Today In Payments: Mortgage Servicers Ready For ‘Liquidity Tsunami’; London Unicorn FinTech Revolut Rolls Out In The US

In today’s top payments news, mortgage firms are bracing for a succession of missed payments, and London-based Revolut opened its digital-only banking app in the U.S. Also, the U.K. increased its contactless pay limit to  encourage more people to make contactless payments.

Mortgage Servicers Ready For ‘Liquidity Tsunami’ As Pandemic Hits Wallets

Panic is soaring across the mortgage industry as the coronavirus cripples finances for struggling homeowners. Mortgage firms are bracing for a succession of missed payments from hundreds of thousands of homeowners and are trying to figure out where they will come up with the billions needed to pay the investors that back those mortgages.

London Unicorn FinTech Revolut Rolls Out In The US

London-headquartered Revolut is launching its app-based digital-only bank in the U.S. The FinTech launched in 2015 and has since attracted more than 10 million customers across Europe and the U.K. There has been a waitlist for U.S. customers since Revolut announced last year that it would bring its “financial super app” and debit card across the pond.

UK Increases Contactless Transaction Limit to £45

The U.K. will raise its contactless pay limit from £15 ($17.43) to £45 ($52.29) in response to the coronavirus. The change was made to encourage more people to make contactless payments, ensuring people have less physical contact with payment machines in hopes of slowing the coronavirus spread.

Uber CEO To Trump: Gig Workforce Needs Relief

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wrote a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday, March 23, asking him to consider special funding to help the gig workforce as the demand for rides goes by the wayside. Gig economy workers are independent contractors and aren’t eligible for unemployment.

New Data: FIs’ Most Underutilized Asset: Their Apps

Only 10 percent of financial institutions use apps for non-routine functions like opening new accounts or adding new names to their accounts. In the Consumer-Centric Authentication Playbook: The Path To Banking App Adoption Edition, PYMNTS asked 2,835 consumers to better understand how FIs can enhance their apps’ UX to boost engagement.

Business Models Drive Integrated Payments Innovation

Software platforms know that monetizing payments is important, but underestimate the heavy lift of making integrated payments simple and invisible. In an interview with Karen Webster, Bob Butler, president at Payrix, details how new business and operating models give software platforms the integrated payments gain without the pain.

Getting Social(ish) In The Supermarket, The Singles Bar For The Age Of Corona

People are lining up outside to get into their new favorite club — the grocery store. But it’s not just in the time of the coronavirus scare and quarantine that grocery stores have been a place for socialization; stores have been adding cafes, bars, and other social experiences for years. Is the grocery store becoming the new way for people to stay social (at a distance) and perhaps find love?