Its original proposition was offering Bitcoin acceptance to merchants, but now BitPay Inc. is adding a reloadable Visa prepaid card to its consumer-facing products. The card provides utility to merchants and consumers in that it will enable cardholders to make purchases at the millions of Visa-accepting merchants in addition to …

BitPay Inc. made its name signing up merchants to accept the bitcoin digital currency, and now it’s adding a reloadable Visa prepaid card to its consumer-facing products. The card will enable users to make purchases at the millions of Visa-accepting merchants as well as the relative handful that accept bitcoin, …

  Not yet five years after its implementation, a controversial federal regulation governing interchange and transaction routing for debit cards has come under review as part of a process set out by a 20-year-old law called the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act. The debit card regulation, the Federal …

American Express Co. is offering new rewards and benefits for using one of its prepaid cards, but at a cost. The card brand and acquirer on Wednesday added a rewards program to its Serve card under the “Serve Cash Back” moniker. Serve Cash Back users, who pay $5.95 per month …

Prepaid provider InComm Holdings Inc. and smart card maker Gemalto NV have devised a new service that enables mobile-wallet providers and merchants to offer and accept prepaid cards loaded onto near-field communication (NFC)-equipped smart phones. The InComm Mobile Platform uses Gemalto’s technology—namely its Trusted Service Hub for the interconnectivity, data …

  Banking giant JP Morgan Chase & Co. has begun issuing EMV debit cards, with plans to convert its entire debit card portfolio of 34 million cards to chip by the end of 2016, Chase announced Tuesday. Chase began testing chip-enabled debit card issuance in Arizona and Illinois two months …

Prepaid cards may find favor among younger consumers, one survey finds, while another reports prepaid card programs sport a wide range of fees. Also, armored-car company Brink’s has jumped into the prepaid card mix. Fees on 31 prepaid card programs surveyed by Bankrate.com are scattershot, with the types and amounts …

Endpoint The proposal would do some useful things, but that advantage is outweighed by its—and the Bureau’s—disadvantages, says Eric Grover. Rule by regulatory mandarins is not only unconstitutional, it suppresses payments competition and innovation, and consequently consumer choice and value. On Nov. 13, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its …

  The 870-page tome of proposed rules issued Nov. 13 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to govern prepaid cards may end up benefitting the top prepaid card issuers, says securities-rating agency Fitch Ratings. The regulations would require so-called “Know Before You Owe” disclosures and aim to improve consumers’ access to account …

Some of the nation’s largest prepaid card companies are either giving a public thumbs up to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed regulations for prepaid card accounts or at least not saying they’re spoiling for a fight with the federal government. Steve Streit, chairman and chief executive of Pasadena, Calif.-based …