Cardline back issues from January 2008:
WAL-MART MAY SEEK DAMAGES FROM FIRST DATA OVER GIFT CARD GLITCH.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Wal-Mart customers soon may forget a glitch that made it difficult to use gift cards the day after Christmas, but the giant Bentonville, Ark.-based chain may not have such a short memory, a retail analyst says. "This is something that is going to upset the customers [initially, and] then ...
CONSUMERS OUTSTRIP GOVERNMENT IN PREPAID CARD SPENDING.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Consumers loading money onto prepaid cards purchased directly from issuers represents 45%, or roughly $89.1 billion, of the prepaid market's 2006 dollar volume, according to a Mercator Advisory Group report released Dec. 20. Consumers and organizations loaded $197.9 billion on prepaid ...
PHILADELPHIA TRANSIT CONSIDERS SMART CARDS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority announced at a recent press conference that it plans to change its fare collection system from cash and tokens to fare cards. The authority intends to issue a request for proposals in the first quarter of the coming year. "With ...
AIRLINE PASSENGERS SPEND MORE WHEN CARRIERS ACCEPT CARDS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Transaction value increases up to 57% when airlines accept card payments onboard, Tom Douramakos, president and CEO of Toronto-based GuestLogix Inc., tells CardLine. "The airlines should be able to increase their sales 5 or 10 fold," says Douramakos, adding that in-flight sales average ...
DYNAMIC CARD SOLUTIONS SEEKS SECOND PATENT FOR INSTANT-ISSUE TECHNOLOGY.(TD Banknorth uses the Card Wizard technology )(Brief article)
Jan 04, 2008 ... Englewood, Co.-based Dynamic Card Solutions, which developed the Card Wizard technology that allows banks to issue unembossed credit and debit cards on-the-spot at branches, has filed for a second technology patent to protect the process used to enable instant card customization. The first ...
CHINESE CITIES READY FOR CARD-CARRYING OLYMPIC VISITORS, TSYS SAYS.(Total System Services Inc. receives contract from chinese banks for credit card processing for olympics 2008)(Brief article)
Jan 04, 2008 ... Payment systems in big Chinese cities will be ready for the 2008 Summer Olympics, M. Troy Woods, president and chief operating officer of Total Systems Service Inc., a Columbus, Ga.-based transaction-processor known as TSYS, tells CardLine sister publication CardLine Global. Woods made his ...
AS PREPAID CARD MARKET EXPANDS, SO DOES FRAUD.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Prepaid card fraud is increasing as the market expands, and gift cards will remain the top objective for fraudsters during the holiday season, according to Carl Clump, CEO of Brookwood, UK-based Retail Decisions plc. "I see gift card fraud going up," he says. "I think gift cards are just ...
BRIEFS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Discover Financial Services has signed a marketing deal with Des Moines, Iowa-based Meredith Corp.'s Parents magazine. Discover is sponsoring articles, tips and videos about time ...
MOBILE PAYMENTS AN OPPORTUNITY, NOT A THREAT, TSYS EXEC SAYS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Mobile-phone payments offer an opportunity for processors, not a threat of phone-company encroachment on transaction-processing turf, says an executive of Total System Services Inc., known as TSYS. "We get asked from time to time if we're concerned about it," Troy Woods, president and ...
ONLINE HOLIDAY SALES SOAR 19% HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Online spending for the holiday season, measured Nov. 1 through Dec. 27, reached $27.96 billion, a 19% increase over $23.56 billion spent during the corresponding period a year ago, ComScore Inc., a Reston, Va.-based digital measurement company, announced this week. A surge in online sales ...
SECONDARY MARKET FOR CARD DEBT LOOKING A BIT WAN.
Jan 04, 2008 ... The enthusiasm of the resale market for credit card debt portfolios has ebbed in the past several months, and the lethargy may linger well into 2008, industry observers tell CardLine sister publication CCRNewsline. "There is less buyer interest in the secondary market, and prices in the ...
FITCH RATES SMALL-BIZ CARD ISSUER ADVANTA AS STABLE.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Fitch Ratings on Friday affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of Advanta Corp. and Advanta Bank Corp. at 'BB-'. The Rating Outlook was revised to stable from positive, reflecting the issuer's "solid position in the small-business credit card industry, improved asset quality ...
