Debit Cards

Select-A-Branch ATM Network LLC, the startup that offers electronic multibank branding on its ATMs, is about to bust out of the Northeast thanks to a new pact with TRM Corp.'s Access To Money network. The exclusive distribution agreement-in-principle deal would give Select-A-Branch potential access to about 3,000 ATMs in convenience …

Signs are pointing to fewer merchant-account bookings by independent sales organizations, and that's translating into fewer orders for VeriFone Holdings Inc., the largest U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal developer. Last week, VeriFone reduced its revenue projections for its fourth quarter ended Oct. 31 and fiscal 2008. In a conference call late last …

A startup company called Bling Nation Ltd., which debuted this week, plans to combine contactless-payment technology with an on-us approach to debit transactions that it says will cut transaction costs for both community banks and merchants. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based processor is in discussions with five financial institutions and plans …

Nearly one-third of U.S. Bank customers who have been issued a contactless debit card have performed at least one contactless transaction since the bank's program began in June, an executive with the bank said on Wednesday. “So far, it's looking really promising,” Michael Shepard, group product manager for consumer credit …

Electronic commerce hasn't been the slam-dunk for the electronic funds transfer networks that it has been for Visa and MasterCard. One of the biggest issues has been if and how to facilitate Internet transactions from PIN-based debit cards issued by the EFT networks' member banks and credit unions. Now Metavante …

The PCI Security Standards Council on Monday introduced a quality-assurance program for the companies that determine whether a merchant, processor, or other entity that touches credit and debit card data meets the council's rules. The Wakefield, Mass.-based council's aim is to ensure more uniform enforcement of the Payment Card Industry …

In what it calls a first for a major oil company, the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc in January plans to offer a PIN-based consumer debit card that uses the automated clearing house network, gives consumers a discount on gas, and costs Shell's retail outlets 40 cents per …

The electronic-payments industry can expect the well-established consumer shift away from credit cards and toward debit and prepaid cards to continue in today's turbulent economic climate, but other changes are afoot as the financial landscape rapidly changes, according to Maynard, Mass-based Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Some of the most significant …

Like the other payment card networks that recently reported their quarterly financials, MasterCard Inc. saw softening volumes in the third quarter. Things worsened in October but, like bank card rival Visa Inc., MasterCard's debit business is holding up much better than credit in what MasterCard president and chief executive Robert …

Debit cards have been growing faster than credit cards for years now in the United States, but they'll be more important than ever for Visa Inc.'s growth in the near term as wary banks rein in lending. With the weakening economy, what had been slow credit card payment growth went …