Those of you who go to payments conferences where Heartland Payment Systems chief executive Robert O. Carr speaks know that Bob has lately taken to pointing out deceptive practices by acquirer representatives in their efforts to sell to merchants. He describes these abuses in some detail and, just to underscore …

Always conscious of keeping prices low, warehouse membership-club stores are tough customers for merchant acquirers and payments networks because they want to shave card-acceptance costs to the bone. So American Express Co., typically the most expensive card brand for merchants to accept, seemingly scored a coup when it announced that …

An unlikely panelist showed up last month at the Fall 2015 Mobile Payments Conference in Chicago: country-music singer and songwriter Rick Monroe, who urged his listeners to get down and get to work on apps that can help musicians sell songs and merchandise. “Mobile has become a way for artists …

A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco shows cash still represents 40% of retail payments volume. The study found cash is the lowest-total-cost payment medium for a merchant to accept, simply because the fixed cost is pretty much a requirement for a retail store and the variable …

  Even though mobile wallets appear to be the better bet, card consolidators Coin, Swyp, and Stratos are sticking to their plans. Thumbing through a wallet trying to find the right payment card or loyalty card to rack up points at the cash register is an age-old experience for many …

This young demographic is shaking up payments. Capturing their business requires new tools, new approaches, and, above all, open-mindedness. My 80-year-old mother doesn’t have an ATM card, but I don’t think my 4-year-old grandson will ever have a checkbook. Hard cash’s days are numbered. The payments industry is in the …

The mobile carriers once stood bestride the payments world as major players. Now, not so much. What happened, and can they stage a comeback? Not so long ago, the mobile network operators, or MNOs for short, cast a long shadow over the nascent business of mobile payments. While banks and …

Contrasting the payments experience in Europe and America demonstrates the high cost, to consumers and payments players alike, of heavy-handed regulation, argues Eric Grover. Light regulation and free and open competitive markets create more robust competitors, innovation, and consumer value. While more alike than not, there are important differences in …

Debit cards are still Americans’ favorite payment type, but they’re not quite as popular as they were two years ago, according to new survey findings from Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). The payment processor’s fifth annual Consumer Payment Choice Study, which in June surveyed more than 1,000 consumers with at least …

U.S. merchants and their trade groups have been less than thrilled with how the banks and card networks have managed the EMV rollout, and on Tuesday they got in one last blast before the liability shift occurs two days from now. n In the conference call, Mallory Duncan, senior vice …