CALIF. BANS COMPANIES FROM GIVING GIFT CARDS FOR CIGARETTES.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Beginning Jan. 1, companies no longer may give gift cards or gift certificates or make other offers for free smokeless tobacco or cigarettes in California. The law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes the "nonsale distribution of any smokeless tobacco or cigarettes unlawful in any ...
54% OF ISO VOLUME FROM STORES WITH LESS THAN $50K IN ANNUAL TRANSACTIONS.(merchants gains higher revenue from credit card processing)(Brief article)
Jan 04, 2008 ... Independent sales organizations and acquirers see 54% of the volume they process coming from merchants with less than $50,000 in annual transactions, a recent survey from Boston-based Aite Group indicates. On average, merchants with $50,000 to $500,000 in annual card volume account for 26% ...
FED STUDY DEBUNKS 'DEBT TRAP' THEORY OF PAYDAY LENDING.
Jan 04, 2008 ... After Georgia and North Carolina banned payday lending, users of those services did not escape a "debt trap" as was expected. Instead, they bounced more checks and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection at a higher rate, according to a staff report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New ...
BRIEFS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Boston-based Merchant Warehouse, a provider of merchant accounts and credit card equipment plans to donate five wireless card-payment terminals to First Night Boston, a New Year's celebration with more than 40 venues throughout Boston, enabling the event to accept credit and debit cards ...
2007 A RECORD YEAR FOR DATA COMPROMISES, REPORT SAYS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... 2007 will go down as a record-breaking year for data breaches in the United States, according to a report released Monday by the Identity Theft Resource Center. Some 446 publicized data compromises occurred last year, 43% more than the 312 U.S. incidents the organization logged in 2006, ...
DECEMBER CREDIT INDEX FALLS TO RECORD LOW.(trends in revenue generation by credit card industry)(Brief article)
Jan 04, 2008 ... The Credit Manager's Index, a gauge of economic factors affecting credit and collection professionals, fell for the fourth consecutive month in December to a record-low score of 52.4 from 53.1 in November, the National Association of Credit Management reported Wednesday. Any score above 50 ...
VERIFONE'S ADJUSTED FINANCIAL RESULTS DELAYED AGAIN.(Financial report)(Brief article)
Jan 04, 2008 ... Point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Holdings Inc. says it likely will not publish its restated 2007 results before March, about three months later than expected. In December, San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone said it was restating results for the first three quarters of its fiscal 2007, ...
EURONET MERGER STILL FACES OPPOSITION FROM MONEYGRAM.(Euronet Worldwide Inc.)(MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
Jan 04, 2008 ... Euronet Worldwide Inc. acknowledged in a letter last week to MoneyGram International that it still is upset by MoneyGram's refusal to meet since Euronet proposed acquiring the Leawood, Kansas-based electronic-payments processor for $1.65 billion in stock (CardLine 12/14/07). Euronet ...
BANKERS' GROUP WARNS CONSUMERS ABOUT DEBIT FRAUD, SKIMMING.
Jan 04, 2008 ... The American Bankers Association issued a statement in December to advise consumers on protecting themselves from debit card fraud at ATMs and point-of-sale terminals. The association issued the alert because of rising fraud rates and to raise awareness of debit card fraud during the ...
NEW ILLINOIS LAW REQUIRES GIFT CARDS TO REMAIN VALID FIVE YEARS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... An Illinois law that took effect Jan. 1 prohibits gift cards from expiring for five years from the date issued and does not allow companies to apply fees to the cards. The law does not apply to prepaid phone cards or to cards or gift certificates that consumers can use to purchase goods ...
ALTERNATIVE PAYMENTS NOT A THREAT BANKS, CONSULTANT SAYS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Financial institutions should prepare for a future of mobile banking but need not worry about alternative payments encroaching on banks' customary services, Andrew Dresner, a director of Oliver Wyman Financial Services, a New York-based consulting company, said recently at the SourceMedia ...
BRIEFS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Money Centers of America, a provider of cash access and transaction management systems, says it now complies with the Payment Card Industry ...
POLL: 12% OF AMERICANS LATE ON CARD PAYMENTS IN '07.
Jan 04, 2008 ... One-fourth of American adults missed making one or more on-time bill payments last year, with the bulk of those delinquencies occurring on credit cards (12%), utilities (12%) and medical services (11%), new survey data suggest. TransUnion's TrueCredit.com telephone survey of 1,004 ...
CARD DELINQUENCIES DECLINE FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE QUARTER.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Though more consumers are defaulting on mortgages, the credit card delinquency rate decreased in the third quarter of 2007, the third consecutive quarter the rate has fallen, the American Bankers Association reports today in its Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin. U.S. consumers made ...
