A major research firm's estimate this week that fraud losses on debit cards in the U.S. hit an estimated $2.75 billion for the 12 months ending in May might have struck a nerve, especially in the absence of hard data on the problem, but it also has experts raising questions …

The disclosure by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in late July that it plans to charter an industrial bank in Utah to acquire its own payment transactions is creating more questions than answers about current relationships between the world's largest retailer and the payments entities with whom it currently works. Bentonville, Ark.-based …

Signature-based debit continued to grow at double-digit rates in the second quarter, as indicated by statistics released today by MasterCard International. Total MasterCard signature, or off-line, debit volume hit $48 billion in the U.S., up 32.3% over the same period last year. The point-of-sale component of this activity was $29.1 …

As the number of headlines about database breaches grows, so too does the number of lawsuits filed in response, as well as the amount of legislation aimed at better protecting consumer data. Several suits have already been filed in the wake of recent thefts of card data at Columbus, Ohio-based …

Though they are not named as defendants in the antitrust case filed today by Kroger Co. and six other retail chains against Visa International and Visa U.S.A., MasterCard International and individual member banks of both bank card networks could find themselves named in separate actions later, according to one of …

BitPass Inc., which has relied on prepaid accounts since it began processing micropayments less than two years ago, is exploring a number of new payment options, including one that would allow users to pay spontaneously rather than from previously funded Bitpass accounts. In an e-mail survey it distributed last week, …

The huge theft of card data at processor CardSystems Solutions Inc., revealed last week by MasterCard International, has prompted litigation and drawn the attention of most of the state attorneys general, but at least one network-security expert cautions that more such incidents are likely. Indeed, he says, little is likely …

The first order of business for the new Washington, D.C.-based merchant group formed earlier this year to lobby for regulation of card-interchange rates is to inform consumers and their representatives about the costs they incur because of interchange, says Mallory Duncan, chairman of the Merchants Payments Coalition. “Consumers don't appreciate …

A pair of companies specializing in stored-value products for the underbanked population are reaching beyond prepaid cards to extend credit and savings options to their cardholders. Next Estate Communications Inc., which launched its Green Dot Financial Network to support check-cashing and prepaid cards, already offers its cardholders a program to …

CheckFree Corp. will begin piloting PIN-based debit transactions in its extensive walk-in bill-payment network before the end of the year. The Atlanta-based processor is also investigating the possibility of adding a PIN-less debit feature to its online and telephone-based bill-payment network for so-called biller-direct transactions, though it has no definite …