Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

A major study on consumer payment preferences at the point of sale released today shows not only a stronger trend toward debit cards generally but also a stronger preference for cards secured by personal identification numbers rather than by signatures. This is despite strong promotion from the major card companies …

First Data Corp. and the Department of Justice this morning announced an agreement in which the government now gives the green light to FDC's acquisition of Concord EFS Inc. and in which the Denver-based processing giant agrees to sell its majority stake in the NYCE debit network. First Data now …

Visa USA Inc.'s newly announced interchange pricing for its signature-based, or offline, debit cards are only the starting point for what will be many rounds of negotiations with larger regional and national retailers, say industry observers. Meanwhile, despite the new rate announcement from Visa, MasterCard International Inc. says it is …

With its new interchange rates for its check cards, Visa USA Inc. says it is moving on a broad front to boost volume on signature-based debit, encourage usage at fast-food and other venues that have not historically accepted the card, and meet the needs of members and merchants generally. “We're …

Peppercoin Inc., the Waltham, Mass.-based micropayments startup that only this week emerged from its test phase with a commercially available service, may have a small footprint in the transactions business so far, but its ambitions are big. First, it plans to snag more merchant signings like the one it announced …

In an eventful week in the micropayments market, Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup BitPass Inc. emerged from its beta test and opened its service to all Internet merchants interested in using the BitPass system for payments. The company now has more than 300 content sellers enrolled, up from about 200 in …

Peppercoin Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based micropayments startup, announced today it has signed on to process payments for Blue Note Records, a unit of EMI Music Publishing. Beginning in the first quarter of 2004, Peppercoin will deploy its technology to handle purchases of single songs from Blue Note's site, www.bluenoterecords.radioplayer.com. The …

Beset by complaints about the alleged lack of security surrounding their products, six makers of electronic voting machines have started a trade group intended to put to rest public apprehension about electronic voting. The six companies have formed the Election Technology Council in partnership with the Information Technology Association of …

Online payments processor PayPal announced today a major reduction in its transaction fees exclusively for the burgeoning digital-music market, effective immediately. In what amounts to the Mountain View, Calif.-based processor's first serious foray into micropayments, it is offering pricing of 2.5% plus 9 cents for online song downloads, as compared …

Peppercoin Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based micropayments startup, announced today it has signed on to process payments for Blue Note Records, a unit of EMI Music Publishing. Beginning in the first quarter of 2004, Peppercoin will deploy its technology to handle purchases of single songs from Blue Note's site, www.bluenoterecords.radioplayer.com. The …

Cash back at the point of sale on debit card transactions secured by personal identification numbers is becoming an increasingly popular option as more merchants offer the service and consumers begin using online debit cards more often. Online debit transaction volume is growing at a compounded annual rate of 28%, …

Wendy's International Inc. announced today that more than 3,000 of its U.S. stores now accept credit cards and that more locations are being added to the program each week. By year's end the fast-food chain expects to have more than 70% of its U.S. outlets accepting cards using its satellite …

Look for Visa USA Inc. to attempt a few more deals with other major retailers similar to the arrangement it has reportedly struck with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The nation's biggest retailer announced today it will no longer accept MasterCard International Inc.'s signature debit cards, citing their high costs. Industry observers …

As financial-services companies begin switching out older ATMs for new ones running on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, they may at the same time be creating a security problem similar to the one that has long plagued network administrators overseeing fleets of networked computers running the same software. The problem …

Hewlett Packard Co. thinks banks processing ATM, Web, branch, and other traffic in separate channels could benefit by switching all this volume through one common system. The company, which through its acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. owns the Tandem unit whose computers drive so many payment data centers, is readying …

With fraud and identity-theft headlines appearing nearly every day, the pressure is on to offer more risk-management services at the point of sale, and this, some experts say, is leading to rising interest in POS terminals capable of operating on Internet Protocol connections. Such connections, they argue, make it easier …

The news that Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. are negotiating new debit-card acceptance deals with big retail chains and their acquirers in which the chains will pay lower transaction fees than what is standard for other merchants has already fueled speculation that the giant, bank-owned card networks are …

A survey of more than 170 senior-level executives for electronic payments processors, networks, and online merchants at a micropayments conference held earlier this month indicates a majority of the online merchants in attendance will be selling content with a micropayments system within a year. The survey, whose results were released …

Separate studies of online transaction fraud released this week cast new light on the problem of fraudulent Web transactions. The rate of online fraud is declining, according to a survey of online merchants conducted in October by CyberSource, Mountain View, Calif., a processor of online transactions. But indirect costs resulting …

When President Bush signed the Check Clearing for the 21st Century (Check 21) Act into law last month, he unleashed a flurry of activity among financial institutions and vendors looking for ways to take advantage of the law, which allows banks to exchange electronic images of checks instead of the …