Prepaid Cards

New Jersey has delayed implementation of the most onerous provisions of an unclaimed-property law affecting gift cards that caused American Express Co. and two major gift card distributors to pull out of the state this spring. The changes Gov. Chris Christie signed into law last week, however, don’t repeal the …

Citing “ever-increasing student college expenses,” Heartland Payment Systems Inc. reported on Tuesday that it would eliminate three fees on its student-aid prepaid card. Heartland’s move comes a few weeks after the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), a prominent consumer advocacy group, issued a report highly critical of the …

The federal government’s new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fixed general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards in its regulatory sights Wednesday with a notice of proposed rulemaking and a public hearing in Durham, N.C., where its senior officials heard both praise for and condemnations of the cards. The CFPB said it would examine …

American Express Co. extended the reach of its Serve digital and prepaid card platform with a rewards program it announced on Tuesday with leading online game developer Zynga Inc. The big prepaid card program manager Green Dot Corp., meanwhile, disclosed a distribution deal with Dollar Stores Inc. and the renewal …

Among five major financial products, only prepaid cards grew in consumer ownership last year, according to new findings from Javelin Strategy & Research. Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin assessed prepaid cards’ current market position and prospects through a random online survey last October of 3,210 U.S. adults, and compared many of the …

Google Inc. on Monday thrust itself into the prepaid processing business with its acquisition of TxVia Inc., a 5-year-old processor based in New York City. The deal, which apparently closed immediately on undisclosed terms, allows Google to take over technology and network connections that could prove useful as it struggles …

A controversial New Jersey law that claims unused gift card balances as state property after two years and requires gift card sellers to obtain buyers’ ZIP codes is taking heavy fire. If it survives a repeal effort and court challenges, however, opponents fear gift card issuers will leave the state …

Amazon.com Inc. quietly killed its PayPhrase online-authentication service on Feb. 20, not quite two-and-a-half years after introducing the system. The PayPhrase credentials system allowed online shoppers to check out using only a word or phrase of their choosing and a PIN that they had registered with the Amazon Payments service. …

As the prepaid card market matures, more data are emerging about surprising consumer behavior regarding prepaid cards or that challenge the conventional wisdom. For example, research commissioned by big processor First Data Corp., a major player in the prepaid space, found that given a choice between taking a gift or …

With banks struggling to find their way in the new Durbin era that puts controls on their debit and prepaid card operations, the door is opening wider for American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services to win new prepaid card business, according to two attorneys familiar with payment card interchange …