ATM & Debit News articles from February 2002

ATM & Debit News archives from February 2002

Biometrics Use In EFT Market Faces Setbacks.
February 7, 2002... Biometrics, in which a part of an individual's body is scanned for identification, hit a high point in the electronic- transactions industry last year when InnoVentry Corp. boasted that about 1,200 of its check-cashing machines used facial...

Traveler's Express Using ATMs To Sell Its Money Orders.
February 7, 2002... The nation's two leading money-order services appear locked in a race to offer their services using ATMs. Western Union Financial Services Inc. has for a year offered money orders from ATMs at 7-Eleven convenience stores. Now, Traveler's...

Schools Embrace Marketer's Solution For Using Campus Cards Off-Campus.
February 7, 2002... Colleges and universities for years have faced complaints from students and faculty about the limited benefit of offering a stored-value function on a campus-identification card that only can be used on campus. While numerous organizations,...

News Briefs.
February 7, 2002... Pulse Gets New Switch, TYME The Houston-based Pulse electronic funds transfer network announced Feb. 7 that MasterCard International will provide its switching and settlement services, replacing J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. This follows the...

The Cost Of Biometrics.
February 7, 2002... Type Hardware* Facial Scan $1,000 Iris Scan $1,000 Hand Scan $1,000 Fingerprint (Optical) $700 Fingerprint (Chip) $200 Voice Recognition $150 Source: TowerGroup...

EFunds Buys Hanco As Processor Looks To Add More ATMs.
February 7, 2002... While eFunds Corp.'s largest client, Co-op Network, is bringing in more ATM transactions to process, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based processor is growing its own ATM-management business to increase revenue. On Feb. 1, eFunds announced the...

Money-Order Rivals.
February 7, 2002... Agent ATM Company Locations Sites Traveler's Express/ MoneyGram 32,000 3 Western Union 40,000 100 Source: ATM&Debit News. Copyright c 2002 Thomson Media. All...

Vendor News.
February 7, 2002... Concord Signs License Deal Concord EFS Inc. has purchased 200,000 VeriCenter terminal-management licenses, VeriFone Inc., the Santa Clara, Calif.-based payment terminal manufacturer, announced. Terms were not disclosed. Concord uses the...

Pulse Switches Its Switch Contract To MasterCard.
February 14, 2002... Last June, when flooding caused by Tropical Storm Allison cut power to the Pulse electronic funds transfer network's processing center in Houston, hundreds of thousands of ATMs and point-of-sale terminals in 22 states were cut off from Pulse,...

Visa Adopts Tiered Pricing To Appease Interlink Merchants.
February 14, 2002... High-volume merchants, which succeeded in postponing Visa U.S.A.'s plans last October to raise dramatically the interchange rates for its Interlink PIN-based POS debit network, are expressing more positive views on a modified rate- hike plan....

GAO Report Shows That Not All States Will Meet October EBT Program Deadline.
February 14, 2002... Most food-stamp recipients are using debit cards to access their benefits at point-of-sale locations. About 80% of the $15.5 billion in annual food-stamp benefits are now distributed via electronic card transactions instead of with paper...

NYCE Adjusts Interchange.
February 14, 2002... While NYCE Corp. April 1 will raise its point-of-sale interchange rates to match new rates being imposed by the Star electronic funds transfer network on March 1 (see page 4), NYCE also is making changes in ATM interchange. Off-premise...

Encryption Solutions Planned.
February 14, 2002... With new security standards expected to be implemented soon, ATM deployers will be required to install two encryption keys on each of their machines. Two companies recently formed a partnership to have the keys installed on new machines before...

EBT Deadline Busters*.
February 14, 2002... State/ Territory Status California Signed EBT contract. Expects statewide system by 11/04. West Virginia Signed EBT contract. Expects statewide system by 11/03. Delaware Bids...

Tighter Encryption Rules Create Added Cost For Deployers.
February 14, 2002... Tighter encryption rules for sending PIN-based debit card transactions from ATMs are imminent, as electronic funds transfer networks are firming up deadlines to comply with stricter encryption standards. The new rules are designed to make it...

