Consumers' willingness to pay credit card bills online is rising rapidly, with 524 million transactions in 2006, a 27% jump over 414 million payments in 2005, according to survey data from comScore Inc. The most recent online payment volume, which represents payments consumers make at card issuers' Web sites, is …

Extending its reach into emerging mobile-banking and payments markets, First Data Corp. on Thursday announced an agreement with mFoundry Inc. under which the leading payment processor will offer mFoundry services to the thousands of bank and credit-union members of First Data's Star electronic-funds transfer network. The First Data agreement marks …

With its official unveiling on Friday of an early version of an online payments system, e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. has launched itself into head-on competition with established players like PayPal Inc. and well-funded upstarts like Google Checkout. The service, called Amazon Flexible Payments, is in a so-called beta stage with …

Electronic bill-payment and presentment technology may be CheckFree Corp.’s sexiest products, but bank processor Fiserv Inc. will be get access to other fast-growing markets when its planned $4.4 billion cash acquisition of CheckFree, announced Thursday, closes. Most notable, perhaps, is that CheckFree just happens to be the leading provider of …

Billeo Inc., whose software streamlines online bill payment for consumers, this week announced new product enhancements that the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company hopes will allow banks to earn more bill-payment revenue. It also extends the company's reach into online shopping with a new software component that automatically fills out online …

With an eye to Capital One Financial Corp.'s introduction last month of a so-called decoupled debit card product, which relies on settlement through the automated clearing house network and so does not require cardholders to have a demand-deposit account with Cap One (Digital Transactions News, June 7), debit network sponsor …

Alternative payments have penetrated the market for airline tickets with Northwest Airlines Inc.'s decision to accept PayPal on its Web site. The move by the major air carrier, which executes about 1,400 daily departures around the world, makes it the first airline to accept PayPal and gives the San Jose, …

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 …

A Bellevue, Wash.-based startup plans to have a Web-based payment system in operation some time in 2008 that will look strikingly similar to one that NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association has spent the past several years developing. Metafos Inc., which formed only 18 months ago, is talking to banks and online …

A new transaction gateway backed by one of the largest processors in the world is gearing up to compete for U.S. e-commerce business. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which has been handling overseas transactions for U.S.-based online merchants, has unveiled a new service that will compete for transactions generated …