News

May, 2009

• 20 May

  Congress Will Study Interchange And Eyes Rules for Gift Cards

  The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a sweeping credit card reform bill that leaves out retailer-backed regulation of interchange. The bill, which the Senate sent to the House Tuesday, includes a Congressional interchange study and could open the door to controls on gift cards. The House earlier …
• 18 May

  NRF Exec: Non-Credit Card Discounts Have a ’50-50′ Chance

  The U.S. Senate didn't pass a credit card reform bill last week as many expected, but senators are expected to take up the issue again Tuesday. The question for the merchant-acquiring industry is whether the final bill, which is concerned with regulating credit card issuers' most controversial practices, also would …
• 18 May

  A Startup Aims to Bring Teens & Tweens into E-Commerce

  A new payment system called BillMyParents debuted Monday that aims to tap an estimated $40 billion in potential online spending by teens and preteens, or “tweens.” But BillMyParents' success depends not just on technology, but also on the receptiveness of parents to receive e-mails or text messages from their progeny …
• 14 May

  The Senate Mulls Easing Discounts for Non-Credit Card Payments

  Payment card acceptance costs have been swept into the furious Congressional debate about credit card interest rates, fees, and terms. Late Thursday afternoon, a proposal was pending in the U.S. Senate that would give merchants greater leeway to offer customers discounts if they use cash, checks, or debit cards versus …
• 14 May

  Passions Are Far from Cooling in Debate over Card Interchange

  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. paid discount fees totaling more than $1 billion to take credit and debit cards in the 12 months ended Jan. 31. Acceptance costs now exceed health-care premiums at The Home Depot Inc. And TJX Cos. Inc. finds sagging apparel prices make it difficult to recoup acceptance costs …
• 13 May

  RBS Gets an OK on PCI, But Is It Back in Visa’s Good Graces?

  RBS WorldPay Inc., the other big merchant acquirer besides Heartland Payment Systems Inc. to report a major data breach in recent months, this week announced that it has attained validated compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI. But Atlanta-based RBS WorldPay didn't say anything in its news …
• 13 May

  Survey: Banks’ Post-Breach Reissuance Increasingly Costly

  Many banks are reflexively reissuing debit cards in the wake of a breach, possibly stopping fraud losses but sustaining huge reissuance costs and eroding customers' trust. That's according to survey research released this week. “[Breaches] occur all the time, and don't show any signs of going away,” says Paul Henninger, …
• 11 May

  Online Resources Seeks Peace With Its Biggest Shareholder

  After losing a nasty proxy fight last week with his company's largest shareholder, the chairman and chief executive of electronic bill-payment technology provider Online Resources Corp. seems ready to bury the hatchet. “I think it's going to work out,” Matthew P. Lawlor, who co-founded the Chantilly, Va.-based company 20 years …
• 11 May

  CheXout Aims to Bridge Mobile Processors to Physical Payments

  Restaurant customers will be able to use their mobile phones to both split and pay dinner tabs with an application now being marketed by Boston-based startup CheXout Systems Inc. The company, which has been incorporated for less than a year and has no live installations, is forging integration agreements with …
• 7 May

  A New Bill Seeks to Allow But Also Regulate Internet Bets

  A bill to establish an enforcement framework for licensed online gambling operators to accept wagers from individuals in the U.S. was introduced on Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The legislation is designed to replace the controversial …