lot of discussion real quick before you—

like, so for those that don't know, like, there's what they're trying to— what they're talking about doing is paying people who work in like restaurants by the day. So like they finish their shift they cash out.

Yeah, they would. Yeah, you'd finish your shift and then somehow the restaurant would be using software and they can go, okay, uh, these 10 people finished their shift, here's all their tips, blah blah blah blah blah. But the thing is, is they're trying to figure— like, one company we talked to, I'm like, well, what do the employees do about taxes? He goes, oh, they can deal with that at the end of the year. No, that's not gonna fly.

They go work for like some, you know, some guy, young kid, some girl in college.

Yeah, they'll just end up in a bunch of trouble. Yeah, that's got to get linked to like a company somehow so that some taxes are coming out daily, like some kind of calculation. And then when the paycheck gets cut, there's at least some little bit of paycheck or something, because kids will end up, you know, young people just end up in that— just in trouble. So that's got to get, you know, straightened out. But that's probably a product that we'll see maybe make a breakout soon. And then paying with wallets is really big all over the world except in the US. And, you know, part of that has to do with Apple Pay and Google Pay and then blocking these wallets from getting in the phones. And I think that, you know, there's lawsuits on that, so we'll see what's happening. Also, now banks are pissed off about the central digital currency. That was all over Google this morning. And I was like, wow, these banks are not happy. They don't want that digital currency. Don't want it. At first I thought they were going to be on board with it, but they do not want that at all. They do not like it. They don't—

they don't want crypto to be a thing.

Not even crypto, just the digital currency, I think, right? Yeah, just any kind of digital money. They don't want to— they don't want to have that digital money. Nobody is a bank. Yeah, they're a bank. And listen, the banks are— the banks are rich and the banks are many. There's a lot of banks. No, when you go get banking—

thanks, are many, we are few.

No, no, when you look at banks in the United States, we have thousands of banks.

I know, we talk about this way too much.

Yeah, so, but in other countries they have only a few banks.

I know, that's what I'm saying, we talk about it. But yes, you learn a lot. You're surprised— you'd be surprised that Oh yeah, I'm gonna go to Ireland and they're gonna have PNC. Nah, man, they're gonna have whatever bank that Ireland— they have like 2 or 3 banks, Bank of Ireland and the Bank of South Ireland, right?

No, they just have less. There's just less. There's like less banks, although some of the banks—

why is the reasoning? What's the reasoning from that? Less corruption, maybe?

No, I think— well, first of all, those countries— people don't realize like how big of a landmass the United States is compared to like other places. Like, all of Europe fits inside the U.S., I think. I saw one time on a map it said all of Europe.

No, I'm gonna have to do the, uh, the—

I don't know, we have to look at knowledge on that one, Sarah.

But yeah, I don't know. But yes, I know what you're saying. Like, the United States of America is pretty big in comparison, right?

And we also have a different credit system than what they use. Their credit systems, we've talked about it. Yeah, it's all set up differently, so they don't need as many banks, you know, because that's just the way I think.

We need as many banks as we have either.

Well, who knows? It's one day we're from America, so you can do what you want.

No, I'm just kidding.

Entrepreneurial society. I mean, there's been a lot of consolidation in banking in the last few years. So the number of the big banks has been greatly reduced for sure.

So, well, that's because they've been buying all the other little guys.

No, no, they've been buying each other. Look, SunTrust bought Bank of— Bank Atlantic slash BB&T. SunTrust, SunTrust, SunTrust. Right. So BB&T and Bank Atlantic merged together. Right. So that made BB&T. And they bought several banks along the way. And now SunTrust merged with them, and now that's one big bank called Truist. So you wiped out, I don't know, 5, 6, 7 banks with that. Bank of America, over the years, as they merged up with tons of banks— Texas Commerce, NCNB, and the Bank of America— they probably wiped out a couple of dozen banks, you know, regional banks.

But did you know the guy who started Walmart owns his own, uh, well, now they're trying to, they're trying to start a bank again. He owns his own. No, there's— he still has a bank, right?

But I'm saying now he's trying— yeah, but he's trying to now like become his own like nationally chartered bank.

Yeah, because his bank is like sitting on $50 billion or something like that.

Yeah, they have a big bank. They're trying to be— yeah, but I think it's only state chartered, and I think they're trying to get a national.

No, it's only in Arkansas.

Right, they're trying to get a national charter.

Okay, I was— I just seen it, I seen the headline and I was like, it's, you know, the founder of Walmart.

So they're trying to be— so they're trying to become like a neobank and get— go national.

That's why they're in the news. That's right.

So there's a big talk— that's why I was telling you this neobank thing is blowing up with all sorts of different people trying to get into the banking game. And you know, that's what's going on. That's payment trends. So we just— we went over everything, you know, all the buzzwords are still out there. FinTech, omnichannel, you know, cash discount where merchants can charge extra, buy now pay later, buy now pay later. It's all, it's all out there. It's, you know, this is what's going on. This is what we discuss on the podcast. Each podcast is about a different financial product, you know, that, that, that we're interacting with and looking into and, and, you know, advancing, um, you know, advancing. So we're coming out with, you know, we're going to be making a big announcement about a new product. We did a beta test on it, worked awesome, signed up a bunch of clients using it. They like it. So Everybody's—

we're—

everybody is happy on that end. So we're gonna be getting that off of the ground. Inside of that, we're gonna have that program we talked about for community banks. We're going to be looking into how possibly we can tie in Cash App into some sort of, uh, into, into, into being able to offer that, come up with a way how we'll be able to offer that in a in a pot in a way that businesses could use it. And see how that— you know, we're going to look into it, but I think we're going to see a lot of changes coming up in the next, uh, by that, you know, this— the rest of 2022 is going to be very interesting when it comes to payment trends. Agreed. All right, Payment Trends, we're out. Carpe diem, seize the day. Peace out. B2B Vault, don't forget You can always text us to 954-827-9818, the word book, and set up an appointment. Or visit the website, b2bvault.info. b2bvault.info. We're out.

Peace.