POS News Archives

Welcome to the archives for POS News in Brief prepared and emailed once a month. Following is a list of items and articles from previous issues.

August 2010

Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Requires rules to ensure that fees charged to merchants by credit card companies for credit or debit card transactions are reasonable and proportional to the cost of processing those transactions.

Is Facebook Currency a Ripoff?
The merchant is paying more than 10 times the sort of fees they would pay their processor including interchange fees and everything else.

Fraud Trends in 2010: Top Threats
Online fraud forums through which individuals and organizations exchange information and buy and sell stolen wares, such as card numbers.

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
Some say that it is 'back to the future' and the start of a trend that will end up bifurcating the card market: general purpose payment and store-branded cards with little in between.

ACH Grows, B2B Payments Plod Along
Not bad for a down economy, especially since large numbers of ACH transactions are payroll and bill payments.

Visa Prepaid Processing Service
Using this flexible prepaid platform, you will be able to select the functions you need to differentiate your card products, seize new opportunites and stay competitive.

Guiding Merchants Toward Honest Processing Partners
Businesses can sink or swim on the strength of their processing agreements and partnerships.

How The Credit Card Interchange Process Works
When you use a credit card to make a purchase, a large network of companies comes together to make it all happen.

All You Need To Know About The Discount Rate
If you want to make the highest possible profit on every transaction, you need a merchant account and credit card processing system with the lowest discount rates and fees.

Igniting Innovation in Payments
Around the globe, these "invisible engines" are ushering in a new era of technological change.

Global Anti Fraud Tool On The Horizon
Banks using this technology turn a 90 percent failure into a 95-plus percent success.

Memory Card Based NFC
The near universal application of this technology is essential to fostering NFC's (Near Field Communication) emergence as a serious payment product.

Check Guarantee On The Go
Mobile merchants can use this service to verify the authenticity of a check and secure a guarantee of payment.

Shanghai Surprise
Continuing the Series: Great Developments in Payments During the Last Decade

Cards, Coupons, Cell-Phones - Oh My
As efficient as the development environment has become, there are still two problems: consumer enrollment and merchant acceptance.

Digital Currency "The Future of Government Payments"
Switching from inefficient paper processes to digital currency can have a sizable long-term impact in terms of real dollars and cents.

July 2010

Americans Reject Anti-Consumer Debit Amendment
An overwhelming majority of American reject theanti-consumer debit amendment hidden in the Wall Street Reform Bill.

The Good, the Bad on the Financial Reform Legislation
The angels, as well as the devils, are sometimes found in last minutewords changed and clauses added or subtracted. But here are some highlevel comments.

Hypercom Enters Smartphone Card-Reader Market
The products are designed for merchantsthat want to accept card payments but cannot be tied to an officelocation because of the nature of their business.

Mobile Tops Targets for New MasterCard CEO
Plans to devote "a higher level of effort" to payments, e-commerceand mobile technology, without investing significant amounts of newmoney.

Verifone Takes Payments to The Next Level
The VX Evolution series represents a complete line of powerful newpayments solutions on one architectural platform that supports variedmerchant environments.

Worldwide Fraud Web Exposed
Attacks were generally made possible by lazy programming and genericcodes easily guessed at or broken by computer-savvy invaders.

Less Than Three Quarters of Employees Receive Pay via Direct Deposit
Employees spend between 8.5 and 24 hours per year going to the bank orcredit union to cash or deposit their paychecks, which results in loss of productivity.

Cloud Computing Security
Who can argue with "cheaper and better"? The problem is that all theissues have not been fully explored and one issue is security.

5 Things to Remember About Mobile Processing
Here are five reasons mobile credit card processing might not be beneficial for your company.

What Does a Merchant Get for that PCI Fee?
It's unclear what the PCI non-compliance fee covers. What does it really include and exclude?

Interchange Rate Program Defined
Interchange fees are one component of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), which is paid for card acceptance services. Plus latest list of fees.

Why You Need Social Products...Like Now!
On-line social networks afford you so much more than the old-and-tired advertising. See where these opportunities are.

Consumers in The Prepaid Drivers Seat
In a very short period of time, the open-loop gift card has certainly driven significant market share.

The Security Conundrum: The Puzzle
Maintaining trust in the payment system has become an ever more complexexercise of guerilla war between payment service providers andcriminals.

