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Small banks spent $90 million to reissue 7.5 million credit and debit cards in the wake of a payment-card data breach at The Home Depot Inc., says the Independent Community Bankers of America association, which has more than 6,500 member banks. First publicly known in September the Home Depot …
Read More »Health-Care EFT Transaction Volume Via the ACH Grows Nearly 180% in a Year
Health-care electronic funds transfers via the automated clearing house network increased by 177% from October 2013, the first full month a new rule intended to spur such payments was in effect, through September 2014, ACH governing body NACHA reported Monday. Herndon, Va.-based NACHA says transaction volume in September was 15.5 …
Read More »Major Prepaid Card Providers Give a Polite Response to the CFPB’s Proposed Regs
Some of the nation’s largest prepaid card companies are either giving a public thumbs up to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed regulations for prepaid card accounts or at least not saying they’re spoiling for a fight with the federal government. Steve Streit, chairman and chief executive of Pasadena, Calif.-based …
Read More »The CFPB Proposes Strong Federal Protections for Prepaid Card Accounts
By Jim Daly The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday unveiled proposed regulations for prepaid accounts that for the first time would bring to prepaid cards many of the federal protections that currently apply only to credit and debit cards. The CFPB’s plan would limit consumers’ losses when funds are …
Read More »Settle Into the Easy Chair To Read the CFPB’s 870 Pages of Prepaid Card Rules
If you want to print out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed prepaid card regulations, think again. They run 870 pages in PDF form, so you’ll need almost two reams of paper and plenty of ink. The regulations unveiled Thursday would require so-called “Know Before You Owe” disclosures and aim to …
Read More »Mailings Promoting EMV Cards Pick Up As Issuers Prepare For Liability Shift
The message about the coming shift to chip card payments using the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) standard is getting out there, says Competiscan, a direct marketing firm. The Chicago-based firm says its analysis finds that mentions of EMV in direct mail pieces from card issuers increased from less than 3% of …
Read More »AmEx’s Chenault Touts Role of Digital Initiatives in Widening T&E Giant’s Customer Base
A confident Kenneth I. Chenault appeared before 7,000 payments and financial-services executives on Tuesday to talk about what he touted as American Express Co.’s recent record of success in digital payments. While he runs a 164-year-old company with roots in plastic cards and travelers’ checks, Chenault conceded nothing to his …
Read More »Apple Pay: No Charge for Merchants, But Transaction-Security Fees for Issuers
Apple Inc.’s introduction of its new Apple Pay service for its soon-to-be released iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch raised a huge number of questions in the payments industry. One of the biggest topics of speculation is just how is Apple going to make money from the service, with combines …
Read More »Effective in 2015, Two New ACH Rules Will Change Returns Threshold, Impose New Fees
The regulatory body for the automated clearing house network on Tuesday unveiled two new network rules that, among other changes, will lower a key threshold for unauthorized returns, impose new fees on originating banks for unauthorized debits, and hand new enforcement authority to the ACH regulator, Herndon, Va.-based NACHA. The …
Read More »Future U.S. EMV Card Shipments Could Garner A Larger Share: Report
Shipments of smart cards capable of payments that adhere to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) standard are expected to be six times greater in 2014 than in 2013 in the United States, says a new report from ABI Research. That total, forecast to be 154 million this year, is not a …
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