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InfoWorld's Ed Foster reports on recent complaints from readers about PayPal's $2,000 spending limit.
How should an online financial services company treat its loyal and reliable customers? Well, it could refuse to have anything more to do with them unless they provide additional personal financial information to "verify" who they are. That seems to be PayPal's approach, anyway.
Boston Globe columnist Thomas Oliphant writes about the political activities of the personal finance industry.
Of all the business tycoons assembling for their favorite party's convention this week, none will get a warmer, perk-filled welcome than the personal finance crowd that has figured out how to imprison tens of millions of ordinary Americans with interest charges and other fees worthy of loan sharks.
Getahn Ward writes in the Tennessean.com about reductions in check float that will result from the upcoming implementation of Check 21.
Lucy Lazarony writes on Bankrate.com about everything you want to know about gift cards.
PayPal has increased the PayPal merchant referral bonus paid for bringing new businesses to PayPal. It's now possible to earn up to $1,000 per merchant referred as compared to $100 previously. » Continue Reading
A subsidiary of Metris, Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank, has announced the launch of the American DreamCard Platinum MasterCard.
The American DreamCard gives the cardholder the opportunity to win a monthly cash jackpot every time they spend $1.00 on everyday purchases. The American DreamCard is not a lottery; it is a MasterCard, so there is no need to stand in line, buy tickets or pick numbers. Simply use the card for everyday purchases and get an entry for every net $1.00 spent on the American DreamCard (up to 1,000 entries per a $1,000 transaction). The monthly jackpot will grow with the amount of money spent on the American DreamCard by all American DreamCard cardholders.
Discover Card has announced an exclusive acceptance agreement with Dollar General. » Continue Reading
Information Week reports on the appointment by Bank of America of Barbara Desoer as chief technology, service and fulfillment executive.
She will lead strategy development and execution for the bank's technology platforms and fulfillment capabilities, which include ATMs, call centers, consumer-risk operations, and its Latin American business. She'll also lead development and implementation of the company's payments strategy.
Datamonitor has published a new report on credit card counterfeiting, estimating that losses from counterfeiting have grown 30% in the last year.
The Boston Globe's Ann Chin reports on the Usher card, a prepaid MasterCard debit card. » Continue Reading
RFID Journal reports on FreedomPay's RFID cashless payment systems.
Bank Systems and Technology has an article by the Tower Group's John Gould on the use of smart cards to provide strong authentication over insecure public networks.
Larry Ponemon writes an opinion piece in ComputerWorld that asks the question about what exactly is the responsibility of financial institutions in dealing with a phishing attack?
Gary Fields of the Wall St. Journal this morning reports on the results of a recent first of a kind survey by the Secret Service exploring threats to financial institutions from insiders. The report, "Insider Threat Study: Illicit Cyber Activity in the Banking and Finance Sector" (PDF), was conducted with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. » Continue Reading
Experian has announced the acquisition of Americas Software Corporation, a developer and marketer of regulatory compliance software systems which provides anti-money laundering solutions for banks and other financial institutions worldwide. » Continue Reading
eFunds has announced a new relationship with Paymentech to deliver its SCAN check authorization database to Paymentech's merchant customers.
Reuters reports on a Wall St. Journal story this morning about the growth plans of GE Consumer Finance for emerging European and Asian markets -- in a strategy similar to that of Citibank's.
Gartner has posted a briefing on potential vulnerabilities in the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1) as discussed at the recent Crypto 2004 conference in Santa Barbara.
Forrester Research has announced it expects US online ecommerce retail sales will more than double over the next six years -- reaching $316 billion by 2010.
Stacy Teicher writes about how American consumers are attempting to deal with big credit card balances in a two-part series in the Christian Science Monitor. The second part profiles four American consumers and how they are dealing with their credit card debit.
Separately, Reuters reports that US credit card delinquencies fell to a four-year low in June.
Moody's credit card delinquency index, which measures credit card bills 30 days or more past due, fell to 4.37 percent in June from 5.12 percent a year earlier. June marked the 11th consecutive month of declines in delinquencies and was the lowest since June 2000, the rating agency said.» Continue Reading
Brian Kelleher reports for Reuters on new advertising campaigns being launched by Hong Kong banks to promote credit card usage.