NFC And The Trough of Disillusionment
AnotherNFC demonstration pilot highlights how Near Field Communication iscaught in the "trough of disillusionment." Commerce innovatorsshouldn't dispair, the future is bright.

The iphone As a Driver of Payments Innovation
Apple's success has shaken up the mobile phone industry, unleashed tens of thousands ofentrepreneurs and created a multi-billion dollar industryfor mobile payment devices.

ACH is Next Frontier for Mobile Phones
Mobile phones may soon be able to initiate automated clearing housetransactions from checks, and could hasten adoption ofwireless devices for business-to-business payments.

Collateral Damage from the Financial Crisis - Consolidation and Regulation
Continuing the Series: Great Developments in Payments During the Last Decade

The Future of Money: It's Flexible, Frictionless, and (almost) Free
What if people could transfer money over Twitter and other "social networks" for next tonothing, simply by typing a username and a dollar amount? Well, now youcan!

Self-Service Jail System
Service will allow Florida jail to stop writing checks to released inmates upon release.

June 2010

Durbin Wins Battle to Pass Interchange Fee Legislation
The legislation requires theFederal Reserve to issue rules on swipe fees for debit cards to ensurefees are "responsible and proportional" to processing costs.

Visa Statement on Durbin Legislation
Visa has released the following statement on the approval of the Durbin Amendment to the Legislation affecting Debit Card fees.

MasterCard Urges Conferees to Reject Amendment
MasterCard urges House and Senate conferees to reject the amendment which will hurt the people andbusinesses it is supposed to protect.

Visa Rattles Payments with Cybersource Acquisition
Opens up so many potential sources of revenue that it is unlikelyinterchange will continue to rule the day as a profit stream and mayeven go down as a result.

MasterCard On Target With First Quarter Gains
According to MasterCard, a 4.6 percent surge in transactions processedis an early indicator of positive developments in economic data trends...

Legislation Would Allow Minimum Purchase Requirement
New law would allow Vermont retailers to set a minimum creditcard purchase of up to $10 without interference from Visa Inc. andMasterCard, whose rules bar minimum purchase amounts.

New Interchange Rates from MasterCard
MasterCard typically sets new interchange rates each April, and 2010was no exception. Here's latest rateschedule plus an excellent primer about how credit card transaction fees (discount rates) are determined.

GAO Report on Rising Interchange Fees
Rising Interchange Fees have increased costs for merchants, but options for reducing fees pose challenges...

Creating a Place for Checks at the Electronic Payments Table
We don't need to get rid of checks, the payment method that ismuch maligned by payment professionals but nonetheless used in billionsof transactions every year, we just need to shed theinefficient aspects.

Gift Card Regs Unraveled
Rules apply to prepaid cards designed or marketed as gift cards -both open-loop, network-branded cards as well as closed-loop,retailer-specific cards.

PCI-SSC Steps Up Data Security Education
A new program for the training and certification of personnel at large-scaleorganizations. The program covers the fundamentals and intricacies ofthe Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS).

GPR Cards To Bridge Plastic Gap
As a provision of the new consumer protection law, individuals under the age of 21 will have toeither demonstrate the ability to repay balances in order to...

 Starbucks, Target Buck NFC in Mobile Payments
Starbucks is using a system that generates a blocky two-dimensional barcode-like image that is displayed on phones' screens. Users wave theimage under a scanner at the point of sale to access funds stored on agift card.

Cloud Based Terminal and Cash Register
This rolls the components of a multifaceted POS system into oneintegrated software piece that includes both payment terminal andelectronic cash register.

Payments 2010: The Revolution Has Arrived
Hundreds of software developers and entrepreneurs are attacking thepayment ecosystem, seeking out ways to tear down the stronghold thebanks and credit card companies have built.

New NFC Mobile Payment Device
Shows the feasibility of an option that facilitates NFC contactlesspayment transactions while providing full NFC functionality for otherapplications as well.

 How the World War on Interchange Fees Transformed the Card Industry
A global war on interchange fees raged during most of the last decade. We'll have to wait tofind out who wins the war. But it's already led tomassive ramifications for the card business around the globe.

Government Streamlines Payments with Plastic
The government benefits sector of the prepaid card industry is experiencing massive growth.

May 2010

New Mastercard and Discover Processing Requirements
MasterCard and Discover are modifying their rules concerning the processing of debit, prepaid and gift cards.

Verifone Announces...
...Chase Paymentech as Preferred Processing Partner for retail distribution of iPhone card payment solution.

