Credit Cards

In an unusual tactic to thwart credit card fraud, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. nearly a year ago quietly implemented a policy in which its point-of-sale terminals prompt some cardholders to enter their card’s verification number, a code normally used for card-not-present transactions such as mail-order/telephone order (MOTO) and Internet purchases. The …

As the U.S. payments system continues its migration to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa chip-card standard, companies like processor Fiserv Inc. are preparing services to help issuers with the effort. Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv announced this week it is offering a suite of services to help with issuer strategies, personalization, transaction processing, risk management, …

Citing little enthusiasm by either consumers or merchants for contactless card payments, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly begun informing cardholders that it is discontinuing its blink contactless program. While at first glance blink’s demise seems like a setback for chip-based card payments in the United States, it is unlikely …

A U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleging anti-competitive behavior by American Express Co. can proceed, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled Wednesday. Seventeen states also are plaintiffs in the case. n The case is important because of the government’s continuing inquiry …

Tablet-based point-of-sale provider ShopKeep.com Inc. has lined up payment-processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) as a reseller. Columbus, Ga.-based TSYS will offer ShopKeep products in addition to traditional POS terminals, contactless readers, mobile payments, and online payment acceptance. TSYS say it added ShopKeep because it knows merchants have a need …

By John Stewart With a crucial deadline looming in 2015, the U.S. payments industry will have only partially converted to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card standard by the end of that year. Indeed, it will likely take years to equip small merchants especially to accept EMV, according to a report …

Despite the impending loss of consumer payment cards from mega-bank JPMorgan Chase & Co., MasterCard Inc. is winning new business from U.S. card issuers, its top executives said Thursday at the No. 2 payment card network’s first-quarter earnings call. U.S. credit card purchase volume grew 8.1% year-over-year to $138 billion …

A revised set of network fees from Visa Inc. could hit merchant aggregators hard when the revisions take effect next April, according to payments-industry sources. Depending on the size and number of aggregators’ sponsored merchants, the revisions could significantly boost actual fee payments as well as drive up programming and …

Payments industry professionals attending one of the four regional acquiring conferences can expect to see more from the Electronic Transactions Association at the events. n “This is a conscious effort on the part of the ETA to participate, support them, and engage in mutually beneficial activities,” Oxman tells Digital Transactions …

Two banks that sued Target Corp. and data-security services provider Trustwave Holdings Inc. in the wake of Target’s massive data breach have withdrawn their federal lawsuit after filing it only a week ago, leaving payments-industry observers wondering why they brought the action in the first place. In separate motions filed …