On the web:

• California Sues JPMorgan Chase Over Credit Card Cases - NY Times - "JPMorgan Chase … deluged the courts with dubious lawsuits to collect soured credit-card debt."
• How hackers allegedly stole “unlimited” amounts of cash from banks in just hours - ArsTechnica - "Prosecutors didn't identify the payment processors except to say one was in India and the other in the United States."
• PayPal exec aims to “obliterate passwords from the face of the planet” - ArsTechnica - "Our intention is to really obliterate, within a certain number of years, both passwords and PINs..."
• One good reason to accept Bitcoins: It screws credit card companies - Pando Daily - "Merchants should enjoy it while it lasts."
• Mobile Gift Card App Gyft Partners With BitPay To Start Accepting Bitcoin Payments In Its Android App - TechCrunch - "Bitcoin is hard to use today, and that’s a good thing. There are still bugs and it is too risky for the average consumer."
• WePay Debuts Veda, An Intelligent Risk Engine That Leverages Social Media Data To Prevent Merchant Fraud - TechCrunch - "A traditional credit score only shows a sliver of who you are, but an online profile allows us to assign our users a more accurate ‘WePay credit score’ based on their personal history of verified, social data."
• No big bang for mobile payments - Business Spectator - "Key to this is understanding that mobile payments are not a vertical market. Players must understand how the different participants in a payment system – the merchant, issuer, and consumer – can all benefit through mobile."
• Adam Smith, Paul Krugman and Bitcoin - Tomorrow's Transactions Blog - "There won't be a single world currency (whether the Dollar or the Remibi) and there won't be a single virtual currency (whether Bitcoin or MintChip). There will be lots of currencies and we will all be better off because of it."
• Free banking at risk as EU wants us to bank anywhere in Europe - Telegraph - "European proposals that would allow Britons to switch to a bank account in another country could hasten the demise of free banking, experts have warned."
• Mobile Payments Service Wins Bill and Melinda Gates Innovator Award - eCommerce Bytes - "Boleto is a unique barcode payment ticket that contains the customer's unique purchase data and Trak's bank information."

On the wires:

• Eight Members Of New York Cell Of Cybercrime Organization Indicted In $45 Million Cybercrime Campaign - "A four-count federal indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn charging eight defendants with participating in two worldwide cyberattacks that inflicted $45 million in losses on the global financial system in a matter of hours."
• Value-Based Payment Models Expected to Reach Tipping Point by 2018 - "Transitioning to payment models that base compensation on outcomes requires physicians and health plans to exchange new kinds of information – different than what is required under today’s predominant fee-for-service arrangements."
• Retailers, Listen Up: High Rates of Mobile Shopping Cart Abandonment Tied to Poor User Experience - "While the majority of smartphone and tablet owners (68%) have attempted to make a purchase on their device, two-thirds (66%) failed to complete a transaction due to obstacles encountered during checkout."
• First Data Releases April 2013 SpendTrend® Analysis - "Year-over-year dollar volume growth increased 5.1% in April, a slowdown from March’s 6.0% growth."

On the web:

• PayPal Hits The Mall: eBay's Baby Takes On Google, AmEx And Apple At Cash Registers - Forbes (Clare O'Connor) - "The aim is for shoppers to be able to use PayPal at the cash register in two million stores by the end of 2013."
• Banks Urged to Put Limits on Payday-Style Loans - NY Times Dealbook - "Federal regulators on Thursday admonished some of the nation’s largest banks for offering payday-style loans, short-term costly credit tied to customers’ checking accounts."
• Google Think Insights: The Customer Journey to Online Purchase - "This tool helps you explore and understand the customer journey to improve your marketing programs."
• CGAP: Exploring Alternative API Product Concepts - "CGAP’s work in Applied Product Innovation (API) aims to understand how customer-centric design methodologies … could be tailored to branchless banking in order to achieve better financial service offerings for the poor."
• Medagate's health card combines incentives with functionality - Drug Store News - "...enables employers and health plans to combine a member/employee healthcare funding purse with a restricted-spend purse for targeted items and incentives…"
• Bank Customers Want A Seamless Experience (My Foot) - Snarketing 2.0 - "Consumers want things to work. Period."
• Banks use mobile phone history to determine credit rating - Springwise - "Cignifi’s new platform offers what it claims is the first to deliver credit and marketing scores for consumers without credit histories using mobile phone behavior data."
• Online Shopping, With Sales Tax Added - NY Times Bucks Blog - "Shoppers will now have to figure in sales tax when they are deciding whether it is better to buy a particular item online or in a brick-and-mortar store."
• The Mysterious World of Bitcoin: Does It Have Staying Power? - Knowledge @ Wharton - "Bitcoin has all the hallmarks of a classic speculative bubble..."
• Are QR codes losing their magnetism? - Mobile Marketer Daily - "Brands don't want to place a generic black and white box all over their creative…"
• Infographic: Mobile Devices Overtake Daily Life - "On average, people check their phones 150 times a day or every 6.5 minutes…"