Retailers Push for Interchange Reform - Again!
Some argue that the consumer protection bill is not complete withoutaddressing the rising costs of interchange for merchants and, by proxy,consumers.

FBI Arrests Eight in Credit Card Fraud Scheme
From his jail cell, he would take orders for merchandise such as plasma TVs, lawn tractors and construction materials...

Consumers Paid $16 million in J.K. Publications Fraud
They placed charges on consumers' credit and debit cardsfor Internet entertainment services they had not ordered and did notwant.

Credit Logos and Images
Simply copy and paste the image into your advertising artwork.

The Crux of Cash Back on Gift Cards
Retailers may have to returncash back to customers with closed-loop gift cards that containedbalances of $20 and under.

Looking Back...Amex Goes Global
Remember, American Express was the gorilla back when the bank associations started...

What's in The Cloud for Payments?
Whenwe speak of "payments in the cloud" we are using the term in a broadersense than it is usually used in the information technology world.

Next in Payments: Invisible Engines
What these magical invisible engines are, and why they are going to transform the payments industry...

A Look At Mobile Payment Adoption
This Chart shows growth may be faster than expected!

Five Burning Questions on What's Next with Mobile Payment
Its not a matter of if but when NFC and contactless will becomemainstream, putting an end to the "petty plastic" of today's payments.

Perhaps it's Time to Mothball the Mighty Mag Stripe
Imagine a Martian's intergalactic horror at discovering that Americaconducts many of its financial transactions using undisguised plasticcards...

First Data Embraces Secure Digital Memory Cards
The micro SD cards, which can fit into the slots found in more than 60% of mobile- phone shipments, bypass the need for...

Tiny Mobile Phone Mag Stripe Reader
Square's On-the-Go iPhone credit card scanner will cost $1. with video

No More Cash Payments at Airport Parking Lots
Travelers simply tap their contactless cards or devices at exit lanes, rather than fumble for cash!

The Fun-Money Company
Online gaming is two sides of the same coin.

April 2010

The Specter of Interchange Legislation
The debate over interchange has resurfaced amid rumors that at leastone ranking Democrat in the U.S. Congress is considering newlegislation.

New ID Theft Law
With identity fraud reaching unprecedented levels, lawmakers appear to be taking a cue from payment companies...

Gift Card Regs Put Pressure on Prepaid Industry
The rules cover gift certificates, closed-loop gift cardsand open-loop, network-branded, general-purpose prepaid cards...

Police Warn of New Skimming Device
Smaller than cell phones, they can be placed onATMs or used by untrustworthy employees to steal sensitive data.

Statistical Analysis of Prepaid Cards
The prepaid card business serves large retail chains and groups andneeds a way to track in real-time what's selling, where and when it'sselling, and who's selling it.

PCI Compliance: To Whom Are You Compliant?
One of the points of confusionaround PCI compliance is to whom merchants are actually compliant. Andwhile the answer is simple, the process can feel quite complex. 

Glossary of Common Data Security Terms
Here are 19 terms pertaining to payments industry data security.

Attempting the Big Idea at the Wrong Time
Replacing the Rubberband: How Payments Innovations that once failed can resurface and thrive.

The Search for an NFC Alternative
Why there is nor real progress in Near Field Communications.

Ripples On The Mobile Web
Rising popularity and falling prices are helping mobile payments go mainstream.

San Diego Bus Dumps Cash and Tokens
Illustrates the hurdles agencies must surmount, where cash and tokens reigned supreme for more than a century.

Credit Crunch Bank Robberies
A sumo wrestler yanked out an ATM cash machine that weighed 200 pounds, put it on his shoulders and took off.

March 2010

 Card Sales Decline No Longer Accelerating 
Indicates that a two-year trend of accelerating sales volume declines may be reversing.

Card Brand Financials Remain Positive
Results are in for the card brands: transaction volume and net income continue to increase!

California Officials Examine Credit Card Interchange Fees
At issue is the fact that these credit card processing fees have increased disproportionately to other bank fees.

Survey of Consumer Payment Choice
Highlights interesting trends in transition from paper to electronic payments.

Checkless By 2018?
Policymakers and bankers in the United Kingdom have decided enough is enough.

Diners Club: New Brand, New Voice
Includes a refreshed logo, redesigned card art and Web site. 