NEW MEXICO SWITCHING FROM CHECKS TO CARDS FOR WIC BENEFITS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... New Mexico hopes to reduce its costs and increase convenience for Women, Infants and Children food-benefit recipients by switching from paper checks to smart cards. The cards from Hitachi America Ltd. have embedded chips that store information about clients' eligible food benefits. Each ...
STUDENTS WHO TAKE CREDIT RISKS MORE LIKELY TO RISK HEALTH, TOO.
Jan 04, 2008 ... College students who engage in high-risk credit behavior are more likely to put their health at risk, according to an Arizona State University study published in the Journal of American College Health. The researchers conclude that students who engage in high-risk credit behavior, and ...
ALLIANCES FORMED IN 2007 TO HELP CONSUMERS AVOID ATM FEES.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Companies in the ATM industry formed a number of alliances in 2007 to bring surcharge-free services to consumers. In December, for example, Northern Trust, a Chicago-based private bank that courts relatively wealthy consumers, joined Allpoint, the nation's largest surcharge-free ATM ...
RETAILERS' TRADE GROUP CREATES IT BEST-PRACTICES LIBRARY ONLINE.
Jan 04, 2008 ... The National Retail Federation is developing an online reference library of retail information-technology best practices. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is first on the library's to-do list. A subcommittee of the federation's chief information officer council will develop ...
REPORT: GIFT CARDS MAY HELP RETAILERS SALVAGE HOLIDAY SEASON.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Despite estimates to the contrary, retailers will have sales increases of 3% to 3.5% over last year because of gift card redemptions, according to Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services. A November 2007 survey of 1,100 consumers commissioned by Standard & Poor's found that more than ...
BRIEFS.
Jan 04, 2008 ... Synovus announced Wednesday it has completed its spin-off of payment processor Total System Services Inc. ...Kevin Gallagher has been appointed general manager of the e-commerce division at Merchant e-Solutions Inc. ...Don Krasnosky has been appointed chief operating officer of TransFirst ...
U.S. TREASURY PICKS COMERICA TO ISSUE FEDERAL PREPAID DEBIT CARD.
Jan 11, 2008 ... The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Management Service announced today that Comerica Bank will provide nationwide prepaid debit card services to unbanked recipients of Social Security and other federal benefits, such as veteran or railroad retirement benefits. The Financial Management ...
GLOBAL PAYMENTS SEES SECOND-QUARTER PROFITS GROW 13%.(Financial report)(Brief article)
Jan 11, 2008 ... Global Payments Inc., an Atlanta payments processor, on Thursday reported net income of $38.3 million for its second quarter ended Nov. 30, up 12.7% from $34 million during the same period a year ago. Revenue during the quarter reached $308.8 million, up 18.5% from $260.7 million. Global ...
INTERNET-PROTOCOL PAYMENT AUTHORIZATION CHEAPER THAN DIAL-UP.(Internet-protocol payment terminals are declining in price and now cost less than dial-up transactions.)(Survey)(Brief article)
Jan 11, 2008 ... Transactions authorized via Internet-protocol payment terminals are declining in price and now cost less than dial-up transactions, according to a survey from The Strawhecker Group, an Omaha, Neb.-based merchant-acquiring consultancy. The 2007 study of 20 merchant acquirers found ...
INDUSTRY TELLS CONSUMERS HOW TO USE GIFT CARDS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association and American Express Co. both have advice for consumers on how to manage gift cards: Use them as soon as possible. The association reminds consumers to get the most out of their cards by using them to take advantage of post-holiday sales, while ...
USE SOFT BENEFITS TO DIFFERENTIATE PAYMENTS, MARKETER ADVISES.(Brief article)
Jan 11, 2008 ... Soft benefits are becoming more important than hard benefits for differentiating payment-loyalty programs, loyalty consultant Andrew Morris, president of Morris Advisors Inc., said recently at the SourceMedia Alternate Payments Forum in New York. Soft benefits can include simply treating ...
ILLINOIS COLLEGE SAVINGS PROGRAM ROLLS OUT MASTERCARD.
Jan 11, 2008 ... The Bright Start College Savings Program, which is designed to help families put away funds for higher-education expenses, is adding a Bright Start Futuretrust MasterCard. Cardholders automatically receive a $25 contribution to their Bright Start account after the first use of the card and ...