Jonathan Sidener writes in the San Diego Union-Tribune about the lure of phishing and the anti-phishing activities of San Diego-based WebSense.
Meanwhile, ComputerWorld reports on phishing attacks against two of Germany's biggest banks: Postbank and Deutsche Bank.
The US Department of Commerce announced yesterday that US ecommerce sales increased 23.1% in the second quarter as compared to the same quarter last year. Sales totaled $15.7 billion, representing 1.7% of total retail sales in the US.
The UK Competition Commission has an active inquiry underway looking at store card credit services. On the Commission's web site there are some interesting responses from store card providers (e.g., GE Consumer Finance) as well as the notes of an open meeting (PDF) held on July 21 that includes the text of presentations from various parties.
Barclays has announced it is entering the US consumer credit card market by buying Juniper Financial from CIBC for $293 million. » Continue Reading
Shane Shick reports on plans by MasterCard to rollout PayPass in Canada.
Nagesh Devata, MasterCard Canada's vice-president of commercialization, said the company would likely bring PayPass to Canada sometime in the next 12 to 18 months, after the technology has picked up more converts south of the border.
McDonald's announced today an agreement to begin accepting MasterCard's PayPass contactless payment product. Participating McDonald's restaurants in Dallas and the New York metropolitan area will implement MasterCard PayPass later this year, with additional locations to be added in 2005. » Continue Reading
The Payments Card Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has posted the conference summary for the June 2004 conference "Prepaid Cards: How Do They Function? How Are They Regulated?" (PDF).
Sasha Talcott writes in the Boston Globe about the convenience and speed of no signature card transactions.
Having penetrated high price tag and high volume locations such as department stores and grocery chains, credit card companies are targeting cash businesses such as fast-food restaurants and movie theaters by allowing customers to skip the step of signing receipts for small purchases.
Emarketer takes a look at a recent example of a phishing attack on Citibank customers.
Celent analyst Gwenn Bezard writes in Bank Systems & Technology Online about the evolution of merchant-controlled debit networks. » Continue Reading
Sacramento Bee reporter Loretta Kalb takes a look at the future of banking.
BJ's Wholesale Club reported in its financial report earlier today that it has been informed by its credit card processor of pending claims totaling $16 million ($6 million in actual claims with the remainder made up of certain card replacement and account monitoring costs). The Associated Press has a follow-up story on the announcement.
Brink's has announced it is teaming with NetDeposit to bring a remote check image capture solution to the cash processing market. » Continue Reading
7-Eleven has announced that it has acquired the portfolio of American Express ATMs currently deployed in 5,483 7-Eleven store locations in the US for a purchase price of $44 million. » Continue Reading
Pay By Touch announced today a strategic alliance with Discover Financial Services that it expects to increase usage of Discover Card at retail point of sale locations as well as driving adopting of Pay By Touch. » Continue Reading
WholeSecurity announced today the launch of Web Caller-ID, a new behavioral browser-based solution to deal with phishing attacks. » Continue Reading
XIgn announced today an equity investment from MasterCard International. » Continue Reading
Anita Ramasastry reports on new anti-phishing legislation introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy. The text of the proposed legislation is available online (PDF). » Continue Reading
Credit card processor PSW, Inc. has announced that it has filed an antitrust lawsuit against MasterCard and Visa. The lawsuit alleges violations of various state and federal antitrust laws and seeks over $240 million in damages.
CyberSource announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Retail Decisions alleging that Retail Decisions' eBitGuard product uses technology covered by CyberSource's US Patent No. 6,029,154, "Method and System for Detecting Fraud in a Credit Card Transaction Over the Internet".
Eric Dash writes in Inc. Magazine about retailers using spending data from gift cards to better target customers with marketing messages. » Continue Reading
Western Union has announced that it has expanded its relationship with Continental Airlines to allow travelers from the UK to purchase air travel using cash instead of credit cards. » Continue Reading
TCF Financial has introduced a high yielding checking account tied to a free platinum rewards card. » Continue Reading
Sasha Talcott writes in the Boston Globe on how the increasing usage of debit cards is reducing the need for cash.