On the wires:

• GateCrafters Now Offers Bill Me Later Payment Option - "We hope this option will give customers more peace of mind when purchasing big ticket items."
• Co-Op to Offer Enhanced Member Control of Cards Via New Mobile Card and Alert Product - "…the product to be offered by CO-OP will provide a range of services, including allowing members to set controls and alerts based on their preferences, such as transaction type, merchant, location and thresholds."
• Blackhawk Announces First Quarter 2013 Financial Results Consistent With Estimates Provided in Prospectus - "Demand for our prepaid products was strong during the first quarter as load value reached $1.6 billion, up 23% year-over-year..."
• Merchant Warehouse and LevelUp Announce $1 Million Development Fund - "LevelUp and Merchant Warehouse want to give more merchants the opportunity to extend the reach of their brand and tap into a wealth of customer data to help them grow their businesses."
• Accenture Survey Identifies Actions to Increase Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments - "For mobile payments to achieve widespread adoption, consumers must be educated about the fact that mobile payments are secure and more convenient than other payment options."
• TSYS Merchant Solutions to launch TSYS Multi-Currency Solutions - "Pay in Your Currency, gives eligible international customers the choice of paying in their home currency at the point of sale, offering significant benefits to TSYS merchants and their customers."
• WorldPay, VeriFone Expand Efforts to Bring NFC/EMV-Ready Payment to Merchants - "VeriFone and WorldPay collaborate in crucial areas to deliver the right payment solutions to merchants…"

InstaMed has announced the launch of the InstaMed Healthcare Payments Account enabling health care providers of all sizes, from solo physician practices to large hospitals, get paid faster and through more channels to increase payments, reduce bad debt and cut collection costs.

The InstaMed Healthcare Payments Account is a new concept in the healthcare industry that transforms the flow of money to providers,” said Bill Marvin, President and CEO of InstaMed. “By delivering a simplified approach to the complexities of getting paid in healthcare, we are enabling providers to collect more payments, get paid faster and operate more efficiently.”

On the web:

• ‎Debit Networks Reject MasterCard’s EMV-Durbin Solution - Digital Transactions
• Mobile Ordering Provider 'OLO' Receives $5M in Funding from PayPal and Others - QSRweb.com
• Rogue Valley Merchants Leery Of 'Checkout Fee' Surcharge - Ashland Daily Tidings
• Angie's List, Square Announce Mobile POS Partnership - Benzinga
• Visa Service Restored After Canada-Wide Outage - CBC News
• Google Wallet Gets A Makeover - NFC World

On the wires:

• TransUnion Announces Acquisition of ZipCode in Brazil
• MasterCard Expands Strategic Alliance with Hotel Company IHG into the U.S.
• Merchant Warehouse Announces Availability of 'Genius Customer Engagement Platform'
• MedDirect Launches Online Payment Portal for Patient Responsibility Balances
• PayLeap, Acculynk’s Payments Processing Arm, Introduces Developer Integration Tools
• NCR Silver to Make Everyday Easy for 600 Cellairis Franchise Stores and Their Shoppers

Medagate, a wholly owned subsidiary of InComm, announced the launch of the MasterCard Dual Value Health Card, the first dual network healthcare spending card.

