News

October, 2018

• 10 October

  ATM Surcharges Rise Again, but Foreign Fees Ease

  

  The average ATM surcharge increased this year for the 14th year in a row, but ATM foreign fees eased a bit, according to Bankrate Inc.’s latest annual study of ATM and checking account fees. New York City-based Bankrate says the average surcharge is now $3.02, up 5 cents, or 1.7%, …
• 10 October

  ATM Surcharges Increase and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/10/18

  

  Fiserv Inc. said it connected more than 100 banks and credit unions so far to the Zelle peer-to-peer payments network. The institutions are now live or will be going live soon, the company said. The average surcharge assessed by the ATM owner for an out-of-network transaction rose for the 14th …
• 9 October

  COMMENTARY: Millennials, Check-Fraud Scams, and Three Practical Solutions: Part II

  

  Check scams come in many forms. It could start with someone offering to buy something you advertised in the newspaper, on Craigslist, or eBay. Or someone could offer to pay you to do work at home, give you an “advance” on a sweepstake you’ve supposedly won, or pay the first …
• 9 October

  Forecast Has a Sunny Outlook for Merchant Acquirers’ Holiday E-Commerce Volumes

  

  Online-commerce analytics firm eMarketer Inc. is out with its 2018 holiday spending forecast, and it has some encouraging news for merchant acquirers, especially those in the e-commerce and mobile-commerce space. New York City-based eMarketer’s “Holiday Shopping 2018: A Strong Economy Sets the Stage for a Spending Surge” report predicts total …
• 9 October

  CardFlight Debuts a Customer Database Feature for Its Mobile POS Service

  Merchants using CardFlight Inc.’s mobile point-of-sale app can now use a service called SwipeSimple Customers to help manage their customer data, card-on-file data, and payments, CardFlight announced Tuesday. Among the new features are the ability to create and maintain a customer database with an option to store payment card details …
• 9 October

  USA Technologies Could Be Delisted and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/9/18

  

  Merchant processor Elavon rolled out its self-test platform for providers of payment hardware and software developers to streamline needed certification processes from the card networks and for EMV chip card acceptance; Elavon says the platform can reduce previous four-week certification times to 24 to 48 hours and eliminate the need …
• 8 October

  COMMENTARY: Millennials, Check-Fraud Scams, and Three Practical Solutions: Part I

  

  In the 2002 Oscar-nominated movie “Catch Me if You Can,” the audience meets one of the greatest con artists of the 1960s, Frank Abagnale (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). In addition to faking his identity and several professions (e.g., airline pilot, surgeon), Abagnale cashed over $2.5 million worth of forged checks …
• 8 October

  Small Merchants Are Generating Bigger Payment Volumes, Analysis Finds

  

  Small merchants are generating more payment volume, and health-care providers handily outlive restaurants and bars in their relationships with merchant acquirers, according to a new analysis from The Strawhecker Group. Data from the Omaha, Neb.-based consulting and research firm’s Acquiring Industry Metrics service shows that the average small and mid-size …
• 8 October

  M-Payments Coming to C-Store Chain and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/8/18

  

  Terminal maker Verifone Systems Inc. launched EX-Receipt, a cloud-based system that generates an electronic receipt at gas pumps via text or email for enrolled customers, replacing the customary paper receipt. NCR Corp. introduced mobile-payment and -loyalty capability for Enmarket Convenience Stores, a chain of 123 c-stores and 14 quick-service restaurants …
• 5 October

  COMMENTARY: How Square’s Platform Makes Ho-Hum Products Unique

  

  Last week payment processor Square Inc. announced its Square Installments service which provides loans of up to $10,000 to customers of its merchant clients. Like all similar services, it splits a consumer’s repayment of large purchases into fixed monthly amounts. Installment solutions are not unique in payments, far from it. But …