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Google Inc. has apparently fixed a weeks-old problem with its Google Checkout online-payments system that prevented merchants from processing recurring transactions, such as subscription fees. While Google says the little-publicized glitch affected only a small number of merchants, other observers say this and outages experienced by other alternative payment services?such …
Read More »Aldi Grows While Bucking Grocers’ Trend Toward Card Acceptance
Dozens of U.S. grocery-store chains added credit card acceptance in the 1990s, when consumers began asking to use the cards and merchant acquirers saw a ripe new market. Grocers acquiesced to keep their customers happy and because the payment card networks offered interchange breaks or other incentives. But not Aldi, …
Read More »Don’t Hire a QSA by Seeking the Lowest Bid, Warns Heartland’s Carr
Among lessons learned by Heartland Payment Systems Inc. after the massive data breach at the merchant acquirer last year: Don't necessarily hire the qualified security assessor (QSA) offering the lowest bid, says Robert O. Carr, chairman and CEO. Processors and merchants need to hire QSAs in the same way they …
Read More »PCI Report Poses a Quandary: Where Did 1 Million Merchants Go?
The biggest merchants are moving toward 100% compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, but compliance among small card acceptors remains much lower, according to second-quarter statistics from Visa Inc. None of that is a surprise given PCI compliance trends in recent years. But just how far …
Read More »Wells Brings Remittances to the Internet for ‘Tech-Savvy’ Users
The money-transfer business just got a bit more competitive. Wells Fargo & Co. on Wednesday said it has added an online feature to its ExpressSend service, enabling customers to send money to seven countries from their computer keyboards at any time. “It's in response to our customers' wants,” Steve Clark, …
Read More »Cynergy Is an Example of Economic Stresses on ISOs, Experts Say
Tuesday's news that Cynergy Data was filing for bankruptcy and planning to sell its assets serves as perhaps an extreme example of the fierce toll the recession is taking on independent sales organizations, observers say. Indeed, some say the ravages of reduced payment volumes, failed merchants, and squeezed margins could …
Read More »The PCI Council Offers Guidelines to Fight Skimming Scourge
While much of the credit and debit card industry's attention is focused on new indictments that detail how hackers penetrated the computer systems of big processors and merchants to steal tens of millions of card numbers (Digital Transactions News, Aug. 18), the PCI Security Standards Council is trying to shine …
Read More »An All-Handset Payments App Edges PayPal Closer to the Point of Sale
An application officially announced this week extends to virtually any cell phone the capability of accepting credit cards, a function that up to now mobile merchants have found mostly restricted to so-called smart phones like the iPhone or BlackBerry. The wCharge Credit Card Terminal, quietly introduced early this year by …
Read More »Despite Gonzalez Indictment, No Easy Answers for Merchants
This week's indictment of the alleged criminal mastermind behind the biggest and most notorious data breaches the card industry has ever sustained isn't likely to deter others from stealing card information. Indeed, merchants and processors counting on the charges brought on Monday against Albert Gonzalez (Digital Transactions News, Aug. 17) …
Read More »It’s Official: At 130 Million Cards, Heartland Was Biggest Breach Ever
Stunning indictments announced on Monday by the U.S. attorney in New Jersey against three defendants for the first time reveal the number of credit and debit card numbers stolen in the Heartland Payment Systems Inc. data breach: 130 million. That confirms speculation that Heartland's was the biggest card hack ever. …
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