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Merchants like to gripe about the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) nearly as much as they like to complain about interchange, but a new set of questionnaires for merchants to use with their PCI assessments could reduce the irritation factor. The new, so-called Self Assessment Questionnaire from the PCI …
Read More »Debit Traffic Now Bigger Than Credit Transactions for MasterCard
The weakening U.S. economy that's provoking angst in Washington and on Wall Street has yet to crimp No. 2 payment card network MasterCard Inc., which on Thursday reported strong fourth-quarter financials and transaction growth. MasterCard, however, is seeing a shift away from discretionary spending and toward so-called “everyday” purchases such …
Read More »Visa Reports Mid-Sized Merchants Are Making PCI Progress
Merchants accounting for two-thirds of Visa Inc.'s U.S. transaction volume have validated compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, Visa reported on Tuesday. This latest report from Visa comes in the wake of a Dec. 31 deadline for so-called Level 2 merchants?mid-sized merchants that submit 1 million …
Read More »Global Payments Looks to New Platform for Faster Merchant Integration
Having introduced a new processing platform to ease integration with payment software and hardware products, Global Payments Inc. on Wednesday announced it will work with NitroSell, a supplier of shopping-cart software, to allow NitroSell's merchants to process e-commerce transactions on the new system. Atlanta-based Global Payments last week announced it …
Read More »Banks Comfortable with Prepaid Cards–Possibly Too Comfortable
Financial-institution issuers of prepaid cards usable on general-purpose payment networks such as Visa and MasterCard are making money, but they may be missing opportunities by not exploring new market niches or checking out networks other than the one they already use. Those are some of the findings released Monday from …
Read More »Citibank’s ATM Restriction Spotlights Rising Withdrawal Limits
A recent effort by Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank to minimize the effects of a spate of fraud by cutting some customers' daily ATM withdrawal limits in the New York City area has cast some light on a dim corner of the payment industry. Daily withdrawal limits on ATMs are up dramatically …
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 »Survey: Consumers Lost $3.2 Billion to Phishing Attacks in 2007
Some 3.6 million U.S. adults were victims of phishing attacks in the 12 months ending in August, losing an average of $886 apiece for an estimated total of $3.2 billion, according to a survey of more than 4,500 online users sponsored by Gartner Inc. Gartner, a technology research firm based …
Read More »PIN Debit And the ACH Among the Big Gainers in Fed Payments Study
PIN debit transactions are growing significantly faster than signature debit payments. Checks processed electronically are approaching half of all checks paid. And transactions on the automated clearing house are growing faster than any other form of payment. These are among the more surprising results of the Federal Reserve's tri-annual payments …
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