Credit Cards

MasterCard Inc. is changing a controversial policy, and pushing back a deadline, that it announced only six months ago regarding enforcement of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard. With the changes, which involve assessing computer systems for PCI compliance, MasterCard could be viewed as responding to valid complaints after first …

With two settlements announced in less than a week, merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is putting some of the legal repercussions of its huge data breach behind it as 2009 draws to a close. But most of the legal troubles Heartland faces in the wake of the breach it …

Consumers have cut back their usage of credit cards in the past year, often on their own volition but also because suddenly risk-averse credit card issuers have closed millions of credit card accounts or reduced credit lines in their attempts to strengthen recession-racked balance sheets. Now the emerging question is …

Christmas cheer for merchants and transaction processors came a little early this week with the news that both transaction volumes and dollar sales from cards for at least one major processor are finally trending up, yielding a scant but welcome uptick in average tickets. Even more encouraging: the increases came …

Electronic payments are showing signs of life as consumers open up their wallets and purses early in this holiday spending season. But just how wide they'll open those wallets and purses as the season goes on is uncertain. The early take is that volumes are up from 2008's anemic levels, …

Although implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) begins Tuesday, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services next week will hold a hearing on two bills that would replace or set a new date for implementation of the controversial gambling legislation. A hearing on the new …

With one week to go until Cyber Monday, the e-commerce equivalent of the day after Thanksgiving in physical stores, the early read on the 2009 e-commerce holiday-shopping season is that it will probably continue 2008's trends. Last year was most notable for its decline in average tickets as consumers put …

It often seems impossible to thwart online fraudsters, but e-commerce merchants made headway in the past year, according to CyberSource Corp.'s 11th annual study of e-commerce fraud. For the first time in four years, U.S. and Canadian merchants reported a decline in the average percentage of online revenues lost to …

Bringing small merchants into compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, is no easy task, according to independent sales organization executives that have started PCI programs for so-called Level 4 merchants. “You call up Billy's Pizza and ask him about his firewall, and he's not going to …

Visa Inc. is paying more attention to a broad category of merchants it dubs Internet direct marketers, according to a Visa security executive who spoke on Thursday to independent sales organization executives. These marketers bear many similarities to the often-suspect sellers of the 1980s and '90s who peddled their wares …