With the Dual Health Value Card, administrators can designate spending for certain items, such as flu shots, prenatal vitamins or smoking cessation products. Retailers and benefit providers can also offer coupons or special promotions to specific populations (for example, allergy sufferers on the first day of hay fever season). Funds and items on defined contribution and controlled spend lists can be reloaded and redefined at any time. The Dual Value Health Card’s functionality allows plan administrators to give access to flexible benefits, and the distinct tracking allows health program providers to restrict the cards from being used to purchase items such as alcohol, tobacco and other non-approved items.

The Dual Value Health Card enables employers and health plans to combine a member/employee healthcare funding purse with a restricted-spend purse for targeted items and incentives.

NACHA announced that its membership has adopted a new health care payments rule as part of the NACHA Operating Rules.

“Any health care provider with a bank account will be able to receive a health care electronic funds transfer (EFT) via ACH, just like a Direct Deposit,” said Janet O. Estep, NACHA president and CEO. “Providers will benefit from faster deposits and access to funds, and cost savings from not having to deposit paper checks. Payers will also benefit from replacing the printing and mailing of paper checks with electronic payments via ACH.”

The rule supports health plans’ and health care providers’ use of the ACH Network for electronic health care claims payments, and the electronic “reassociation” of these payments with electronic remittance advices (ERAs).

On the web:

• College Debit Cards: Hidden Costs Of Convenience - NBC News
• ‘European Square’ iZettle Now Works With Android; Visa Europe Dispute Drags On - TechCrunch
• Google To Sponsor Free Wi-Fi Experiment To Drive Google Offers Sign Ups - GigaOM
• National Payment Preference by Card Type - Litle & Co. Blog

On the wires:

• Visa and IDB Partnership Brings Financial Inclusion to Complexo do Alemão in Brazil
• PAYBOX from VeriFone’s Point Group Drives Mobile Orders to McDonald’s in France
• Capario Launches Integrated Solution to Streamline Patient Payment Processing

On the web:

• BancBox Debuts Its Payments Platform: You Could Build A PayPal On This - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• Text2Pay Announces Mobile Payments for the Online Dating Community
• Identitymind Launches a Campaign to Help Non-Profits Fight Online Fraud
• Park Group plc Selects Giftango International to Power Its Digital Gift Cards
• Wright Express, PaySpan Introduce Virtual Payments Solution for Healthcare Providers
• Chase Sapphire Partners with Pandora to Provide Listeners with Personalized Music for Summer
• Citi Announces New CitiBusiness ThankYou Card

On the web:

• It's Apple vs. Google vs. Everyone In The Mobile Payments War - Forbes

On the wires:

• 99Bill's Smartphone Card Reader to Enable Mobile POS in China
• Major Retail Brands Select VeriFone GlobalBay Mobile POS
• RunningShoes.com Activates New MasterCard PayPass Online Wallet
• Ogone Named as European Launch Partner for PayPass Wallet Services by MasterCard
• ESI Partners with InstaMed to Launch Electronic Healthcare Payment Solutions
• AmEx to Launch American Express® Campus Edition Prepaid Card in 500 Campus Bookstores

On the web:

• Integrating Tablets and POS Software For Retail - Point of Sale News
• La Caixa Goes Top of Wallet with PayPal Instant Account Creation - PayPal Blog
• Google Wallet Reopens for Prepaid Cards, Adds Transfer Block - SlashGear

On the wires:

• Plano Bê Launches 2Pay: The Brazilian Answer to Square and iZettle
• Evolution1 Continues Leadership in Ever-Changing Healthcare Market
• 16% of Commercial Banks Now Processing Payments Through Aptys’ PayLOGICS Platform
• TransEngen Strengthens Position as Payments Leader for Healthcare
• InspirePay Adds Support for Dwolla and PayPal

InComm announced that it has acquired Medagate Corporation, the company that powers OTCNetwork, the only national closed loop over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare benefits payments platform.

Medagate's technology platform supports several applications that enable retail and healthcare to intersect at the point of sale, enabling insured health plan members as well as Medicare and Medicaid members to access and spend their monthly healthcare benefits in an easy and familiar manner.

