Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Young adults and high earners have something in common. Both consumer groups are less likely than consumers overall to use debit cards, according to a report released Tuesday by Mercator Advisory Group Inc. The report, “Consumers and Debit in the U.S.: Heightened Security Concerns,” canvassed more than 3,000 U.S. adults …
Read More »The Data-Breach Seesaw: Card Compromises Down, Social Security Exposures Up
Data breaches that compromised credit and debit card information were constantly in the news in 2015, but the number of cards affected is way down from the totals for 2014 and 2013, according to a nonprofit that monitors breaches. The San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center reports that as of …
Read More »E-Commerce Is Garnering a Higher Percentage of Total Holiday Sales, Says First Data
More consumers appear to be at ease shopping online, at least during the holiday season. Online sales account for 20.6% of total sales since Oct. 31, says First Data Corp. For the same period last year, e-commerce sales accounted for 17.8% of total sales. The share of retail sales attributed …
Read More »Florida Lawmakers Hope To Add Octane to Lottery Sales Through Fuel-Pump Purchases
Point-of-sale terminals and fuel pumps as lottery-ticket dispensers? That’s a question some states continue to mull, though Minnesota tried it and didn’t like it. The latest state trying to juice lottery sales by making card payments easier is Florida. Bills introduced last month in the state House and Senate would allow …
Read More »Black Friday Continues As an Online Hit, But Thanksgiving Not Far Behind
Holiday shoppers took advantage of online deals on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, ringing up $2.8 billion in sales for retailers, according to research firm comScore Inc. Online sales on Thanksgiving topped $1.1 billion, a 9% increase from $1 billion in 2014. Black Friday sales of $1.7 …
Read More »Holiday Spending May Feature More Debit And Cash. Mobile Payments? Not So Much
By John Stewart The annual holiday-spending frenzy is about to kick off, and if a consumer survey released on Monday is any indication, it will feature a lot more debit card and cash usage and a lot less mobile payment than you might have expected. Some 39% of consumers intend …
Read More »Card Manufacturer CPI Card Group’s Chip Card Orders Boom During EMV Switchover
As it has for other suppliers to the payment card industry, the conversion of U.S. card payments from security-challenged magnetic-stripe cards to the EMV chip card standard is providing a windfall for leading U.S.-based card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. In its first earnings report as a publicly traded company, …
Read More »In a First for Debit Networks, Shazam Adds a Mobile Feature to Shut off Lost Or Stolen Cards
By John Stewart In the wake of the arrival of EMV chip cards and ahead of the holiday shopping rush, the Shazam debit network has launched a mobile feature that lets cardholders disable their debit cards should they be lost or stolen. While networks like Discover Financial Services have advertised …
Read More »Panelists Fret About the Effects of Dodd-Frank on Financial Innovation
The controversial Dodd-Frank Act scored just 20% in an impromptu popularity poll Sunday afternoon, with its only support coming from someone in the federal government. The quick straw poll was hardly representative as the mere five respondents were panelists at a conference for payments executives, but the results do reflect …
Read More »Consumers Not Quite so Enamored With Debit Cards as Before, TSYS Study Finds
Debit cards are still Americans’ favorite payment type, but they’re not quite as popular as they were two years ago, according to new survey findings from Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). The payment processor’s fifth annual Consumer Payment Choice Study, which in June surveyed more than 1,000 consumers with at least …
Read More »