A recent Forbes article attempted to refute many of the conclusions of a prior Wall Street Journal article that had illustrated how the card schemes (Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc.) have dramatically increased their fees in recent years. In response, the Forbes article challenged the Journal article by completely changing …
Read More »Checkbook Enlists Visa Direct and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/4/19
Checkbook, a provider of digital-check technology, introduced Instant Pay, a service that lets businesses push funds into consumer and corporate bank accounts using Visa Direct, Visa Inc.’s push-payments network. Checkbook’s founder is PJ Gupta, former chief network architect at Visa. First American Payment Systems LP said it now offers Idealpos’s …
Read More »C-Stores Saw Card-Acceptance Costs Rise Faster Than Sales in 2018
Convenience stores saw their payment card acceptance costs rise nearly 10% in 2018 even though sales increased only 9%, according to data reported Wednesday by the trade association NACS. NACS, formerly known as the National Association of Convenience stores, says credit and debit card fees paid by its members rose …
Read More »Card Fees Increase 9.9% for C-Stores and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/3/19
Payment card fees paid by convenience stores last year rose 9.9% to $11.1 billion from $10.1 billion in 2017, NACS, formerly the National Association of Convenience Stores, says in its newly released State of the Industry report. The increase in card fees outpaced 2018’s 8.9% increase in total sales, to …
Read More »How Apple Card Heralds a Push for Greater Digital Authentication—And for Apple Pay
Apple Inc.’s forthcoming Apple Card is another push from the computing giant to move payments into a digital realm under Apple’s control, according to analysts. Apple last week announced the card, which bears a Mastercard Inc. brand and will be issued by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The product, which eschews …
Read More »Wells Fargo Debuts Tap-and-Go Cards and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/2/19
Wells Fargo & Co. has introduced contactless credit and debit cards for point-of-sale transactions. Information on how many cards will be issued was not immediately available. Tapping at ATMs will be introduced nationwide later this year at more than 13,000 machines, the bank said. Advanced Solutions International, a software developer …
Read More »Nearly a Third of Americans Don’t Mind Mailing a Check to the Government for Taxes Owed
April is a month when most Americans think about taxes. It turns out that a surprising number of them—29%—would rather mail a check to the government than use electronic methods. That’s the word from payment technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc., which in March commissioned YouGov Plc, a global research firm …
Read More »Stolen Payment Cards For Sale Linked to Breach at Restaurant Operator Earl Enterprises
Mark the latest data breach as another conquest for hackers. Earl Enterprises, owner of the Buca di Beppo, Bertucci’s, Planet Hollywood, and the Earl of Sandwich restaurant chains, among others, said point-of-sale malware captured credit and debit card information from May 23, 2018, through March 18, 2019, at a variety …
Read More »Another Bank Adds Zelle and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/1/19
Huntington Bank launched the Zelle peer-to-peer payments service on its mobile and online banking service. Payment Data Systems Inc. said its FiCentive subsidiary will provide its Akimbo commercial prepaid Mastercard-branded cards to the Bowen Center, a behavioral-health company. Zapt, an on-demand platform that lets customers schedule household moves, said it …
Read More »NACHA Notes 27 Billion ACH Transactions and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/29/19
NACHA, the regulatory body for the automated clearing house network, reported 27 billion ACH transactions for 2018, including 23 billion on the network and 4.1 billion off-network transactions, including mostly on-us volume. PayPal Holdings Inc. is closing two offices in Hunt Valley, Md., and will lay off their 380 workers …
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