<p>ARLINGTON, Va. – Citigroup Inc, the world's largest card issuer, according to the American Banker, has entered into an experimental program with the McDonald's Corporation to allow customers to use their credit cards to pay for their burgers and fries. According to a recent story Citigroup and McDonald's are using radio frequency technology analogous to the "speed pass" technology used by primary gasoline retailers to allow customers to pay for the food by credit cards. Steven Freiberg, Citigroup's Citi Cards CEO, reported that the "jury is still out" on the McDonald's experiment. There are technological concerns that the technology, when it malfunctions, could hold up the McDonald's lines and Citigroup is not convinced it can make money on such small transactions, even though customers are making a lot of them. There are indications, however, that McDonald's customers using purchase 40% more fast food when paying by credit card than they do when paying by cash, Freiberg reported. Citigroup has $109 billion in credit card receivables, more than double its size in 1997. The company is striving to remain profitable in a credit card market that is "saturated," Freiberg said.</p>
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.