INCOMM OFFERS MOBILE-PHONE COUPONS THROUGH LOYALTY CARDS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Atlanta-based InComm Inc. and Single Touch Interactive Inc. announced Thursday an agreement to offer mobile-phone coupons through retail-loyalty programs. Consumers may use their mobile phones or go online to sign up with a participating retailer. Once registered, they call a dedicated ...
BRIEFS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... The World Travel Awards has named Visa the "World's Leading Credit Card" for the 10th consecutive year. The prize was awarded based on a worldwide online ...
VENDOR ABANDONS SUPERMARKET'S PHONE-BASED LOYALTY INITIATIVE.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Potash Bros. Supermarket, which in February 2006 began offering discounts via cell-phone text messages (CardLine, 2/27/06), ended the loyalty scheme Dec. 31. Storeowner Art Potash tells CardLine the vendor that supported the program, Modiv Media Inc. (formerly MobileLime), pulled the plug ...
OPPORTUNITIES EXIST FOR GEN Y CREDIT CARD ISSUANCE.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Most, 57%, of Generation Y members-those born between 1978 and 1989-have one or fewer credit cards compared with 39% of all consumers who do, the results of a Javelin Strategy & Research study suggest. This represents an opportunity for issuers to create products focused on rewards, ...
TD BANKNORTH LAUNCHES INDEPENDENT CREDIT CARD PROGRAM.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Portland, Maine-based TD Banknorth on Monday began offering new credit cards, called Simply Flexible, that offer lower interest rates as a reward for financial responsibility. The Portland, Maine-based bank ended its card-program relationship with Bank of America Corp. in September, and ...
CELL PHONES TO REPLACE CARDS SOON, SAYS CONSULTANT.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Within the next few years, many consumers may be paying for goods and services with cell phones instead of credit or debit cards at the point of sale, regardless of whether the point-of-sale terminal is attended or unattended, Mark Dunn, president of FieldGuide Enterprises, a Hartland, ...
SONY OFFERS PREPAID DIGITAL-DOWNLOAD CARDS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Sony BMG Music Entertainment says it plans to sell prepaid cards that enable consumers to download albums and, in some cases, bonus content, from Sony's Musicpass.com site. The cards, called Platinum Music Pass, will feature artwork from CD covers and enable consumers to download the ...
ONLINE SPENDING UP 19% THIS HOLIDAY, STUDY SAYS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... American consumers spent more than $29.2 billion online during the 2007 holiday shopping season, from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, according to a recent study. Reston, Va.-based Internet research firm comScore Inc. reported today that the total is 19% higher than the same period last year. The ...
DIEBOLD SELLS MORE THAN 6,000 ATMS TO CHINESE BANKS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. has completed agreements to sell more than 6,000 Opteva ATMs to several Chinese banks, including Bank of China and Postal Savings Bank of China. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank each ordered more than 2,000 ATMs as part of ...
BRIEFS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Network-security services provider The PowerTech Group has joined the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council as a participating organization. ...NCR Corp. and Vivotech have introduced a line of point-of-sale terminals that incorporate mobile contactless payment at the retail ...
FCC RULING: CELL PHONES FAIR GAME IN COLLECTING CARD DEBT.
Jan 11, 2008 ... The Federal Communications Commission ruled Friday that creditors and collectors can use autodialer equipment to call wireless telephone numbers and leave prerecorded messages on cell phones. The ruling removes a barrier for card issuers that employ third-party collection agencies to ...
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING DIEBOLD.(Brief article)
Jan 11, 2008 ... The U.S. Justice Department is investigating issues related to Diebold Inc.'s accounting practice of "bill and hold," which previously landed the ATM maker in hot water with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The North Canton, Ohio-based company said in a Dec. 21 press release ...
GLOBAL INTRODUCES FRONT END FOR ITS PROCESSING PLATFORMS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Global Transport is the new front end, or point-of-sale, of Global Payments Inc.'s processing platform, which connects credit and debit card payments from the merchant to the processor. The new processing component can help merchants connect more quickly to Atlanta-based Global Payments' ...
PAYCHEX LAUNCHES FSA DEBIT CARD.
Jan 11, 2008 ... The Paychex Inc. flexible-spending account debit card, launched Monday, allows employees to pay for eligible purchases at the point of sale and have the funds deducted automatically from a flexible-spending account, according to Rochester, N.Y.-based Paychex. Employees enrolled in Paychex ...
