Rush of Refund Requests Slows Cash Flow to Consumers
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Monday, June 15th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. If you made a big purchasing decision before the pandemic, like booking a vacation or buying concert tickets, and you're rethinking it now, you're not alone.
What is causing a rush of refund requests during the pandemic?
So many people are asking for refunds, either out of safety concerns or to save some cash, but the companies that process the payments... are in a tight spot.
Now what you're seeing is you have so many millions more people selling stuff online, selling stuff in farmers markets that never had to deal with, you know, refund requests of this magnitude before.
That's our reporter Peter Rudiger. After the break, he'll explain what businesses and payment companies are doing to get refund money back into consumers' hands.
Getting a refund on a purchase is usually pretty easy, but a rush of refund requests during the pandemic is creating a bottleneck for payment processors, retailers, and consumers. Our reporter Peter Rudiger is here to explain. So Peter, almost everyone's spending habits and patterns have been upended by the pandemic.
You have things like people being reluctant to spend cash because they might be worried about getting the virus from a dollar bill and wanting to use their credit card more to people, you know, canceling longstanding things they had booked with their credit card online. So think plane tickets, think cruise lines, concerts, stuff that people might never have thought they knew how to figure out how to do, like get a refund for a concert ticket they're now having to navigate.
How much have refund and dispute rates increased for travel and event purchases?
So how much has the number of refund requests from credit card holders increased since the start of the pandemic?
We've heard from some analysts and consulting firms that there's been a doubling or a tripling of the number of refund requests that different credit card companies are receiving. In normal times, we hear about 0.05% of all transactions are disputed. And now in some industries, think travel, those disputes have risen to 40% of all transactions at times.
Now, why are payment apps like PayPal and Square slowing down funds going back to the customer?
So a company might use Square, PayPal, Stripe, one of these companies, to accept credit card payments. The flow of the money is I'm the customer, I swipe my credit card.
What rules do processors use like holds or reserves to manage refund risk?
It goes through my bank that issues the credit card, the money through a Visa or MasterCard network to a company like Square or PayPal who distributes the money to the merchants that use them. If there's a refund request, sometimes PayPal and Square or Stripe, they have to go to that merchant. Sometimes that merchant might not be around if there's an economic downturn like there is at the moment. Sometimes those merchants don't have enough money on hand to handle the refunds because of their other costs going up. So as a middleman, Square, PayPal, and Stripe have to negotiate those refund requests and make sure there is enough cash to support the number of refunds among the merchants it serves. And if there isn't, sometimes they have to step in and foot the bill.
How are small businesses being affected even if they have no chargebacks?
So because of that, they are being more conservative on stances around accepting payments than they would be in normal times.
And I guess that's creating some friction between payment processors and businesses?
Absolutely it is.
Why are payment apps like PayPal, Square and Stripe slowing refunds to customers?
This usually happens with businesses where there's some lag between payment and delivery. So if I'm going to a donut shop and I buy donuts and eat them, I can't really request a refund. Most people wouldn't even accept that because I got what I paid for. But if I'm buying a plane ticket... and I buy it in February and I want to take the trip in June and I haven't taken it yet, that's where things get a little tricky. So some of the things that payment firms want to do is institute what's called a hold or a reserve. So say, hey, we used to give you your money every day or every two days. Now we're going to hold it for two weeks or even a couple months. Sometimes it's saying we're going to hold a portion of those sales for even longer, maybe three months, four months.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:19
2
What is causing a rush of refund requests during the pandemic?
0:19–1:37
3
How much have refund and dispute rates increased for travel and event purchases?
1:37–2:21
4
What rules do processors use like holds or reserves to manage refund risk?
2:21–3:00
5
How are small businesses being affected even if they have no chargebacks?
3:00–3:12
6
Why are payment apps like PayPal, Square and Stripe slowing refunds to customers?
3:12–3:52
7
How do payment companies justify protecting consumers while limiting merchant payouts?
3:52–7:28
Speakers
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