Amazon opens new payment chapter

Credit cards, a thing of the past?

Amazon.com, the online bookstore, is offering customers a new way to pay in a move that is seen as a way of cutting down on the credit card fees the company incurs. Amazon will join forces with Citigroup in the US to offer the Amazon Credit Account. Customers who sign up will be presented with a monthly bill which can then be settled using a current account. Gartner analyst Avivah Litan told the Wall Street Journal that Amazon.com may be paying up to 2.25 per cent of the value of purchases in credit card fees. This is more than double the amount a high-street store would expect to incur.