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With credit and debit cards accounting for nearly 46% of supermarket payments, card-acceptance fees now rank No. 2 behind energy costs among the top concerns of grocery-store executives, the Food Marketing Institute reports in its latest financial review of the grocery industry's financial health. In its 2005-2006 Annual Financial Review …
Read More »Banks’ ATM Surcharges Hit New Record, As Do NSF Fees
The average ATM surcharge assessed by banks has risen 4 cents in the past six months, to $1.64, but a drop in ATM foreign fees means banks will collect $4.2 billion in total ATM charges this year, down slightly from the $4.3 billion they took in in 2005. That's according …
Read More »Market Forces, Including Interchange Cases, Spur Visa to Plan for IPO
Facing many of the same pressures that led its rival MasterCard Inc. to go public earlier this year, Visa announced on Wednesday it plans to scuttle the membership-association structure that has characterized it throughout its 36-year history in favor of a sweeping reorganization that will lead to ownership by the …
Read More »Debitman Beefs up Issuer Ranks With Wawa, Promises More to Come
Debitman Card Inc., the PIN-debit alternative network to the major card brands, on Monday signed on another issuer, and one of its top executives says more issuer announcements are coming. Getting retailers to issue as well as accept Debitman has been a major initiative for the San Mateo, Calif.-based company, …
Read More »MasterCard Unveils Network-Level, Real-Time PIN-Fraud Scoring
With PIN debit fraud losses rising along with consumer usage of PIN debit cards, MasterCard Worldwide announced on Wednesday a system it says will score PIN transactions in real time to assess their risk of fraud. Purchase, N.Y.-based MasterCard says when the service goes live in the first quarter of …
Read More »Eye on ATMs: Pass Code Hacker Fallout, Chase Network Expansion
A security expert says publicity about a hacker who was able to trick a cash dispenser into giving out four times as much cash as it debited may do some good in preventing this type of fraud. “I think awareness will go up because of this, and that's half the …
Read More »New Program Links Any Credit, Debit Card to Funds in FSA Accounts
A Conshohocken, Pa.-based processor has begun marketing a service that allows employees covered by flexible-spending health-care plans to use any payment or loyalty card they have to access benefits. Finpago Inc. announced this week an agreement with health-benefits administrator WageWorks Inc., San Mateo, Calif., to launch its FSAok AnyCard program …
Read More »The New PCI Council: Does It Have Enough Teeth?
The creation of the new PCI Security Standards Council LLC by the five leading payment card brands represents a big step forward in enhancing credit and debit card security, but it doesn't go far enough, one analyst tells Digital Transactions News. The council, a creation of American Express Co., Visa …
Read More »New Council Updates PCI, Looks to Foster Closer Industry Cooperation
The new organization set up by the leading payment card networks to administer the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data-security rules should lead to closer coordination on security matters among card networks, merchants, and vendors, according to one of the organization's spokesmen. Announced Thursday, the organization has already issued an update …
Read More »Issuers Win And Lose As the Fed Puts Reg E’s Stamp on Payroll Cards
In the Federal Reserve Board's final rule that extends Regulation E provisions to the fast-growing payroll card sector, electronic transaction reporting won out over paper statements, but issuers may take on added risk with a longer time period for dispute resolution, experts say. After a two-year process that involved taking …
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