Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
In an effort to reach very small online merchants seeking a streamlined way to process payments, Authorize.Net on Tuesday unveiled a service it calls Simple Checkout. The new service allows the merchant to use a Web interface to automatically create the code necessary to place a “Buy Now” button on …
Read More »Shell Lowers MasterCard, AmEx Pricing for Its Jobbers And Retailers
While big oil companies at times have temporarily lowered card-acceptance costs in recent years to help gas stations cope with spikes in the price of oil, Shell Oil Co. today said it would permanently lower the price of card processing as well as speed up settlement times for its jobbers …
Read More »Bankrupt Frontier Airlines Claims First Data Tried To Clip Its Wings
Leading card processor First Data Corp. on Friday found itself cast as the villain in the bankruptcy of Denver-based Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., which claimed it sought Chapter 11 reorganization in order to prevent its card processor, First Data Corp., from increasing the so-called “holdback” on card charges and thereby …
Read More »How Mobile Candy Dish Combines Handset-Based P-to-P with NFC
A 3-year-old startup in Alameda, Calif., is introducing a mobile wallet that combines contactless payments based on near-field communication (NFC) technology with person-to-person payments and mobile banking. Mobile Candy Dish Inc. last week rolled out its Blaze Mobile Wallet, which works on the AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel wireless networks …
Read More »Terminal Maker VeriFone Steps into the Busy Data-Security Arena
VeriFone Holdings Inc., a major terminal manufacturer, is entering the burgeoning business of card-data security with a product it says will secure cardholder information from the instant the card is swiped. The product, VeriShield Protect, was announced on Wednesday and encrypts mag-stripe data and the personal account number for the …
Read More »Bigger Volume Jumps Are in Store for BOC E-Checks, NACHA Says
It grew 267% in just one quarter, yet the new back-office conversion (BOC) electronic-check code still isn't getting any respect. But it will, according to officials at NACHA, governing body of the automated clearing house network. NACHA reports that the ACH handled 3.08 million BOC transactions in 2007's fourth quarter …
Read More »MasterCard Looks to Pick up Debit Volume And Share with IPS
Debit is where the transaction growth is, and now MasterCard Inc. is positioning itself at the center of the action with a new debit-processing platform for card issuers that it calls Integrated Processing Solutions. IPS handles everything from ATM and signature- and PIN-based debit card transactions to prepaid cards?and it …
Read More »Pay By Touch Fades into History As Lenders Buy Core Assets
Three months after biometrics-technology provider and payment processor Pay By Touch sought protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, the dismantling of the firm’s sprawling empire is largely over. Judge Thomas B. Donovan recently approved the sale of the core assets of Solidus Networks Inc.—the formal name of Pay …
Read More »Discover Triples Its Acceptance Network with Diners Club Deal
Seemingly trapped in North America after shedding its money-losing British credit card operation in March, Discover Financial Services LLC suddenly is a global payments player with its pending deal to buy Diners Club International from Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank N.A. for $165 million in cash. The deal adds 8 million merchant …
Read More »WaMu’s Contactless Plunge Could Win over Skeptical Merchants
Washington Mutual Inc.'s announcement this week that it plans to issue 12 million to 15 million debit cards with MasterCard Inc.'s PayPass contactless functionality this year may do more than make the $328 billion bank the No. 1 PayPass issuer. It just might give the nascent contactless market enough critical …
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