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A big change may be in the offing for Canada's point-of-sale debit market that could bring American-style percentage-based interchange to a system whose pricing currently is based on flat fees. The change could possibly even bring Visa and MasterCard debit cards to the country for the first time. The result, …
Read More »Merchant Gripes Led Startup Comparison Site to Focus on Processing
Widespread problems reported by small businesses with their card-processing vendors led a startup comparison-shopping Web site for business-to-business financial services to focus on transaction processing, the co-founder says. Chicago-based Transparent Financial Services LLC, which operates as a kind of Orbitz for entrepreneurs looking for financial services, plans to add health …
Read More »Users Proliferate, But Banks Face a Cost Squeeze in Online Bill Pay
More people than ever are paying bills electronically, but banks have few ways of making money from that trend, according to separate research reports out this week. The latest consumer survey from bill-pay technology provider CheckFree, a unit of bank processor Fiserv Inc., estimates that 63.1 million Internet-using households pay …
Read More »Online PIN Debit Gets a Boost with the Latest UATP Payments Deal
Universal Air Travel Plan's alternative-payments initiative added a fifth processor this week with the announcement that Acculynk Inc. will process PIN debit transactions online for airlines that choose to enable the option through UATP's switch. The news not only further's UATP's 3-year-old effort to add alternatives to credit cards for …
Read More »If You’re a Small Bank, the Trend Is Your Friend in Electronic Payments
This is the fourth installment of a six-part series exploring the growing economic tensions and structural conflicts between acquirers and issuers in the bank card business. If you're a top-10 bank card issuer these days, the good times are looking increasingly tenuous; if you are one of the nation's 17,000 …
Read More »The Coming End of Big-Issuer Hegemony in Bank Card Payments
This is the third installment of a six-part series exploring the growing economic tensions and structural conflicts between acquirers and issuers in the bankcard business. A handful of big issuers dominate the bank card business and command the lion's share of merchant-acceptance fees. Just about everyone else in the payments …
Read More »Obopay’s Price Hike Has Evoked No User Complaints, Processor Says
Mobile-payments processor Obopay Inc., which is increasing its fee to send money to 25 cents from 10 cents effective Aug. 7, says it has not had complaints from users despite the more than doubling in the transaction price. “We're pleased we got it right,” says Gregory Holmes, president of Obopay …
Read More »House Committee Passes Interchange Bill, But Scraps Panel of Judges
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the controversial Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 on Wednesday on a 19-16 vote, but with a significant change. The marked-up bill no longer includes a provision that would have established a three-judge panel to arbitrate interchange pricing should merchants and the bank …
Read More »Gasoline Marketers Underwhelmed by New Visa Interchange Rates
With complaints from fuel marketers reaching a crescendo, Visa Inc. introduced on Thursday a sweeping new credit and debit card interchange rate structure for gasoline that leaves sellers better off for many consumer credit card transactions over $30. In conjunction with the new rates, the card network also announced it …
Read More »FTC, DoJ Are Leery of Bills That Would Regulate Interchange Rates
Congress may be taking the week off for its annual Fourth of July recess, but the interchange fireworks are sure to resume after lawmakers return next week. Banks and the payment card networks, which oppose the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 in the House of Representatives and its …
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