The music and movie industries as well as retailers are next on startup Dynamics Inc.’s list of targeted industries for its ePlate loyalty application. Launched in April, ePlate embeds computer architecture into a credit card, enabling consumers to rewrite information from a choice of loyalty programs to the card’s magnetic …

Driven by fast growth in “native payments” that dispense entirely with paper checks, total automated clearing house network volume increased 4.4% in the first quarter over the year-earlier period, the ACH network’s highest quarterly increase since 2008’s fourth quarter. Michael Herd, managing director of network rules at ACH governing body …

The Penn Station East Coast Subs submarine-sandwich restaurant chain says 59 of its 238 locations are now “potentially affected” by a debit and credit card data breach. Parent company Penn Station Inc. first said when it disclosed the breach June 1 that 43 franchisee-owned stores possibly were affected, but the …

Things have come to a pretty pass when merchants say it’s cheaper for them to give away their product than to sell it. Yet that’s what a 7-Eleven franchisee is saying about the newspapers he sells in his store to customers who pay with a debit card. As reported in …

It’s an obscure transaction code that even many payments people haven’t heard of. But POS, the code established by the automated clearing house network for debit card payments, is surging as major merchants adopt the payment method and offer significant rewards to customers who use it. The POS code, which …

Gideon Samid • Gideon@AGSgo.com A timely article in the May issue of this magazine, “Why Payments Startups Fail,” points out that the hurdle of critical mass has doomed many novel payment systems. The article argues that critical mass is necessary for success, but the downside is that it can lead …

Karen Epper Hoffman The card networks have weighed in with their U.S. EMV policies, but doubts persist among acquirers about whether processors and merchants will be able to meet the networks’ deadlines.“Is EMV Finally, Actually, Really Here?” That was the name of one of the most popular education sessions hosted …

Jane Adler Durbin’s cap on interchange for big banks was supposed to be the death knell for debit card rewards. Instead, rewards programs are flourishing, albeit with a few twists. “Relationship rewards,” anyone? After caps on debit card interchange rates went into effect last fall, KeyBank took a contrarian approach. …

Hey, mobile-payments types: the fraudsters  are gunning for you. What are you doing to keep fraud at bay? So far, the known mobile-payments security lapses have proven to be more embarrassments than the truly damaging data breaches seen with more conventional payment methods. For example, Square Inc. initially passed out …

Lauri Giesen When the Durbin rate cap on debit took effect, it was supposed to give merchants a big break on acceptance costs. But sellers of items like soda and bus fares have seen their costs balloon, and that’s hurting emerging-payments markets. Lower costs are what most retailers should have …