News

May, 2008

• 29 May

  New ‘Mobile Lockbox’ Service Could Help Drive Expedited Payments

  A new service that lets consumers receive and pay bills on their handsets could help billers earn more income from last-minute payments customers make to avoid service shut-offs or late charges, observers say. The service, a so-called mobile lockbox, was announced last week by Wausau Financial Systems Inc., a provider …
• 28 May

  Payment Issues Figure Among Reasons for Checkout Abandonment

  Various issues with payment methods loom large among reasons consumers give for abandoning the checkout process on e-commerce sites, according to a survey released on Wednesday by PayPal Inc. Some 22% of 355 consumers who had abandoned shopping carts at a mix of large and small merchant sites before completing …
• 28 May

  Visa Extends Fraud-Recovery Process to PIN-Debit Transactions

  Visa Inc. is extending to PIN debit cards a process for reporting and recovering fraud losses from data breaches. In effect for credit cards and the Visa check cards since October 2006, the process, dubbed Account Data Compromise Recovery, will apply to Visa's Interlink point-of-sale debit and Plus ATM networks …
• 27 May

  How Chase And First Data Are Splitting Chase Paymentech

  It's official: JPMorgan Chase & Co. and First Data Corp. will end their joint venture that owns Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, the world's largest merchant acquirer, by the end of the year. The announcement on Tuesday morning was widely anticipated following the buyout of First Data last year by private-equity …
• 27 May

  How Far Will BofA And Wells Go with Their New ACH Platform?

  While the recently unveiled joint venture between Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo Co. to create a common platform to process automated clearing house transactions isn't scheduled to become operational until 2010, the venture's very announcement by two of the biggest financial institutions in the country has sparked industry …
• 22 May

  GAO Report Sheds Light on Federal Card-Acceptance Costs

  The federal government took in $27.1 billion in payments through credit cards in fiscal 2007 and paid at least $433 million in merchant discount fees, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Agencies that were able to break out their interchange costs …
• 22 May

  Once Languishing, POP Now Gets a Warm Welcome from Merchants

  A payment method that lets merchants convert checks at the cash register into electronic transactions shows signs of picking up momentum across a spectrum of retailers. It's quite a turnaround for the point-of-purchase electronic-check application (POP), which relies on the automated clearing house network for settlement. Only a few years …
• 21 May

  Igourmet Says Security Led It to Adopt Secure Vault Payments

  The first merchant to sign up for an Internet-based payment system that relies on consumers' online-banking programs and settlement through the automated clearing house network says the system appeals to customers who are fearful of entering credit card details on Web sites. The merchant also hopes the new system will …
• 21 May

  A Fast Start for Online Resources’ Expedited Bill-Pay Offering

  Internet banking and bill-payment services provider Online Resources Corp. this week unveiled its expedited bill-pay service for financial institutions and walk-up providers to offer to consumers and small-business users, ratcheting up rivalries in the fast-growing realm of last-minute payments. While the expedited bill-pay market has some bigger competitors, including Fiserv …
• 20 May

  Pariter Will Focus Its Efforts on BofA And Wells, CEO Says

  Pariter Solutions LLC, the new company formed by Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. to process automated clearing house transactions for the two banks, has no current plans to add other financial institutions as clients, the new venture's chief executive tells Digital Transactions News. “Our first goal, …