All current employees of Medagate will remain with the company, with its existing management continuing to run the day-to-day operations.

mPay Gateway announced that it has entered into an agreement with MasterCard to expand MasterCard acceptance through support of mPay Gateway’s point-of-care payment system.

“Patient payments are the fastest growing portion of healthcare providers’ revenue streams, but they traditionally have one of the lowest collection rates,” said Brian Beutner, chief executive officer of mPay Gateway. “Working with MasterCard, our technology is addressing inefficiencies in the patient payment process to streamline transactions and increase payment transparency so that providers can improve cash flow and better align with their patient’s payment preferences.”

On the web:

• An "Open" Perspective on Near Field Communications - ReadWriteWeb
• Card.io Enables Card Data Capture with Phone Camera - PCMag.com
• Eric Schmidt: Mobile Payments at Retail to Explode - CNET News
• Survey: Discounts and Coupons Will Drive Adoption of Mobile Payments - NFC World
• Apple Is Now Pimping Square’s iPad App In A 'How-To' Video - TechCrunch
• Itautec Unveils 3-D ATM in Brazil - ATM Marketplace

On the wires:

• Chase Upgrades Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card by Adding Amazon Shop with Points
• Optum EFT Solution Makes Health Care Payments Faster and Cheaper
• SponsorPay Introduces Offer-Based Monetization Suite For Publishers

On the wires:

• Heartland Payment Systems Introduces the Next Generation of Its WaveRider Laundry System
• JCM Global and Techfirm Sign MOU to Bring Pay-by-Mobile Phone Technology to Bill Validators
• Mitek Systems Granted Four More Patents for Mobile Deposit
• EFT Source Introduces New Option for Instant Card Issuance
• NCR Healthcare Selects EPX As Its Preferred Payment Provider

On the web:

• Portals and Rails: Who Does What Fighting Payments Crimes? Agencies Acronyms and Roles
• American Banker: Google Wallet to Require Investments in Terminals
• Digital Transactions: Forget PayPal And Google; Acquirers Most Worried About Visa, MasterCard
• Credit Slips: Dodd-Frank Gotterdämerung: The Durbin Amendment Rollback
• Digital Money: Jamie Henry, Walmart (Podcast Interview)
• India InfoLine: PayMate powers Inter Bank Mobile Payment Services in India

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Braintree Launches Card-Not-Present End-to-End Encryption Solution
• First Paid Healthcare Solutions Now Available in Puerto Rico
• MasterCard and Gemalto Partner on Global Card Replacement Services
• First Data Consolidates Operations and Management of its Business

• CUinsight: New Era Begins for NACHA Operating Rules and Guidelines
• NetBanker: Google Launches More Financial Product Comparison Pages: Savings Accounts, Checking, CDs, and Mortgages
• CNNMoney: U.S. Treasury Launches Tax Refund Prepaid Debit Card
• PayPal Blog: PayPal Opens New Customer Support Center in Malaysia
• BAI Banking Strategies: Leveraging ATMs for the ‘Bank of Mom and Dad’

U.S. Bank Healthcare Payment Solutions has announced it is "expanding its consumer product suite beyond health savings accounts (HSAs) with a comprehensive set of services designed to make consumer-directed healthcare (CDHC) easier to manage. U.S. Bank’s new integrated set of card-based payment solutions enables employers to offer competitive benefits plans, with tax savings to employees, while managing costs." READ MORE »

WAUSAU Financial Systems has announced an outsourced health care remittance processing service - the Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Service - that that company says "makes it easy for financial institutions of any size to process complex commercial health care payments without investing in the technical infrastructure, people and expertise required to build this capability." READ MORE »

Visa and SHPS have announced "the renewal of a collaborative agreement which pairs the world’s largest electronic payments network with one of the nation’s largest providers of account-based, consumer-driven healthcare solutions. Under terms of the renewal, Visa remains the preferred payment brand for employee benefit card programs administered by SHPS, which serves large and mid-sized employers, health insurance carriers, and government agencies." READ MORE »