The ATM data point to a larger trend that economists have been talking up for years: the move toward a cashless economy. For the first time, the number of electronic payments has surpassed cash and checks, according to a study released last year by the American Bankers Association."It's just easier than carrying cash around," said Stephanie Wash, a Braintree student. Wash said she uses her debit card "more and more," including to get cash back, lessening the need to visit the ATM. She still uses cash for smaller purchases, including Burger King chicken tenders and fries.
Glenbrook's Allen Weinberg was the keynote speaker at the Direct Response Forum's conference in San Francisco yesterday. His remarks focused on the payment acceptance issues and opportunities facing "card not present" merchants. A copy of his presentation slides (PDF) is available online on the Glenbrook web site.
Erin Pooley writes in Canada's Globe and Mail about Dexit, a prepaid payment product. » Continue Reading
BankServ has announced that it has won approval from SWIFT to be the first US-based financial services company capable of handling both domestic US payments and international money transfers in a single automated service bureau process. » Continue Reading
Bank of America's Global Treasury Services has announced Remote Payments Online, a new Internet and telephone electronic payment service for its corporate clients. The service allows companies to integrate electronic payment transactions through their existing (or new) Web and telephone infrastructures and accept credit card and/or ACH payments within a single platform. The Remote Payments Online service is based on a proprietary technology platform developed by Princeton eCom.
Heartland Payment Systems has announced that it has filed a form S-1 registration statement with the SEC for an initial public offering of its common stock. Heartland's S-1 itself is available for downloading from the SEC's Edgar web site. [Update - August 11, 2005: Heartland's IPO has been announced.]
Retail Decisions has announced that it is now supporting PayPal as an additional payment option through its payment gateway. » Continue Reading
Slashdot this morning reports on Stripe Snoop, a "suite of research tools that captures, modifies, validates, generates, analyzes, and shares data from magstripe cards."
NCR has announced that METRO Group has installed an NCR-supplied RFID-equipped self-checkout in METRO's RFID Innovation Center.
GE Consumer Finance has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Dillard National Bank, the private label credit card issuing bank of Dillard's, Inc. for $1.25 billion. » Continue Reading
Kathy Uek writes in the MetroWest Daily News about electronic check conversions at the point of sale -- and the declining number of paper checks being written. » Continue Reading
CNN Money's Allen Wastler takes a look at PayPal:
I feel for PayPal. I really do. The Internet payment service is stuck in a classic "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.
Visa USA has announced Visa Information Source (VIS) Select, a new, web-based small business financial reporting system. » Continue Reading
Jonathan Krim reports in today's Washington Post on State Department plans to proceed with embedding electronic identification chips in US passports containing facial images despite warnings that the technology is prone to a high rate of error. Industry expects claim that facial recognition technology has an unacceptably high error rate, with fingerprint recognition performing much better.
The Federal Trade Commission has released the results of a recent statistical survey that indicates that one in ten Americans have been victims of fraud during a twelve month period. The 170 page report (PDF) is available for downloading online. » Continue Reading
The Federal Reserve Board has announced that it is conducting a study on the adequacy of investigations of disputed consumer information reports to consumer reporting agencies. The Board is also soliciting public comment on the issues.
Mark Fellows writes in Business Directly Weekly about ABN Amro Merchant Services' which is jointly owned by NPC and LaSalle Bank, a US subsidiary of ABN Amro. According to regulatory filings, LaSalle must waive its right to purchase NPC's majority stake in AAMS in order for the Bank of America acquisition of NPC to occur.
"It would be in (LaSalle's) interest to waive the right and keep things going as usual," added David Fountain, NPC's chief financial officer. "It's one of those things that I think is going to be worked out."
MasterCard International and Visa International have announced that they are working together to align PIN entry device (PED) security requirements and approval procedures. MasterCard and Visa have agreed to standardize security requirements, testing methodologies, and procedures for approving PEDs. The organizations are also working towards reaching similar agreements with other key industry players in the near future. For more information, see Visa International's PIN website. » Continue Reading
MasterCard has recently made available online a new MasterCard Merchant Rules Manual (pdf) that contains excerpts of various MasterCard member publications in a form designed to be useful to MasterCard-accepting merchants. More information is available at MasterCard's merchant web site.
eMarketer takes a look at the latest trends in phishing attacks.
