Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Three days after Congress passed a law restricting payments for Internet wagers, what seems clear is that the implications for banks and transaction processors are mixed. Observers say the new law will likely prevent most U.S. banks or third-party companies that still process online gambling payments from continuing to do …
Read More »Stuck in a Rut, POP E-Checks Get a Boost from Bentonville
After about two years of lackluster growth, e-checks at the point of sale started popping in the second quarter, according to new statistics from NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association. Sources tell Digital Transactions News that the force behind POP's sudden popularity is none other than Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest …
Read More »Will Old Risk to Credit Cards Threaten New ACH Web Proposal?
As an e-commerce payment system being developed for the automated clearing house nears a pilot scheduled for early next year, it may confront an old issue that sank an earlier such project: the potential for lost credit card sales online. That's according to an in-depth story on the ACH and …
Read More »More Than Six Months Out, the Buzz Builds for BOC
It doesn't go live until next March 16, yet the new back-office conversion (BOC) electronic-check payment option already is attracting a good deal of interest from payment processors and their customers looking to reduce volumes of paper checks and speed customer service. “We believe this new conversion code will definitely …
Read More »Now Hot, Remote Capture Will Get Hotter with Move ‘Down Market’
Merchants and other businesses that accept checks are adopting electronic truncation?also known as remote deposit capture?so quickly that one expert observer expects the number of installed systems to more than double next year. Indeed, says Bob Meara, a senior analyst at Boston-based researcher Celent LLC, demand for remote capture is …
Read More »Alternative Payments Are Gaining Online, But Not All Retailers Are Sold
The share of e-commerce dollars coming from so-called alternative payment methods will grow from 12% in 2005 to 26% in 2009, an electronic-payments expert says. And two such alternatives emerging only now will gain momentum over the coming three years, with PIN debit accounting for about 3% and NACHA's new …
Read More »The Fed Unveils More Check Closures As Volumes Continue to Drop
With electronic payments continuing to eat into paper check volumes, the Federal Reserve Banks announced on Wednesday another in what has become a series of closures of check-processing facilities. Some time next year or in the first six months of 2008, the Fed will shut down check processing in San …
Read More »Small Banks Adopt a Wide Spectrum of Electronic Payments
Small banks are adopting electronic-payments technologies at a rate that rivals, and in some cases exceeds, that of their larger competitors, according to a survey released this week. Two-thirds of the nation's community banks are processing checks under the rules of the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check …
Read More »Key Issues Nag NACHA As It Nears Internet Payments Pilot
NACHA, which took the opportunity presented by its annual payments trade show this week in San Diego to promote the upcoming pilot of its new Internet payment application, appears to be on track toward its Aug. 30 target date for recruiting most participants for the project. But key issues like …
Read More »NACHA Chairman Looks to Retry NREF, Will Push Internet Payments
The chairman of the board of NACHA, the rules-setting organization for the automated clearing house network, looks for widespread adoption of a new point-of-sale payment application the association approved this week and says the network will try again this year to introduce a controversial fee aimed at controlling risk. Chairman …
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