Fifth Third Processing Solutions has announced that it has entered into an agreement to provide a patient payment system from mPay Gateway to its physician practice customers. According to the company, "mPay Gateway's software solution enables health care providers to calculate the patient's share of a bill for service and obtain payment authorization before a patient leaves the office, eliminating billing hassles and reducing bad debt by up to 50 percent. The patient is actually charged only after the health care provider settles with the insurance company." READ MORE »

Consumer Health Technologies and TSYS Healthcare have announced an agreement that "extends streamlined payment solutions to consumers, enabling easier, more convenient and cost effective healthcare purchases. TSYS Healthcare’s payment card solution offers end-to-end functionality with greater automation, refined reporting and smoother reconciliation capabilities, resulting in minimal error rates. The TSYS Healthcare system will be integrated into BenefitSpan™, CHT’s award-winning total benefit administration platform for managing HRA, FSA and HSA accounts." READ MORE »

Metavante has announced that it has been selected by Sterling HSA to be its exclusive provider of benefit debit card and healthcare payment technology. Sterling HSA is an independent, privately held company offering health savings account administration services to employers and individuals nationwide. READ MORE »

MasterCard has announced a multi-year contract extension with OptumHealth Inc.'s OptumHealth Bank to issue MasterCard cards for health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), including the accounts they manage for UnitedHealthcare members. The OptumHealth MasterCard cards can be used as a form of payment, tied to these tax-advantaged accounts, for eligible medical expenses, such as copayments, deductibles, prescriptions, vision care and certain over-the-counter items. READ MORE »

InComm and WiredBenefits have announced an agreement to develop and market a suite of prepaid healthcare cards through InComm’s network of partner retailers. According to the companies, "aligning WiredBenefits’ Healthcare Platform with InComm’s 145,000 store retail network creates a healthcare delivery method a prepaid format that is familiar to consumers and beneficial to retailers." READ MORE »

SK&A Information Services has released findings from its Physician Office Credit-Card Acceptance Survey - concluding that "33% of U.S. physician offices do not accept credit cards as a form of payment. This represents a 5% increase since last year's survey, and the research suggests doctor offices are limiting this form of payment as a result of their patients being affected by high interest rates, maxed out credit limits and a more challenging ability to qualify for credit." READ MORE »

U.S. Bank has launched Healthcare Payment Management (HPM) Essentials, a physician-focused payment tool that enables doctors’ offices to collect more patient self-pay balances – such as co-pays and deductibles – at the time and point of care. READ MORE »

TSYS Acquiring Solutions has announced partnership agreements with mPay Gateway and Nova Libra to provide point-of-sale payment solutions that meet the needs of healthcare providers and their patients, as well as pharmacies and drug stores. READ MORE »

This morning's Weekend Edition on National Public Radio included a report titled "Dental Credit Cards Drill A Hole In Some Wallets" by Kelley Weiss. The story talks, in particular, about CareCredit - a division of GE Money that offers healthcare financing for consumers through a network of over 100,000 providers.

Preferred Health Technology and Visa have announced an alliance making Visa the preferred payment brand for PHT's A-Claim medical payment solution for physicians, hospitals and other health care providers. The A-Claim system enables health care providers to simply and securely verify insurance eligibility, adjudicate claims, and accept credit, debit or prepaid cards for payment at the time of service, or at a later date once the amount of the patient's responsibility has been determined by his insurer. READ MORE »

The Payment Card Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a new report titled "New Prospects for Payment Card Application in Health Care" .

From the abstract: "While consumers' use of payment cards has grown rapidly in many other areas, use of these cards in making health-care payments has been far more limited. In this paper, Payment Cards Center Industry Specialist Ann Kjos attempts to explain several reasons for the slow adoption rates and identifies four related trends and developments that can be expected to lead to more rapid growth in the future. While these factors are expected to contribute to the acceleration of growth for payment card applications in health care, we know less about potential barriers stemming from consumer behavior, raising a cautionary note pending further research."

Chase Card Services has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Unicorn Financial Services and is launching an expanded set of patient financing products as ChaseHealthAdvance financing options.