Kiosk-based electronic bill payments got another boost this week when processor Fiserv Inc.'s CheckFreePay walk-in bill-pay unit announced a deal with Ready Credit Corp. that will make bill-pay services available to consumers using cash at Ready Credit's 55 ReadyStation self-service kiosks by early spring. The kiosks, which already allow consumers …
Read More »USA Technologies’ Rental Program Boosts Contactless Vending
USA Technologies Inc.'s new Quick Start program, which lets bottlers and other vending-machine owners rent rather than buy its e-Port G6 readers that process magnetic-stripe and contactless card transactions, apparently is delivering the desired lift to e-Port shipments. Malvern, Pa.-USA Technologies today reported that it shipped 7,123 e-Port devices in …
Read More »EC Ruling on MasterCard Interchange Could Foster Regulation in the U.S.
A European Commission ruling that MasterCard Worldwide's interchange-fee structure is illegal in that region will affect relatively few transactions in Europe but could encourage regulators?including those in the U.S.?to act on interchange, among other bleak implications for bank and network executives. “On balance, the EC decision is negative,” says Eric …
Read More »Some Pay By Touch Owners Are Also Among Its Largest Creditors
The bankruptcy petition Solidus Networks Inc., which does business as Pay By Touch, filed this month shows that a number of the biometric technology provider's largest unsecured creditors also have equity interests in the company, and, in the case of three individuals, weren't paid when Pay By Touch bought their …
Read More »TJX Settles with Financial Plaintiffs in Breach Case?with One Holdout
TJX Cos. Inc. late on Tuesday said it has settled with three banking associations and three individual banks that sued the off-price retailer in the wake of a data breach that potentially compromised nearly 100 million credit and debit card numbers. That leaves just one Alabama community bank still in …
Read More »HomeATM Aims to Bring PIN Debit, Card Present Rates to the Web
A small engineering company in Montreal has struck a deal with Universal Air Travel Plan Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based switch for some 220 airlines and travel agencies around the world, to enable air carriers to accept PIN debit and credit cards on their Web sites with card-swipe authentication. In addition, …
Read More »AmEx Takes a Leaf from Discover’s Acquiring Strategy?with a Twist
Taking a cue from Discover Financial Services, travel-and-entertainment card leader American Express Co. on Monday said that it had enlisted processor First Data Corp. to book new small and mid-size merchants. But unlike Discover's recent pacts with First Data and other big merchant processors that involved sales of Discover-owned merchant …
Read More »TJX’s Settlement with Visa Casts Light on Murky World of PCI Penalties
The settlement The TJX Cos. and Visa Inc. announced Friday not only shows the retailer is well on its way to disposing of the myriad problems arising out the intrusion into its computer system that potentially compromised nearly 100 million credit and debit cards, but it also gives a rare …
Read More »18 Months on, Discover Says Its Acquirer Program Is on Target
Nearly a year and a half after first enlisting bank-card merchant acquirers to sign small and mid-size merchants for Discover acceptance, Discover Financial Services LLC says the program is doing just what the company intended. “We’ve seen excellent results,” Matt Johanson, vice president of acquirer relations at Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover, …
Read More »Heartland Sues Micros, Chase Paymentech over Restaurant Transactions
A courtroom food fight of sorts has broken out between big merchant processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc. and a leading hospitality-industry technology provider supported by a network gateway owned by No. 1 merchant acquirer Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC. Princeton, N.J.-based Heartland today said it has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit …
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