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Overall automated clearing house transaction volumes grew only 1.5% in the second quarter versus the year-earlier period, but most of the electronic-check ACH applications grew faster. The notable exception was ARC, for accounts-receivable conversion of bill payments sent to lockboxes. Continuing a trend that started two years ago and likely …
Read More »A Survey Reveals a Rising Volume of Disputed ACH Debits
Transaction volumes are rising on the automated clearing house, but a recently released survey shows a nasty side effect of this growth is a rise in the volume of disputed transactions. Some 63% of processors and financial institutions reported they handled more disputed, or unauthorized, payments last year than in …
Read More »A Third Bank Settles with LML in Broad-Based ACH Patent Cases
A Canadian processor that has sued more than a dozen major banks and PayPal Inc. over a patent it says covers virtually all of the electronic-check payment types supported by the automated clearing house network scored another victory with its announcement on Monday of a settlement with San Francisco-based Union …
Read More »NACHA Mulls Recurring TEL Debits, Other E-Check Changes
NACHA, governing body of the automated clearing house, is considering rules changes that could add volume to the ACH. Among them: allowing recurring payments under the TEL code for telephone-authorized electronic-check conversions; raising the dollar limit to $50,000 for three major e-check codes, and eliminating opt-out notification requirements on two …
Read More »Thanks to Tempo, Discover Enters Decoupled Debit
In relaunching a debit rewards card for the QuikTrip Corp. convenience-store chain this week with a new issuer and new payment card network, specialty debit processor Tempo Payments Inc. plugged Discover Financial Services into the decoupled-debit market. And after concentrating on non-profits for the past year, Tempo says more Discover-branded …
Read More »The Emerging Case for a Rules Change to Force Same-Day ACH
With the Federal Reserve set to begin offering on Monday same-day clearing of automated clearing house transactions (Digital Transactions News, July 13), some industry observers are starting to push for a rules change that would mandate banks’ participation in this or a like service. “We either need a core [of …
Read More »A ‘Bill Me Later’ for Bill Pay Launches with a $4.5 Million Warchest
BillFloat Inc. launched its service this week with a hefty vote of confidence from initial investors that include PayPal Inc. and a business proposition that grants spot credit to hard-up consumers so they can delay paying their bills. Like Bill Me Later, which grants so-called transactional credit for online purchases, …
Read More »Same Day ACH Will Be a Boon for Web And Mobile–But How Soon?
Now that same-day clearing is coming to the automated clearing house network, payments players are starting to parse the impact the faster settlement time will have on emerging payment methods that rely at least in part on the ACH. While many payments executives are enthusiastic about the change, some experts …
Read More »Consumer Payments Are Just the Start for an Ambitious FaceCash
As the payments industry waits for the commercial rollout of near-field communication technology, startups are jumping into mobile payments to fill the void. One of the latest attempts to bridge the gap between physical stores and mobile devices is FaceCash, which launched last month and allows consumers to pay merchants …
Read More »A Dedicated Code for Mobile ACH Is Still on the Table
While NACHA’s members officially signed off this week on using the existing WEB transaction code for mobile payments that use the automated clearing house network, the working group that recommended using WEB is already at work on further developments for mobile—including the issue of whether these payments should have their …
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