Saturday , January 31, 2026

Credit Cards

Fraudsters’ First Love: Signature Debit Cards

Criminals target signature-based debit cards for fraud attempts far more than any other payment method, according to new findings from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Fed’s survey last summer, which garnered responses from 283 banks and credit unions across the country, found that more than 90% of …

Read More »

ProPay Launches Payment Network for Software-as-a-Service Firms

ProPay, a unit of Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), announced the debut of the ProPay Payment Network Wednesday. The service targets software-as-a-service providers and aims to make it easier for them to make payments among merchants, marketplaces, affiliates, consultants, and partners. TSYS says it does that through a single point …

Read More »

Consumer Cynicism Climbs in a ‘Runaway Year for Fraudsters,’ a Report Finds

Thanks to the seemingly unending epidemic of data breaches—capped by the huge breach last summer at credit-reporting titan Equifax Inc.—consumers are becoming both more aware and more cynical about the problem, according to research released Tuesday by Javelin Strategy & Research. In the wake of the Equifax case, in which …

Read More »

Two Sides of the Same Coin? Surcharging And Cash Discounts Puzzle Some in Acquiring

Curiosity, and a bit of confusion, about what constitutes credit card surcharging and cash-discount programs surfaced this week at the Northeast Acquirers Association annual conference in Uncasville, Conn. During a panel discussion about the benefits and challenges of credit card surcharging and cash-discount programs for merchants, participants explained how their …

Read More »

With Uncle Sam’s Tax Cut in Place, Visa Expects a $1 Billion Windfall

North America’s largest payments company on Thursday said it expects to receive a $1 billion bonus from the federal tax-reform bill passed into law in December. In contrast with its rival Mastercard Inc., which reported earlier in the day it recorded an $873 million charge in the fourth quarter related …

Read More »

Mastercard Takes $873 Million One-Time Tax Hit; Lands Cabela’s Cobranded Card

Mastercard Inc. took an $873 million, one-time charge in 2017’s fourth quarter related to the new federal tax law, and the company reported Thursday that the cobranded Cabela’s Visa card will switch to the Mastercard brand. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that President Donald Trump signed into law in …

Read More »

Advocates Look to EMV Fuel Pumps And Contactless Cards for Advances in Payments Tech

The U.S. Payments Forum on Monday reported that the vast majority of large U.S. merchants now accept EMV chip cards. With the conversion to chip from the old magnetic-stripe payment technology at the point of sale now over the hump, though still far from complete, advocates are looking at fuel …

Read More »

Sage Payment Solutions Rebrands As Paya And Aims at Higher Visibility As a Payments Company

Seven months after paying $260 million for Sage Payment Solutions, the U.S. merchant-services arm of Sage Group plc, investment firm GTCR LLC is giving it a new name—Paya—and a refreshed strategy to add more merchants to its portfolio. Announced Tuesday, the Paya name for the Reston, Va.-based payments provider signifies a …

Read More »

Starbucks Brews New Cards and Mulls Blockchain Technology

Investors gave Starbucks Corp. the cold shoulder Friday morning on news that despite a record $6.1 billion in quarterly revenues, growth is slowing in the United States. But the coffee giant’s payments business has several initiatives brewing, executives reported late Thursday. A leader in closed-loop prepaid cards and mobile payments …

Read More »

The Beat Picks Up at Pulse as Discover’s Transaction Volume Grows

Last year was a year of revival for Discover Financial Services’ long-suffering Pulse debit network, which posted a 19% fourth-quarter increase in year-over-year dollar volume on 15% more transactions. The strong finish—$42.4 billion in volume on 1.03 billion transactions—brought Pulse’s full-year volume to $157.1 billion, up 14% from $138 billion …

Read More »
Digital Transactions