How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market
Every day, millions of Americans stand at store checkout counters and make a seemingly random decision...

 A PIN For All Reasons
Those words might be as effective an economic stimulus as anything else we have tried over the past year or so.

Is Online PIN Debit more secure?
Consumers given the option of using PIN debit when they make online purchases.

From Plastic to Virtual: Evolution of Stored-Value
Prepaid as a category has room for growth and innovation, and consumers will want payment alternatives to cash.

Going Out Made Easy
A patron can close out the night's tab from his or her table - or even on the cab ride home.

Separation of Powers
Terminal providers and manufacturers are integrating the various functions of personal digital assistants (PDAs) with payment acceptance software in increasingly creative ways.

Prepaid Cards Help in Disaster Relief
A card program that allows for efficient distribution of financial assistance to disaster victims.

Help For Haiti Continues
Following the earthquake in Haiti, the payments industry continues to provide support.

February 2010

Top Trends Affecting Payments in 2010
The first trend that blankets the entire financial services industry is...

Small Businesses Show Decline in Card Sales
However, the report also shows that the rate of year-over-year decline in card sales decreased from Q3 2009...

2009 LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud Study 
In any given fraudulent transaction, there are three primary victims: the consumer, the bank/card issuer, and the merchant!

New Year, New Merchant Account?
Reevaluating this part of your business will ensure that you aren't paying too much money in order to make money.

Gift Card and Loyalty Card Programs
Is now the time for you, the small to medium sized retailer and independently owned restaurateur to grasp the opportunity and start your own program?

Unredeemed Gift Cards Are a Present to the Store
In the industry, this is known as breakage, and here's what it means...

Brush up on Terminology for 2010 
If you're new to the prepaid card industry or you need a refresher on the terminology in this ever-changing industry, this will set you in the right direction.

VeriFone's PAYware Mobile Now Available on iPhone App Store
Secure credit card encryption sleeve for iPhone and complementary PAYware Mobile app is now available on the App Store.(photo)

An ATM For All Types of Weather 
Photos emerged during the New Orleans Hurricane Katrina storm in 2005 of these ATMs standing upright and intact amid scenes of demolished buildings in the ravaged city.

Coke-bottle-shaped Prepaid Cards for Olympic Athletes
The card, shaped like an iconic Coca-Cola contour bottle, uses Visa payWave technology and is the first contactless...

 January 2010

 The Payments Sphere 2009: Looking Back, Looking Up
Historians may someday reflect upon 2009 and say it was the beginningofthe decline of an ingrained American mindset: buy now, pay later...

Chase Paymentech Pulse Index
Track the heartbeat of  shopping trends, day by day, year over year...

Merchant Cash Advances 
Tax debts for small businesses is the leading driver for merchant cash advances during this credit crunch...

What Is A Virtual Merchant Account? 
All your business needs to operate a virtual merchant account is an Internet connection...

Tiny Terminal Plugs Into iPhone Jack 
He revolutionized online socializing by co-founding Twitter, now he wants to transform the way people exchange money...

New Technology Cusp? 
Each new technology reaches a "cusp" where it changes from being a fun technology into something that most people will...

Friendly Parking Meters 
And, they'll even call you to warn that the meter is running low...

December 2009

U.S. Merchant Fees Higher
Even though America is known as a country where capitalism is king andthe cost to do business is low, our merchant fees are among the highestin the...

Will Congress Curb Merchant Fees?
Currently, several initiatives to curb the impact of interchange fees on merchants are being discussed in Congress...

Fed Proposes Rules on Gift Cards
Rules "would restrict the fees and expiration dates that may apply to gift cards...

Credit Crunch Forces Firms to Look Elsewhere for Funding
With bank lending standards not loosening any time soon, merchant cash advance providers are filling the void...

Steering Customers to Lowest Fee Transaction As the cost of customers paying with credit cards and debit cards increases, merchants are encouraging consumers to pay...

Going Global With A Merchant Account
Don't worry about how you will get paid for an international sale; your merchant account will handle it for you...

Versatility in Payment Systems 
Will that be cash, credit, mobile phone or finger?

Salvation Army Kettles Can Now Accept Credit Cards
Not having cash won't be an excuse to pass by the Salvation Army red kettles this holiday season...

Safeway Launches Electronic Coupon Service
A free, paperless electronic coupon service that applies coupons directly to the grocery store's savings cards...

