Consumers who participated in a recently ended test in Atlanta of contactless payment on mobile phones may have warmed to the technology (Digital Transactions News, Sept. 8), but banks, transaction processors, independent sales organizations, and other players looking to cash in could now face a formidable hurdle: the wireless phone …

With PIN debit fraud losses rising along with consumer usage of PIN debit cards, MasterCard Worldwide announced on Wednesday a system it says will score PIN transactions in real time to assess their risk of fraud. Purchase, N.Y.-based MasterCard says when the service goes live in the first quarter of …

It may be as rare as an ivory-billed woodpecker, but the merchant that accepts Visa without also accepting MasterCard or vice versa is not extinct in the United States. Within the past week, discount retailer Dollar General Corp. announced it would accept Visa credit and check (signature-debit) cards but not …

Bitpass Inc. is expected to announce next week a new processing platform that will, among other things, allow consumers to set up electronic wallets they can use to both pay for and store digital content like songs, videos, and games. The new platform, called the iMedia Commerce Engine, will support …

Yodlee Inc. announced Tuesday it plans to introduce new technology that could heat up competition in electronic bill payment by letting consumers switch more easily from an online bill-payment program at one bank to that offered by another. The Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of Internet banking software says it will …

Discover Financial Services LLC last week completed a summer hat trick of partnerships with bank card merchant acquirers to broaden acceptance of its brand, and the card unit of Morgan Stanley says it's not finished. Discover announced its latest deal, involving Atlanta-based RBS Lynk Inc., one day after news broke …

After about two years of lackluster growth, e-checks at the point of sale started popping in the second quarter, according to new statistics from NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association. Sources tell Digital Transactions News that the force behind POP's sudden popularity is none other than Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest …

The creation of the new PCI Security Standards Council LLC by the five leading payment card brands represents a big step forward in enhancing credit and debit card security, but it doesn't go far enough, one analyst tells Digital Transactions News. The council, a creation of American Express Co., Visa …

A nine-month trial of contactless payments using near-field communication (NFC) technology in Atlanta ended this week with what its participants are calling positive results, including an apparently enthusiastic reception from the pilot's 150 users. Meanwhile, the results of the Atlanta pilot may be spurring banks, the bank card networks, handset …

As an e-commerce payment system being developed for the automated clearing house nears a pilot scheduled for early next year, it may confront an old issue that sank an earlier such project: the potential for lost credit card sales online. That's according to an in-depth story on the ACH and …