News

February, 2011

• 28 February

  Cumbersome Paperwork Rule Will Go Away in April for Visa Fraud Chargebacks

  Continuing a chargeback-streamlining process that began back in 2004, Visa Inc. in April will no longer require card issuers to obtain signed paper documentation in disputes involving transactions the cardholder claims are fraudulent. Instead, issuers may submit the required documentation electronically. Visa is not mandating that issuers eliminate signed documentation, …
• 24 February

  One Payments Company, At Least, Shows How Consumers Could Gain from Durbin

  Merchants and other proponents of the Dodd-Frank Act’s Durbin Amendment, which will regulate debit card interchange rates starting this summer, argue that the law will benefit consumers by allowing retailers to pass on lower transaction costs to their customers. While banks and other critics say this is unlikely, an alternative-payments …
• 24 February

  It’s Regulated by Durbin, But SECU Is Going Ahead with EMV Conversion

  With $21.5 billion in assets, enough to rank it the second-largest credit union in the country, Raleigh, N.C.-based State Employees Credit Union will sustain a substantial loss of debit card interchange income when the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd Frank Act takes effect this summer. But that isn’t stopping the …
• 24 February

  Moneris and Merchants Reach a Deal That Could Keep Canada’s Voluntary Code Voluntary

  A small-business trade group and Canada’s leading merchant acquirer reached a deal on Thursday that seemingly ends a dispute that, had it continued on its original course, might have transformed Canada’s seemingly voluntary code of conduct for payments companies into a mandatory one. At issue was a Dec. 30 letter …
• 23 February

  How Parking Payments Are Going High-Tech

  The prospect of combining on one contactless card payments for parking and transit fares would seem like a winner for hundreds of thousands of commuters who drive each morning to transit parking lots and then hop on a train or bus to the office. That was one idea floated last …
• 22 February

  As the Curtain Falls, Durbin Comments to the Fed Show a Sharp Divide

  Tuesday is the final day for commentators to submit their opinions to the Federal Reserve Board about the board’s proposed rules to implement the interchange regulations and other debit card provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law’s Durbin Amendment. Samples from the approximately 2,700 comments that have rolled in over the …
• 22 February

  With a One-Two Punch, Discover Endorses Alternative Payments, E-Bills

  Discover Financial Services on Tuesday found itself at the center of two announcements signaling increasing interest in the payments industry in alternative payments and electronic billing. Ebillme, an online-payments service offered by Rye Brook, N.Y.-based ModaSolutions Corp., said online merchants that accept Discover cards will be able to accept eBillme …
• 17 February

  With Signed Merchants Onboard, Isis Looks at Transit, Fast Food, Groceries

  The new Isis mobile-payments venture has recruited some merchants as it builds the acceptance side of its network, the Isis executive overseeing the merchant effort said on Wednesday. “We do have signed merchants at this point,” Jim Stapleton, head of sales and account management at Isis and a veteran of …
• 17 February

  A House Panel Takes Conflicting Testimony on a Durbin ‘Moratorium’

  Congress heard conflicting testimony Thursday on whether implementation of new debit card restrictions should be delayed. The rules, which were proposed by the Federal Reserve in December as directed by the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act, came under attack in House of Representatives subcommittee testimony from financial-institution and network …
• 17 February

  Android’s Popularity Could Boost New NFC Smart Phone Software

  The rocketing popularity of Google Inc.’s Android operating system for smart phones could also propel near-field communication (NFC) technology for mobile financial services now that NXP Semiconductor and Giesecke & Devrient have introduced NFC software for Android phones. The open-source code, announced this week at a major telecom conference in …