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 …
Read More »Remotely Created Checks Linked to Image Exchange Stoke Fraud Fears
Regulators seeking to rein in so-called remotely created checks aren't going far enough to contain the risk these payment devices pose?particularly when they are processed electronically, says one payments expert. “I think they should ban them,” says George F. Thomas, chief executive at Radix Consulting, Oakdale, N.Y., and a former …
Read More »A PCI Deadline Approaches for Internet Application Security
Yet another important security deadline is at hand. On Monday, the PCI Security Standards Council, the independent body that administers the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, will make mandatory protection measures in its rules about Internet-facing software applications that the Council currently classifies as best practices. While the PCI rules …
Read More »Processors, Merchants Fret As Card-Reporting Measure Advances
Just as some merchant-acquiring industry lobbyists predicted earlier this year, a revenue-generating proposal that would force acquirers to report their clients' card-based sales to the Internal Revenue Service is making headway in Congress. The proposal is part of the Senate's foreclosure-relief bill that could be up for a vote as …
Read More »Free-Terminal Kingpin Launches Integrated POS System for Merchants
It spawned the free-terminal craze, but now merchant processor United Bank Card Inc. is launching a service called Harbortouch POS intended to put the margin back into equipment sales to merchants. Harbortouch's business case is built on integrated hardware and software systems that perform a host of business-management functions, payments …
Read More »Why Online Resources Is Linking to DolEx, Other Walk-in Operators
The trend toward combining electronic bill-payment services?particularly payments that post on the same day they're made?with walk-in remittance locations took on more momentum last week with the announcement that Online Resources Corp. will process expedited payments for DolEx Dollar Express Inc., a remittance operation belonging to Atlanta-based Global Payments Inc. …
Read More »After Abruptly Shuttering Its Service, Assurz Files for Bankruptcy
Assurz Inc., the 3-year-old company that sought to boost consumer confidence in making Internet transactions by offering money-back guarantees on behalf of online merchants, filed for protection under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy code on Monday. The company earlier this month abruptly shut down its service, leaving a trail …
Read More »PayPal To Roll out New Fraud Filters with Channel Partners by January
Online auctioneer eBay Inc. and its PayPal payments service are generating headlines this week for enhancing their coverage of buyers' and sellers' losses when sales go bad. Less noticed but also important for merchants, however, are the enhanced risk controls for merchants that PayPal is quietly rolling out. Dubbed Fraud …
Read More »Revolution Money Aims for 1 Million Merchants, Cardholders by Year End
Nine months after its official launch, Revolution Money Inc.'s PIN-secured credit card is being accepted at 150,000 merchants, a number a top executive at the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based alternative-payments provider says will reach 1 million by year's end. David Cautin, senior vice president and general manager for online business at …
Read More »MasterCard Plans to Have U.S. P-to-P Service Launched by Early ’09
Eyeing opportunities in the U.S. person-to-person payments market, MasterCard Worldwide announced on Thursday it plans to begin testing a service based on mobile phones later this year and introduce a commercial service early in 2009. The card network will use its existing MoneySend remittance system to clear and settle transactions, …
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