Vendor News.
February 14, 2002... NCR Ships 50,000 ATMs In 2001 Dayton, Ohio-based ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. claims it shipped about 50,000 ATMs globally last year, more than any other ATM maker. NCR did not release its U.S. shipment totals or say whether global...

A Debit Card Helps Medical Savers To Access Funds.
February 21, 2002... With health care insurance costs this year rising about 20%, on average, many companies are passing along those added costs to their employees. To help defray workers' higher deductibles and co-pays, many firms are offering flexible-spending...

Unbanked Hispanics Are Proving To Be A Tough Debit Sell.
February 21, 2002... The comfort level of the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group, Hispanics, with ATMs and PIN-based debit cards is well-documented. The results of several surveys conducted over the past few years suggest that banked Hispanics tend to use ATMs...

Retail Gift Cards Are A Hit, But Most Consumers Desire Multipurpose Cards.
February 21, 2002... Most prepaid cards bought or received as gifts are proprietary in that they can be used only to initiate purchases at a specific retailer's stores. New survey findings, however, suggest that individuals would prefer nationally branded cards...

News Briefs.
February 21, 2002... Merchants Quiet On Interlink While Visa U.S.A. has informed its members about plans to revise its interchange rate policy for transactions switched through its Interlink PIN-based point-of-sale debit network, only Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has...

How ATMs Fare.
February 21, 2002... Ethnic Group Preference Asian-Americans 42.9% African-Americans 25.8% Hispanic 11.1% Caucasian 8.6% Source: Analytica Inc. October 2001 survey results based on...

Certegy Makes Card An Option For Vcom Check Cashing.
February 21, 2002... PINs typically are used to identify ATM and point-of-sale terminal users after they have swiped a magnetic-stripe online debit card. Soon, though, some PIN-based transactions will not require the plastic. One of the nation's largest...

Evolution Health Partners.
February 21, 2002... MasterCard International * Prepaid card provider. WildCard Systems * Payment application developer and card processor. BankFirst * Issuer that provides infrastructure to support the Benny Card. Pharmacy Benefits...

Vendor News.
February 21, 2002... Hypercom Shows Quarter Profit Payment terminal maker Hypercom Corp. reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.5 million compared with a $4.2 million loss in 2000's fourth quarter. Revenues, however, dropped 12% to $74.5 million from $84.5...

Adding Functions May Not Require Replacing Old ATMs.
February 28, 2002... The demand for functions beyond cash dispensing at off-premise ATMs appears to be growing with the emergence of such commercial uses for the machines as automated check cashing and prepaid phone-time sales. These added functions may not...

Terminal Shipments Stay Flat As Makers Hope For Catalysts.
February 28, 2002... The prospects for growth in North America's standalone point-of-sale terminal market remain murky. But a clearer picture of annual terminal shipments in the region emerged when VeriFone Inc. released its shipment data for the first time in...

Bank Eases Parent Funding Of School Programs, Adds Optional Debit Account.
February 28, 2002... When children go off to college, many parents have difficulty managing their kids' financial needs. A Providence, R.I.-based bank is working with schools to enable parents to use a single Web site to deposit funds into multiple school...

Star Delays Rate Increases.
February 28, 2002... Concord EFS Inc., owner of the Star electronic funds transfer network, is delaying scheduled March 1 changes in Star's interchange rates until April 1. The planned rate changes also may be altered, as Concord officials wait to see how...

Fiserv Payroll Card Ties To Issuers' Own Marketing Efforts.
February 28, 2002... Payroll debit cards primarily have been marketed as a cost-efficient, direct-deposit product for employers and as a convenient way for unbanked workers to cash their paychecks. But one newcomer to the payroll card market believes payroll debit...

Vendor News.
February 28, 2002... Tidel Reports Quarterly Loss Houston-based Tidel Technologies Inc. is reporting a net loss of $2.4 million for the first quarter ended Dec. 31. The company had net income of $1.9 million during the same quarter in 2000. Tidel officials...