Debit Cards

It was just over a month ago that a ranking U.S. Department of Justice official told Congress that Operation Choke Point had ended. But the ATM Industry Association on Wednesday said it is distributing materials to its members to help them deal with the “lingering impact” of the controversial program. …

Add Sonic Drive-In to the roster of merchants that have experienced a breach of their payments systems. The Oklahoma City-based fast-food chain confirmed to Digital Transaction News that it has been investigating the incident. On Tuesday, security blog KrebsOnSecurity.com reported the breach affecting an unknown number of Sonic’s point-of-sale systems. …

Fraud-related expenses for merchants are rising as a percentage of revenues, and merchants now spend 10 times as much preventing fraud as they lose to chargebacks, according to new findings from Javelin Strategy & Research. Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin says its June study of 497 e-commerce merchants found that merchants in …

For years, experts have predicted electronic payments would finally turn the check into an historical artifact. But data released last year indicate that the long-term decline in check volume has slowed, and now experts are trying to figure out why and what the ultimate check-killer will be. When the Federal …

Payment-security technology provider Gemalto NV reported Wednesday that, around the world, some 1.9 billion records were compromised by data breaches in 2017’s first half, up 164% from 721 million records compromised in the last six months of 2016. The outlook for 2017’s second half is grim in light of the …

Risk-management firm ThreatMetrix Inc. said its ThreatMetrix ID product, announced this week, uses unique, anonymized customer data to help businesses make decisions about trust and identity. The product, hailed as the company’s flagship, incorporates four central capabilities. One is the unique, anonymous data it has on 1.4 billion users in …

For decades, debit cards have been reliable revenue generators and relationship builders for financial institutions of all sizes. But now that bulwark for banks is under threat from multiple alternatives, putting financial-services executives on the defensive and forcing them to rethink their card strategies, argues a new paper out this …

As more consumers make more digital payments, financial institutions and merchants face an increasingly complex challenge to better authenticate these transactions. That requires looking at ways to keep pace with criminals and staying in step with consumers, says Aite Group LLC in its latest report, “Digital Authentication: New Opportunities to …

One advantage in providing merchant-acquiring services to 3.6 million U.S. locations is that First Data Corp. has a unique read on how major disasters such as hurricanes affect consumer spending. Statistics from the Atlanta-based processor show that spending spiked in the Miami area just before Hurricane Irma made landfall in …

Merchants that process with Vantiv Inc. will have a new option to receive their settlements within minutes in the FastAccess Funding program the processor and program partner Visa Inc. announced Thursday. Merchants typically receive their settlement funds via the automated clearing house, which may take one to three days. Instead …