Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Dozens of U.S. grocery-store chains added credit card acceptance in the 1990s, when consumers began asking to use the cards and merchant acquirers saw a ripe new market. Grocers acquiesced to keep their customers happy and because the payment card networks offered interchange breaks or other incentives. But not Aldi, …
Read More »Don’t Hire a QSA by Seeking the Lowest Bid, Warns Heartland’s Carr
Among lessons learned by Heartland Payment Systems Inc. after the massive data breach at the merchant acquirer last year: Don't necessarily hire the qualified security assessor (QSA) offering the lowest bid, says Robert O. Carr, chairman and CEO. Processors and merchants need to hire QSAs in the same way they …
Read More »Rising Costs And a PCI Upgrade Drive Gas Sellers to Reconsider PIN Debit
Rising processing costs and Visa Inc.'s mandate that point-of-sale terminals be upgraded to do Triple-DES encryption for PIN-based debit transactions are prompting gas sellers to rethink PIN debit acceptance. Fuel sellers are talking about dropping PIN debit because of the hike in cost for authorization, says Branden Williams, director of …
Read More »A Pitch to Newspapers Highlights Google’s Plan for Micropayments
With the popularity of digital content on the rise, processors are starting to see opportunity in a business that seemed moribund only a few years ago?handling transactions that average roughly $5 or less. The latest entrant, or, more properly, entrant-to-be, in this business is Google Inc., which is working on …
Read More »PCI Report Poses a Quandary: Where Did 1 Million Merchants Go?
The biggest merchants are moving toward 100% compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, but compliance among small card acceptors remains much lower, according to second-quarter statistics from Visa Inc. None of that is a surprise given PCI compliance trends in recent years. But just how far …
Read More »Zenius Hopes to Break NFC Logjam By Focusing on Non-Bank Players
While a number of technology companies have recently introduced products allowing mobile merchants to accept card payments on their handsets, a startup is demonstrating the first application that would let merchants take contactless payments on a wide variety of mobile phones. Indeed, Zenius Solutions Inc. hopes its software, called ZeniusMobilePOS, …
Read More »Wells Brings Remittances to the Internet for ‘Tech-Savvy’ Users
The money-transfer business just got a bit more competitive. Wells Fargo & Co. on Wednesday said it has added an online feature to its ExpressSend service, enabling customers to send money to seven countries from their computer keyboards at any time. “It's in response to our customers' wants,” Steve Clark, …
Read More »Success of Check 21 Sends Substitute Checks in Free Fall, Data Show
As the fifth anniversary of the Check 21 law draws near, the volume of paper substitute checks created by the law is in a free fall, recent data show. That, experts say, indicates the law has successfully paved the way for fully electronic clearing of check images. The number of …
Read More »With 1.4 Million Employees, Wal-Mart Puts Payroll Cards on the Map
In yet another move that could shake up the financial world and boost electronic payroll cards, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is eliminating paper checks for employees. Under the new payroll program, employees who don't have direct deposit will be issued a MasterCard-branded payroll card through the First Data Money Network Payroll …
Read More »With Pulse Deal, Interac Expands Its Cross-Border Utility
Canada's Interac Association PIN-debit network this week announced a deal with the Houston-based Pulse network that will let holders of Pulse, Discover, and Diners Club cards withdraw cash at Canadian ATMs. More such deals with other networks are likely as Interac seeks to let foreigners use their cards while visiting …
Read More »