Block Takes Aim at Card Network Fees with New Features

Some of the new features offered by Block’s Square and Cash App brands take direct aim at the fees charged by card networks, bloomberg reported Friday (Oct.10).

The company is offering local businesses that use its payment network a payment processing rate of 1% on orders placed through Cash App, lower than the card networks’ fees that can be as high as 3%, according to the report.

in addition, through its new product called Neighborhoods, Block is enabling and partially subsidizing local businesses’ offering of rewards.The rewards program incentivizes consumers to pay via Cash App rather than the card networks, the report said.

During a Square event held Wednesday (Oct. 8), Block CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey said, per the report: “More and more sellers are getting frustrated with credit card fees for the value that they get back from it.”

Block Business Lead Owen Britton Jennings added that the company wants to “give sellers more control” and “more options” when it comes to accepting payments.