A brief reference to a rival debit card network in a recent document sent from Visa USA Inc. to its members has raised the hackles of the co-founder of that network and embroiled him in a debate with Visa USA chief executive Carl Pascarella over the risk associated with debit …

With gift cards accounting for more than $17 billion in retail sales, or about 8% of merchants' total take, during the recent holiday shopping spree, according to the National Retail Federation, the plastic has become a star in the electronic transaction firmament. But while gift cards are stealing the headlines, …

The merger of banking powerhouses J.P Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank One Corp., announced late yesterday, would create the nation's second largest credit card issuer as measured by credit outstanding, the banks' chief executives said this morning in a meeting with analysts. The combined bank would boast 95 million …

Just weeks after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. informed MasterCard International Inc. that the chain would stop accepting MasterCard debit cards effective next month, the bank card company has released a consumer survey showing that merchants who reject debit cards risk losing sales. Sponsored by MasterCard and conducted by Harris Interactive, best …

Pay By Touch, a San Francisco-based company offering a biometrics-based technology that allows consumers to pay at the point of sale without presenting a card, keyfob, token, or any other payment medium, announced today that it has formed an alliance with IBM Corp. that should give the fledgling biometrics company …

Response times and success rates for transactions on retailers' Web sites varied somewhat during the crush of the recent holiday shopping season, but for the most part transaction performance held up pretty well, according to a report released today by Gomez Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based company that measures Internet performance. …

The highest delinquency rate ever seen on credit cards did little to dampen transactions on the cards during the critical holiday season. The American Bankers Association reports today that late payments on credit cards reached a record 4.09% of all accounts in the third quarter of 2003, up from 4.04% …

The market for ultra-low-ticket song downloads from online music stores continues to heat up. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched a service on its Web-based operation, Walmart.com USA LLC, that offers single songs for 88 cents, or 11 cents cheaper than what has become the 99-cent standard price for songs available …

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 …