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This Week In Credit Card News: Money Causes Most Stress For People; Does Your Card Have Free Cell Phone Insurance?

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Some Credit Cards Offer Cell Phone Insurance to Cover You for Damage

Our cell phones are among the most expensive things we own, and something we carry almost everywhere we go. This combination means that breaking one or having one stolen at some point is unfortunately pretty common, and it's a significant financial blow. There are credit cards that will provide complimentary cell phone coverage just for paying your phone bill with that card. [Insider]

73% of Americans Rank Their Finances as the No. 1 Stress in Life

If the state of your finances is stressing you out, you're far from alone. A new Capital One CreditWise survey found that finances are the number one cause of stress (73%), more than politics (59%), work (49%) and family (46%). Younger generations are even more stressed out about finances than older generations with the majority of Gen Z'ers (82%) and millennials (81%) saying finances are at least somewhat stressful. [CNBC]

Mastercard, Visa, eBay Drop Out of Facebook's Libra Payments Network

The biggest financial companies that Facebook recruited to launch a world-wide cryptocurrency-based payments network have backed out of the project, threatening to derail an ambitious initiative to remake global finance before it ever gets off the ground. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and eBay said they were withdrawing from the coalition of companies that had originally signed on to help launch the libra cryptocurrency. PayPal had previously dropped out. [The Wall Street Journal]

Bank of America's Digital Channel Now Accounts for 26% of Total Sales with Mobile Representing Over Half

Bank of America counts 38 million digital banking users as of Q3 2019, marking a 5% year-over-year increase. The firm also has 28.7 million active mobile banking users, marking a 10% annual increase. BofA's digital channel now accounts for 26% of total sales, with mobile representing over half of these digital sales. [Business Insider]

PayPal is Launching a Venmo Credit Card to Help Monetize the Payment App

Venmo, the popular payment app owned by PayPal, will offer a Venmo-branded credit card in 2020. Synchrony Financial will handle the banking side of the card. The app started with peer-to-peer payments and became famous for incorporating a social network with the ability to "like" and comment on friends' transactions. Venmo has since brought in 40 million users, launched a debit card last year and offers a "pay with Venmo" option with partners like Uber. [CNBC]

Mobile Banking Firm Sues Facebook over Calibra's Logo

Facebook's Libra project has yet another issue to deal with: Current, a mobile banking app, has sued the social network's Calibra subsidiary over their very similar logos. The tech giant introduced Calibra as the division that will oversee its cryptocurrency plans, including the development of a digital wallet. The lawsuit said Calibra's logo "is not only confusingly similar to, but virtually identical to the Current Marks." [Engadget]

American Express Takes Aim at Rival Brex With New Card Offerings for Startups

American Express is rolling out a new corporate card program for startups after newcomers like Brex have had success in grabbing a slice of the market. The cards will be available in coming months, offering full corporate liability without requiring founders to provide a security deposit or personal guarantee. New technology allows AmEx to see a startup's bank balance to let fledgling firms qualify for cards. Brex garnered a $2.6 billion valuation just one year after launching its first product, a corporate card for its fellow startups. Stripe, a payments provider most recently valued at $35 billion, also has a corporate card for small companies. [Bloomberg]

Apple and Goldman Sachs Don't Report Apple Card Information to Credit Bureaus

If you've signed up for the Apple Card, your payment history won't be reflected on your credit reports. Apple and Goldman Sachs have yet to start reporting consumers' payment information for the Apple Card to the major credit bureaus. The source later said that the companies will begin reporting to the credit bureaus later this quarter. [MarketWatch]

Hacking Back? BriansClub Dark Web Attack a Boon for Banks

A Dark Web "carding store" called BriansClub, which specializes in selling stolen payment card information, has itself become a victim, with thieves making off with 26 million credit and debit card records. The site appears to be a target of "hacking back," since the data was shared with financial institutions in an effort to cut off any potential card fraud. [ThreatPost]

For Citi, Cards are Driving Multi-Product Relationships

To Citibank, the world's largest credit card issuer, cards are driving revenue and deeper relationships with the brand. The bank reported that revenue in North America from branded cards grew 11% to $2.3 billion. Citi's chief financial officer said cards are important customer acquisition drivers for other areas of the business, including retail banking products. [Bank Innovation]

Amex Canada Rolls Out SMB Card With Employee Misuse Protection

American Express Canada announced the launch of a new small business credit card, the American Express Business Edge Card, designed to support spend management for SMBs in the country. In addition to earning rewards points on business-targeted purchases, the card integrates a suite of business expense management solutions as well as insurance coverage to protect against employee misuse of the card, car theft and other risks. [PYMNTS]

The Psychological Perks of Paying Off Debt

Debt has the power to take over your entire life, from what you buy to where you live. But when debt is paid off, the benefits go well beyond the bank. A host of psychological perks can occur. Debt is ranked as one of the most stress-inducing life events. When you're in debt, it can feel like your life's on hold. Your life dreams—getting married, launching a business, having a baby—seem impossible to pursue when your financial life is in disorder. Debt tends to carry a uniformly negative stigma and can weaken self-esteem at its root. [Bankrate]