This Week in Credit Cards: The Interchange Battle Escalates

Those who are superstitious may be treading lightly on this Friday the 13th, but we can confirm there were no invisible forces guiding the events of this past week in the credit card space.

At CardRates, we’re always paying attention to news that may impact the credit card industry, regardless of whether news events stand to bring favorable or ominous outcomes to card issuers and other stakeholders in the card ecosystem. Read on for a roundup of happenings that especially stood out to us this week.

The fight over interchange in Illinois continues as America’s Credit Unions and its partners have filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The groups want the legal system to stop the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (IFPA) before it goes into effect on July 1.

This Week in Credit Cards: Illinois interchange case influences Colorado, AI is beating onboarding, and a new program from ACI Worldwide. Catch up here: https://t.co/sonCw8NCxm pic.twitter.com/4khvOt0CJE

— CardRates Industry News (@CardRatesNews) March 13, 2026

The Interchange Fee Prohibition Act stands to prevent financial institutions from imposing interchange fees in Illinois on the tax and gratuity portions of a bill paid with either a credit or debit card. If the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act moves forward, other states may try to pass similar laws.

Lawmakers in Colorado are proposing a bill that would disallow companies from charging interchange fees on a bill’s tax portion.

A new report details the risks that generative AI can bring to financial institutions when it comes to identifying their customers. The report, from deepfake detection firm DuckDuckGoose, reveals that synthetic identities are capable of bypassing systems certain banks use to confirm someone is who they claim to be.

To prevent fraud, card issuers must ensure they can verify the identity of a person attempting to open an account with them. Card companies can employ alternative identity verification methods to help protect their operations from the risk of synthetic identities circumventing legacy verification systems.

A new solution from FICO can help financial institutions benchmark the performance of their portfolios and extend credit safely to different customer segments. The company introduced its new digital platform, the FICO Score Credit Insights Lab, this week.

For lenders considering implementing new strategies — but who haven’t yet pulled the trigger on those plans due to uncertainty — the tool can simulate the impact of new approaches so creditors can better understand potential outcomes. Industry professionals can register to access the insights lab on FICO’s website.

Payments software outfit ACI Worldwide introduced a new program this week it calls ACI Connetic for Cards. Companies can use ACI Connetic for Cards to access modern payment infrastructure that supports the transaction life cycle of payments, including intelligently routing transactions and collecting and verifying data.

A press release from the company on the launch of its new solution notes that projections for global card transactions are expected to surpass 1.1 trillion by 2029. In 2024, that figure stood at 776 billion transactions. Issuers looking to capture a portion of that growth while keeping risk in check may benefit from ACI Worldwide’s new solution.

Ford has launched a new credit card program with assistance from Bread Financial. The Ford Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card, which comes in four design options, allows cardholders to earn points when they use it to make purchases.

Consumers can earn more points for their spend when they make purchases from certain locations including Ford dealerships, gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants. And they can redeem points for rewards such as Ford accessories and parts as well as services, including oil and filter changes as the automaker looks to extend loyalty past the purchase.

The CardRates team returns next week with another edition of This Week in Credit Cards. Visit our social media accounts on X and LinkedIn for interviews with industry experts and more credit card industry reporting. We appreciate your readership.

Be sure to check back in with us next week for coverage of the biggest stories in the credit card industry.