GEN Y'S CARD USE SITUATIONAL, BUT DEBIT STILL PREFERRED.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Generation Y prefers debit cards to other payment types for in-store and small-value purchases but chooses credit cards for online and large purchases, according to a new Javelin Strategy & Research study. Despite the split, Generation Y's preference for debit is higher than the overall ...
GUIDE GIVES ADVICE ON LATIN-AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS' REMITTANCES.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Seventy percent of Latin American immigrants in the United States send cash-to-cash remittances to their home countries through money transfer centers such as Western Union and MoneyGram, while only 5% to 19% send remittances through American financial institutions, according to a report ...
AIRPORT STORE MANAGEMENT CO. ADOPTS MASTERCARD PAYPASS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... MasterCard announced today that The Paradies Shops, which manages more than 500 stores in 63 airports and hotels in the United States and Canada, will begin accepting PayPass contactless payments by the end of 2008. Atlanta-based Paradies manages newsstands, as well as specialty gift shops ...
BRIEFS.(Vesdia Corp., FundsTech Corp.)(Brief article)
Jan 11, 2008 ... Atlanta-based Vesdia Corp., a loyalty marketing-services provider, has named James Douglass, a member of its board of directors, as CEO. Peter Davis, the former CEO and president, will remain president and report to Douglass. ... FundsTech Corp., a prepaid card ...
PAY BY TOUCH ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD, VOLUNTARY BANKRUPTCY.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Solidus Networks Inc., the San Francisco-based biometric-payments company that does business as Pay By Touch, today announced a new board of directors. The announcement comes in the wake of management trouble allegedly caused by its founder and former CEO John Rogers and a case of ...
BILL TO END UNIVERSAL DEFAULT NEARS INTRODUCTION IN THE HOUSE.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, is putting finishing touches on a proposed legislation that would bring broad credit card reforms. Members of the House will introduce the bill early in this legislative session, ...
CARDS CONTRIBUTE TO 7.5% GROWTH IN NOVEMBER CONSUMER CREDIT.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Consumer credit outstanding rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.5% in November 2007, boosted by an 11.3% increase in borrowing on revolving accounts consisting primarily of credit cards, according to the Federal Reserve Board's monthly Consumer Credit survey, released Tuesday ....
TO FIGHT FRAUD, CITIBANK LIMITS SOME ATM WITHDRAWALS.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Citibank, citing a need to combat fraud, has cut the amount of money an undisclosed number of its debit cardholders may withdraw from ATMs in New York City, Robert Julavits, a bank spokesperson, tells CardLine. Citibank imposed the withdrawal limits during the last two weeks of December, ...
ISO SUED FOR FAILING TO PAY FULL PRICE FOR MERCHANT PORTFOLIO.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Pipeline Data Inc., a Quincy, Mass.-based independent sales organization, faces a lawsuit over breach-of-contract allegations following its 2006 buyout of Valadata Inc., a North Dakota-based ISO that had a merchant portfolio valued at about $1.55 million. L60 Inc., former parent of ...
CREDIT UNION ORGANIZATION TO OFFER MOBILE-BANKING SERVICES.
Jan 11, 2008 ... PSCU Financial Services, the nation's largest credit-union service organization, later this year will offer its 500 credit-union members a mobile-banking platform. The platform will enable credit unions' members to check balances, access checking, savings and credit card information, ...
CHASE AD CAMPAIGN FEATURES SECRET-AGENT FANTASY.
Jan 11, 2008 ... JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced today it is preparing to launch a marketing campaign for its Chase Consumer Bank unit. Chase will kick off its "Chase What Matters" campaign with print ads on Sunday and television and online ads Monday. One of the first TV commercials will depict a heroic ...
BRIEFS.(NationalCard Processing Systems Inc. and HealthCard Systems moved into new office)(Harry Clark has joined CrossCheck Inc.)(Brief article)
Jan 11, 2008 ... Credit and debit card processor NationalCard Processing Systems LLC, along with its sister processing company HealthCard Systems, has moved into larger corporate offices in its current Sherbrooke Office Center complex in Rochelle Park, N.J. ...Harry Clark has joined CrossCheck Inc., a ...
PAY BY TOUCH PARENT SEEKING INVESTORS AND LOOKING TO DIVEST.
Jan 11, 2008 ... Restructuring firm FTI Consulting Inc. is looking for new investors in Pay By Touch, a biometric payments company that has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a court document filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Central California. Solidus Networks Inc., parent of ...