The booming popularity of prepaid cards has created opportunities for payments companies far beyond just issuing plastic cards. The reloading of already-issued prepaid cards, for instance, is emerging as a major business. And that means Monrovia, Calif.-based Green Dot Corp.'s 40,000-location reload network is attracting attention from such big companies …

The momentum behind contactless payments is likely to stall unless the wave-and-pay method moves from cards to mobile phones, a new research report argues. But while that movement may boost the potential for mobile payments, it will also require a delicate balance of interests among card issuers, payment networks, merchants, …

Electronic bill payment is a key function Visa USA is expecting holders of the new Wal-Mart MoneyCard prepaid plastic will use the product for. According to Visa, nearly 20% of purchase transactions on its existing reloadable prepaid products are bill payments. The MoneyCard, which is issued by GE Money Bank …

Internet payments company Saf-T-Pay Corp. is about to roll out a system that taps consumers' demand-deposit accounts and bears similarities to those being promoted by NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association and tech company MODASolutions Inc. But Miami Beach, Fla.-based Saf-T-Pay says it has an easy-to-use solution that already is gaining credibility …

Former First Data Corp. executive John Shlonsky, who took over this week as president and chief executive of TransFirst LLC, says he plans to lead the Dallas-based transaction processor into a wide array of new markets with backing from the company's new owner, private-equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. …

In a move that could give the market for network-branded prepaid cards a big boost, Parago Inc. has launched a campaign to move its clients from checks to one-time-use cards for rebates and cash incentives. The Dallas-based company, which manages consumer rebate and rewards programs for corporations, hopes to have …

The bills from the computer hacking at off-price retailer The TJX Cos. that compromised at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards keep rolling in. The Framingham, Mass.-based operator of the T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and other chains took a pre-tax charge of $20 million ($12 million after-tax) to cover investigative, …

MasterCard Worldwide received a double dose of good debit news last week. First came the news that big credit card issuer Capital One Financial Corp. is rolling out a MasterCard-branded rewards debit card that doesn't require the cardholder to have a deposit relationship with Cap One (Digital Transactions News, June …

A new Capital One Financial Corp. MasterCard debit card that Cap One can market nationwide like a credit card has the potential to vault the financial-services company into the top ranks of debit card issuers and help MasterCard Worldwide swipe debit market share from Visa USA, the payments expert who …

Information is beginning to emerge indicating that consumer usage of contactless devices for payments may be picking up. According to an Internet survey conducted by Atlanta-based Synergistics Research Corp. late last year, 9% of respondents had used a contactless card or fob. In two previous surveys, both conducted by phone …