With chargeback rates running well in excess of 1% on Internet transactions, Visa International and MasterCard International have for some time been pushing a form of online cardholder authentication, called 3D Secure, that is intended to make cardholders, issuers, acquirers, and merchants feel confident that Web payments are legitimate. But …

Visa USA's increase in credit card interchange rates, announced today, are intended to help the giant bank card network keep its members' business in the face of recent efforts by American Express Co. to court banks as issuers of its cards, Visa says. As expected by many observers, Visa today …

With its new real-time check-verification and settlement product announced yesterday, Star Systems Inc. will be offering merchants and transaction processors a service that converts paper checks to electronic transactions just as retailers and financial institutions are preparing for the advent of check-imaging technology. Though Maitland, Fla.-based Star, the nation's largest …

The immediate reaction among industry observers to the disclosure last week that MasterCard International Inc. is raising its interchange rates on some credit card transaction categories effective April 2 was that the move is meant to recoup issuer income lost in the major debit card settlement reached last year. But …

Electronic Clearing House Inc., an electronic transaction processor based in Camarillo, Calif., today announced a 22% increase in revenue in its October to December 2003 quarter over the same quarter in 2002. Revenue for the most recent quarter reached $11.4 million. This result was fueled by increases in both bank …

The card-issuing alliance American Express Co. and MBNA Corp. announced yesterday will benefit the two financial-services companies more than it will hurt Visa and MasterCard, some observers note. Although MBNA, second only to Citigroup Inc. as a credit card issuer, has already said it will seek to convert current cardholders …

A major study on consumer payment preferences at the point of sale released today shows not only a stronger trend toward debit cards generally but also a stronger preference for cards secured by personal identification numbers rather than by signatures. This is despite strong promotion from the major card companies …

Visa USA Inc.'s newly announced interchange pricing for its signature-based, or offline, debit cards are only the starting point for what will be many rounds of negotiations with larger regional and national retailers, say industry observers. Meanwhile, despite the new rate announcement from Visa, MasterCard International Inc. says it is …

Peppercoin Inc., the Waltham, Mass.-based micropayments startup that only this week emerged from its test phase with a commercially available service, may have a small footprint in the transactions business so far, but its ambitions are big. First, it plans to snag more merchant signings like the one it announced …

In an eventful week in the micropayments market, Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup BitPass Inc. emerged from its beta test and opened its service to all Internet merchants interested in using the BitPass system for payments. The company now has more than 300 content sellers enrolled, up from about 200 in …