While the recently unveiled joint venture between Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo Co. to create a common platform to process automated clearing house transactions isn't scheduled to become operational until 2010, the venture's very announcement by two of the biggest financial institutions in the country has sparked industry …

The federal government took in $27.1 billion in payments through credit cards in fiscal 2007 and paid at least $433 million in merchant discount fees, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Agencies that were able to break out their interchange costs …

A payment method that lets merchants convert checks at the cash register into electronic transactions shows signs of picking up momentum across a spectrum of retailers. It's quite a turnaround for the point-of-purchase electronic-check application (POP), which relies on the automated clearing house network for settlement. Only a few years …

The first merchant to sign up for an Internet-based payment system that relies on consumers' online-banking programs and settlement through the automated clearing house network says the system appeals to customers who are fearful of entering credit card details on Web sites. The merchant also hopes the new system will …

Internet banking and bill-payment services provider Online Resources Corp. this week unveiled its expedited bill-pay service for financial institutions and walk-up providers to offer to consumers and small-business users, ratcheting up rivalries in the fast-growing realm of last-minute payments. While the expedited bill-pay market has some bigger competitors, including Fiserv …

Pariter Solutions LLC, the new company formed by Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. to process automated clearing house transactions for the two banks, has no current plans to add other financial institutions as clients, the new venture's chief executive tells Digital Transactions News. “Our first goal, …

When it comes to information about the uncertain future of Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, the world's largest merchant acquirer, the analysts just weren't taking no for answer. The occasion was processor First Data Corp.'s first-quarter earnings conference call on Friday, during which the company also revealed that it had spent …

The opponents and defenders of bank card interchange had their say on Thursday before the U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee. What's next for the controversial Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008, however, is uncertain. The bipartisan bill introduced by panel chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and Rep. Christopher …

French chipmaker Inside Contactless this week announced it has shipped more than 50 million MicroPass chips for contactless payments since introducing the product in November 2005. And, though the company used the occasion to promote its optimism about contactless payments in North America particularly, a number of observers remain skeptical …

The rules for protecting cardholder data will be updated in October, the PCI Security Standards Council announced on Wednesday. The PCI Council, the organization the payment card networks set up in 2006 to oversee the so-called Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI DSS, is billing the coming changes more …