News

July, 2008

• 15 July

  With Boston on Board, Select-A-Branch Plans Further Expansion

  Select-A-Branch, the multibranded surcharge-free ATM network, reported on Tuesday that it has completed installation of 10 machines in Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway stations, but its growth train won't stop in Boston. “Look for us in some major airports,” Dan Stechow, chief operating officer of King of Prussia, Pa.-based Select-A-Branch …
• 15 July

  Up Only a Week, ChargeSmart’s Next Step Is Lender Tie-Ins

  A startup that lets consumers use their credit cards to make mortgage payments and meet other credit obligations online is talking to lenders about including its payment service when consumers close on loans. Because the service doesn't charge billers for payments, company officials expect the tie-ins will carry considerable appeal …
• 14 July

  Bill Me Later’s Growth Plans Don’t Stop at Amazon Acceptance

  Bill Me Later Inc., the online alternative financing system, is now live on the Amazon.com site. Announced last week, that development is no surprise as Amazon back in December said it had invested in Bill Me Later and would offer the payment service to its customers (Digital Transactions News, Dec. …
• 10 July

  Google’s Gmail Joins eBay and PayPal in Phishing Fight

  Google Inc.'s Gmail this week followed Yahoo! Inc. to become the second big e-mail provider publicly working with online auction host eBay Inc. and its PayPal payment service to fight phishing scams. With Google's Checkout service attempting to gain online charge volume in a PayPal-dominated alternative-payment market, the anti-phishing partnership …
• 9 July

  A MyGallons Rival Emerges to Let Users Lock in Gas Prices

  While MyGallons LLC struggles with issues surrounding the launch last week of its prepaid card that lets consumers hedge the price of gas (Digital Transactions News, July 7), another startup is emerging with a similar business model. Boynton Beach, Fla.-based GasBankUSA LLC plans to start issuing debit cards later this …
• 9 July

  Visa Rule Change Means Little Change for Web-Based PINless Debit

  Visa Inc.'s rule change regarding PIN-based debit card transactions, which antitrust authorities disclosed last week, raised hopes that PINless debit would soon be making headway in Internet payments, but on second glance that's not likely to be the case, analysts say. That's because the electronic funds transfer networks, not Visa, …
• 8 July

  Obopay Maps a Strategy for Mobile Payments in ‘Niche’ Markets

  Mobile-payments processor Obopay Inc.'s recent agreement to provide services for a handset-based remittance product from MasterCard Worldwide (Digital Transactions News, June 19) is part of a wider strategy at Obopay to develop services in a variety of payment markets, including prepaid top-up, payroll, and benefits payments as well as remittances, …
• 7 July

  A Prepaid Card That Lets Consumers Lock in Gas Prices Seeks a Network

  A Miami-based startup says it signed up more than 5,000 cardholders in the first two days its service was commercially available last week in a program that allows consumers to lock in the current price of gasoline by prepaying for fuel. MyGallons LLC, which began its service last Monday after …
• 7 July

  Electronic Bill Pay Gains At Paper’s Expense, But Growth Is Slowing

  The share of bills consumers pay the old-fashioned way via the regular mail continues to decline, according to the U.S. Postal Service's most recent annual study about what goes through the mails. But despite the gains of electronic bill payments, the availability of free bill-pay service at most banks may …
• 2 July

  Raw Data-Breach Numbers Rise, But the Real Picture Is Fuzzy

  Data breaches are running at record levels, according to the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit that tracks cybercrime. ITRC says it recorded 342 data breaches from Jan. 1 through June 24, up 69% from the same period in 2007. But, like the origins and perpetrators of so …