November 2009

Visa Quarterly Report
Could this be the light at the end of the tunnel? "Transactionsprocessed over Visa's networks, which are reported on a real-timebasis, totaled $10.5 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, an increaseof 9%..."

MasterCard Quarterly Report
Overall, results once again underscore the global trend toward electronic payments...

Some Merchants Don't Play by the Rules
What consumers might do when 'minimum purchase' card rules are bent...

More Merchant Credit Card Abuses
What is the cardholder required to do and what can they rightfully refuse to do?...

States That Prohibit Certain  Merchant Activities
These states have laws against certain activities merchant engage in...

Ten Ways To Enhance Your Anti-Fraud Tactics
Within these ten steps are approaches that will cut some fraud from your business...

Online Payment Gateways
Transactions taking too long? IP-based handling accelerates authorization...

M-Commerce: Next Big Thing
You can hear the thunder in the distance, and the storm is calledm-commerce, packing a potential revenue stream that has retailers,e-tailers and vendors scrambling to prepare for the deluge...

BlackBerry Credit Card Processing
One of the first developers of credit card processing for the iPhonehas expanded its software line with a mobile credit card processingapplication for the BlackBerry...

U.S. Magnetic Stripe Cards on Brink of Extinction? 
Looming ban on mag stripe cards may spell trouble for...

A Loyalty Card Program For Shopping Bags
The bag barcode loyalty cards aren't even being givenaway...

October 2009

PCI Compliance, Should You Be Concerned?
If you've seen an unusual charge on this month's merchant accountstatement, or "Processor Fee" on your checking account, you need to beconcerned...

FAQ's Regarding PCI Compliance
Here's the most frequently asked questions about PCI compliance

Validation Details
Merchant compliance validation has been prioritized based on the volumeof transactions, the potential risk, and exposure introduced into thepayment system...

Key Compliance Dates
Here's a table of key dates including data security mandates and PCI reporting deadlines...

Who Regulates Your Merchant Account
Unfortunately, there are many regulations that govern your merchantaccount for which your payment processor is largely responsible. Nowit's time that you learn about the key government players that regulateyour payment processor and merchant account...

Card Skimming Identity Theft
Skimming can occur in a few different ways. The most common is when astore clerk takes your card and runs it through a device that copies...

Credit Card Processing: What Should It Cost?
Before you sign a credit card processing contract, be sure you have athorough understanding of all the fees and charges that will beassociated with your...

Steps to Hold Down Processing Costs
Monitoring a merchant account and the fees charged for transactionspaid with credit cards is crucial to the continued success of anybusiness...

Merchants Eye Mobile Phone Processing
Merchants on the go have more options today when it comes to processingcredit card transactions, with smart-phone credit card processingapplications offering the potential for higher sales, fastercollections and fewer bad debts...

Accepting Contactless Payment Cards
Contactless payments have grown significantly in popularity over thelast few years and are expected to continue growing. Merchants shouldbe aware of the best practices for implementing contactless payments in

a place of business...

September 2009

Copy Requests 
Fulfilling copy requests is very important, as is copy legibility. Whencopy requests are not fulfilled, or not fulfilled in a timely manner,or the copies are illegible, they almost always result in a chargeback.

5 Steps to Safer Key-Entered Transactions 
Manually entered transaction can be high risk if these steps are not followed!

The Chargeback Cycle 
Most chargebacks begin when a cardholder reports a problem to theircard issuer. Here is a quick snapshot of the streamlined ChargebackLife Cycle in a customer-initiated dispute situation.

Preventing Chargebacks 
Most chargeback situations arise at the point of transaction-at thetime the transaction is completed-and most can be prevented with alittle training.

Transaction Security, Evolved 
As fraud becomes more sophisticated, inspiring confidence without overly complex processes becomes a greater challenge.

August 2009

When The Stripe Won't Swipe 
5 steps to safer key-entered transactions

July 2009

UNAVAILABLE

June 2009

Credit Card Bill of Rights 
The so-called "credit card bill of rights" passed by the U.S. House of Representatives...

Interchange Legislation 
Legislation would help level the playing field for retailers by giving them...

PCI Data Security Standard
Requires processing banks to ensure that their merchants maintain compliance with the...

Protecting Data is Good Business
Criminals are seeking more than what's physically inside your business!

PCI Standards
A set of comprehensive requirements developed by the payment brands...

PCI Resources
Additional help in dealing with this important issue...