National City has announced a new Visa Stored Value Debit Card designed to be funded through deposits made by employers so that they can be used for payroll and incentive program payments, relocation, reimbursements, and insurance claims. » Continue Reading
Juniper Research has published a new report forecasting that the global mobile commerce market will be an $88 billion industry by 2009.
"Globally the m-commerce market will be fragmented mainly drawn up by continental boundaries. Each region is developing at a different pace and with different technologies in mind. There is no one global standard but this will both help and hinder m-commerce. A focus on local needs will probably help the technology develop more quickly but eventually we will be faced with a roaming problem between regions."
Fair Isaac has announced Falcon ID, an enhanced identity fraud detection solution based upon the company's predictive analytics and multiple sources of identity-validating data. » Continue Reading
FSV Payment Systems has announced that KeyBank will begin issuing stored value cards for FSV.
"We have chosen to issue cards from FSV not only because they are a leader in the stored value industry, but also because their unique platform sets a true standard for processing flexibility," said Sarah Grotta, senior vice president for Key Consumer Payment Sales. "We look forward to exploring those possibilities with FSV in the future, so as to integrate our core competencies and expertise for expanded offerings to the stored-value marketplace."
Tumbleweed Communications and the Anti-Phishing Working Group have announced the release of the "Phishing Attack Trends Report" (PDF) for June 2004. 1,422 new unique phishing attacks were reported during the month, up by 19% from the number of attacks a month earlier.
Payment processor TSYS announced this morning the acquisition of Clarity Payment Solutions for $53 million in cash. TSYS will combine its prepaid products with Clarity's in a new unit to be called TSYS Prepaid, Inc. Clarity's CEO Anil Aggarwal will be CEO of the new unit. » Continue Reading
Reuters is reporting that the European Commission has accused Visa International of breaching EU competition rules by refusing to admit Morgan Stanley to its global network. The full text of the EU's press release is available online.
Jonathan Zinman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has published a new 50 page staff report: "Why Use Debit Instead of Credit - Consumer Choice in a Trillion Dollar Market". » Continue Reading
Financial Technology Partners has announced that it represented Lynk Systems in its pending sale to Royal Bank of Scotland for $525 million. » Continue Reading
Feeling the effects of a decline in check volume as payments continue to move to electronics, the US Federal Reserve announced today that it is reducing the number of check processing sites from 45 to 23 by early 2006. Earlier, the Fed had announced plans to reduced to 32 sites but the consolidation has been accelerated further. In addition, the Fed said that about 270 net employees will lose their jobs, a 6 per cent cutback from current levels. » Continue Reading
Pamela D. A. Reeve, president and CEO of Lightbridge, Inc. announced her resignation this afternoon. Robert Donahue, a member of the company's board of directors, has been named interim president and CEO. Under Reeve's leadership, Lightbridge acquired payment processor Authorize.net on March 31, 2004.
The Tower Group has announced new research looking at the opportunities for mobile, Internet, and POS micropayment (less than $5) transactions including forecasting a market size of $11.5 billion in the US by 2009. » Continue Reading
MasterCard has announced that total purchases on MasterCard credit and offline debit cards rose 11.7% in the second quarter of 2004 as compared to the same period in 2003. » Continue Reading
Expedia and GE Corporate Payment Solutions have announced the Expedia Corporate Travel Business MasterCard. » Continue Reading
Charge!, this week's cover story in the new issue of Business Week, reports on American Express' CEO Ken Chenault and his plans to partner with banks in the US to issue American Express cards -- and other services. » Continue Reading
Jonathan Decker reports on the Christian Science Monitor about using checks and being careful who you give them to.
"If you are unsure about the merchant, never use a check - use a credit card instead," says George Thomas, president of the Electronic Payments Network, a division of the Clearinghouse, the largest private check processing system, owned by many of the nation's largest banks. "That way, you can avoid the possibility of checking-account fraud down the road."
The Taipei Times posts Yale University's Robert Shiller's commentary on the implications of electronic money.
Two benefits of electronic money stand out, and will likely contribute to its growth. Most important, it will have profound intellectual benefits by creating incentives for the active pursuit of ideas. Second, electronic money will advance globalization, expanding the scope and versatility of the Internet and making it easier for people to interact constructively with others around the world. Taken together, these two benefits will enable millions of minds to work together far more effectively than ever before.
