Debit Cards

Star Systems Inc. will begin processing bill payments through its electronic check-conversion service, Star Chek Direct, by the end of the year, according to officials at the network. In the bill-payment scenario, consumers will be able to pay billers in certain low-risk industry categories, such as insurance and utilities, by …

Eyeing what it sees as a huge opportunity in processing bill payments, U.K.-based Retail Decisions PLC's U.S. processing unit this month will begin offering the fastest-growing form of electronic check now available: accounts-receivable conversion, or ARC. Retail Decisions USA Inc., which has built its business providing a card-based risk-management and …

Efunds Corp. signaled its intention to move aggressively into the burgeoning market for prepaid products today with an announcement that it is buying WildCard Systems Inc., a Sunrise, Fla.-based processor, for $228.8 million in cash. The deal, which is expected to close early next month, will add prepaid debit to …

CheckFree Corp. will begin piloting PIN-based debit transactions in its extensive walk-in bill-payment network before the end of the year. The Atlanta-based processor is also investigating the possibility of adding a PIN-less debit feature to its online and telephone-based bill-payment network for so-called biller-direct transactions, though it has no definite …

Addressing a longstanding complaint of independent sales organizations and other nonbank acquirers, MasterCard International has published its operating rules for what the card company calls member service providers. MasterCard says the 291-page document, entitled “Member Service Provider Rules Manual,” is now available free, and has posted a PDF for download. …

Chase Merchant Services LLC has launched a processing and consulting arm aimed at helping billers set up and manage bill-payment services. In a press briefing today, Chase executives stressed the new service, called BillPay Recurring Biller Solutions, would embrace cards as well as alternative payment types such as the automated …

Key Corp. said today it has made an agreement with Genpass Inc. that will allow agent banks in Key's ATM network to add access to 12,000 ATMs in GenPass's MoneyPass network, a surcharge-free system. The Cleveland-based banking company, which operates 2,200 ATMs, said current and future agent banks in its …

Though he's only been on the job for a few weeks as chief executive of ProxyMed Inc., a transaction-processing, business-process outsourcing, and cost-containment company, John Lettko sees clear parallels between the industry he left–financial services–and the one he's entering?health care. Lettko, the former chief executive of Viewpointe Archive Services, a …

Facing an unrelenting decline in paper check volume, The Federal Reserve said today it will shutter yet another check-processing operation in late 2006. Check processing will cease at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's East Rutherford operations center and its check volume will shift to the Federal Reserve Bank …

Technology that allows consumers to pay at the point of sale by waving or tapping a card or other token took a major step forward today with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s announcement that it will issue millions of cards equipped with the technology starting this summer. Following on the …