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Motorola Inc.'s new payment software for mobile phones, called M-Wallet, will begin commercial rollout within three to six months with wireless carriers, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based technology company tells Digital Transactions News. A test of M-Wallet is already in progress, officials say, though they can't give details. The company is in …
Read More »SVPCO: Costly IRDs Are Now Just 20% of Image-Exchange Volume
When the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check 21) went into effect in October 2004, experts predicted it would be years before banks weaned themselves from the so-called image-replacement documents provided for in the law. These IRDs are paper printouts of check images that travel the last mile …
Read More »A Processing Exec Outlines Practical Steps to Save on Interchange
Merchants upset about interchange pricing may or may not ultimately prevail in their pending litigation against the bank card networks, but any outcome is likely to be years away. For now, there are practical steps retailers and service providers can take to cut acceptance costs, an executive with a major …
Read More »SVPCO Reports Another Month of Steady Build in Image Volume
The promise of Check 21 may be unfolding more slowly than enthusiasts would like, but the country's largest image-exchange network recorded another gain in volume in January. New York-based SVPCO, part of the The Clearing House Payments Co., which is owned by many of the nation's largest banks, handled 13.9 …
Read More »Interchange Cases To Yield Consolidated Complaint in 60 Days
A consolidated complaint arising from some 47 interchange lawsuits filed by merchants and merchant groups against the bank card associations over the past seven months will likely emerge within 60 days, with certification of a class coming by fall, a lawyer representing some of the merchants said today. The various …
Read More »Citi Will Issue Contactless Tokens for N.Y. Mass Transit Test This Spring
Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank, which last year announced it would issue contactless tokens linked to customers' credit and debit card accounts in the New York metropolitan area, is now allowing those devices to be used in a test of radio-frequency-based electronic fare payments by the Metropolitan Transit Authority's MTA New York …
Read More »Investors Smile on First Data’s New Look, Western Union Spin-Off
Despite some poor fourth-quarter financials, shares of First Data Corp. rose nearly 7% this morning after the big transaction processor announced plans to spin off its fast-growing and biggest subsidiary, Western Union, to First Data shareholders. Denver-based First Data also ended speculation that it might sell its lackluster Card Issuing …
Read More »Click&Buy Will Expand Online Payment Options to Phone Bills April 1
Webpay Inc.'s Click&Buy payment service, which handles largely digital-content sales, will begin processing transactions on consumers' phone bills April 1. The service will work with two so-far unnamed telecommunications carriers that together cover 55% of U.S. land-line subscribers, says Fabian G. Siegel, president and chief executive of Webpay, which has …
Read More »A Startup Readies a Payments Network Based on Driver’s Licenses
A startup company led by the former head of a processor of automated clearing house transactions is readying a network that will allow consumers to use their driver's licenses to pay for goods at the point of sale. Boulder, Colo.-based Combined Payments Network LLC plans to formally unveil its product, …
Read More »With GE Consumer Finance, AmEx Claims Seven Bank Card Issuers
American Express Co. has announced the seventh financial institution to agree to issue AmEx cards since the New York-based travel-and-entertainment giant began courting banks for its network two years ago. GE Consumer Finance, a Stamford, Conn.-based unit of General Electric Co., said it will issue cards on AmEx's network that …
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