Debit Cards

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin is chastising small banks and credit unions for not liking his debit card interchange regulation proposal, and Visa Inc. claims consumers strongly oppose legislation that would raise their costs or reduce their cards’ utility. These developments emerged as the House of Representatives and the Senate begin …

Consumer spending growth began to slow in April and May after a rebound during the first quarter, with general merchandise stores posting their lowest year-over-year dollar-volume growth, according to at least one major processor. Low-end consumers pulled back from spending, squeezed by an uneven economic recovery and high unemployment. However, …

“Thanks, but no thanks,” was the message on Wednesday from representatives of small financial institutions who made it clear they oppose a Senate amendment that would empower the Federal Reserve to regulate debit card interchange. The chief executives of two credit union trade groups and of a small-bank association voiced …

Credit-union representatives descended on Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby Congress against proposed debit card interchange regulations in the Senate version of the sweeping financial-reform bill. On Wednesday, two frequent political enemies—banks and credit unions—will declare that they’ve stopped fighting each other so they can fight the so-called Durbin Amendment together. …

Everyone knows data breaches are expensive and affect a lot of people, but just how much is startling. In a new analysis, Javelin Strategy & Research estimates credit and debit card issuers spent $252.7 million in 2009 replacing more than 70 million cards compromised by data breaches. Analyst Robert Vamosi …

Presenting yet another wave of petitions signed by hundreds of thousands of customers, the convenience-store industry turned up the heat on Congress Thursday to enact curbs on debit card interchange. The 1.68 million signed petitions, collected by Speedway SuperAmerica LLC and unveiled by the c-store chain and NACS, an industry …

With the political debate about proposed federal regulation of debit card interchange and card-acceptance terms raging on, analyses of the so-called Durbin Amendment’s effects are emerging. Two new ones suggest consumers would see little or no benefit, if benefit were defined as lower retail prices because of merchants’ reduced card-acceptance …

Visa Inc. has “relaxed enforcement” of the July 1, 2010, deadline for petroleum retailers to install software that meets the so-called Triple Data Encryption Standard (also called 3DES or TDES) in response to requests from the major oil companies, including ExxonMobil, the card network said in a statement released this …

Fresh from their Senate victory May 13, proponents of interchange regulation on Tuesday urged U.S. House of Representatives leaders to adopt the so-called Durbin amendment that could limit debit card interchange and overturn some bank card network rules in order to make it easier for merchants to discount for other …

Continuing its massive clean-up in the wake of the payment card industry’s biggest data breach, merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. late on Wednesday announced a $41.4 million settlement with MasterCard Inc. The settlement will reimburse MasterCard debit and credit card issuers for their costs stemming from the breach Heartland …