Now that the Federal Reserve’s new debit card interchange regulations are finally out in the open, the profile of yet another payment card interchange and rules controversy is slowly rising. That’s the raft of merchant antitrust lawsuits pending in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., collectively known as “MDL 1720.” …

  René M. Pelegero   The dominance of credit cards for online purchases means Durbin’s debit-interchange cuts won’t benefit e-commerce merchants as much as brick-and-mortar retailers. But, with some strategic thinking, online sellers can wring maximum savings out of the new regulations.   By the time this article went to …

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Trends & Tactics   No Apocalypse Now—Or Later—for Debit As Digital Transactions went to press this month, the ultimate extent and timing of the debit restrictions contained in the Durbin Amendment remained unclear. Final rules had not yet issued from the Federal Reserve, and in mid-March a bill appeared in …

Security Linda Punch Knowledge about the risk of a data breach is woeful among small merchants, as is understanding of PCI. ISOs could be doing more to help, and now there are signs that, finally, they are. For most small merchants, the independent sales organization is their first, and usually …

Consumers have few expectations that they’ll benefit from pending debit card interchange price regulations, according to new survey findings from Javelin Strategy and Research. And, with consumers used to free checking and debit cards, banks will need to move carefully if they want to impose new fees to make up …

The operator of the Secure Vault Payments network for online automated clearing house payments said it is creating a marketing council to promote awareness and usage of the new payment system. The council has the endorsement of ACH governing body NACHA, said Denver-based SVP operator eWise Systems USA Inc. Dean …

There may be some good news for large banks and card networks fretting over the looming effective date for the Durbin Amendment and its restrictions on debit card income. While the amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation signed into law last summer, will severely compress debit card …

The Gimlet Eye The Forgotten Ones No doubt everyone is still digesting the debit card interchange proposals that the Federal Reserve Board released on Dec. 16. These rules, which represent the first-ever government regulation of payment card interchange, are the result of a years-long tug-of-war between merchants on one end …

The turbulent regulatory and legal atmosphere enveloping the U.S. payment card industry is blowing the industry into camps of winners, losers, and those in between. The biggest losers: Visa and MasterCard, large debit card issuers, and consumers. Winners: merchant-funded rewards networks and big merchants. Also likely to gain in the …