ATM & Debit News articles from November 2006

ATM & Debit News archives from November 2006

ATM Surcharges Go Higher.
November 2, 2006... ATM surcharges hit a record-high average of $1.64 per transaction this fall, up from $1.60 in the spring, according to a survey of 248 financial institutions in major U.S. markets by Bankrate Inc. "ATM surcharges set a record again," says Greg...

MasterCard Says Debit Use Up.
November 2, 2006... MasterCard Worldwide yesterday reported that during the first nine months of this year U.S. consumers spent $155 billion on purchases using MasterCard-branded debit cards, up 46.2% from the same period a year ago. Total purchases initiated with...

More Issuers Add Instant Issuing To Spur Card Use: "When a customer walks into a bank to open a checking account, that may be last time bank officials see him because of online banking. So it's important to get a debit card in his hands right away.".
November 2, 2006... BankAtlantic bills itself as Florida's "most convenient bank" because its 80 branches are open seven days a week, some until 8 p.m. and others until midnight. Bank executives say the long hours make it easier for customers to do their banking....

Banks Like Visa, MasterCard, But Not That Much.
November 2, 2006... Compass Bancshares likes its relationship with Visa USA. In fact, about 65% of the issuer's 1.5 million debit cards are supported solely by Visa's products: Visa check card for signature debit, Interlink for PIN-based purchases and Plus for...

Macy's Adds Kiosks To Plug Back Into The Consumer Electronics Market.
November 2, 2006... Most Macy's department stores pulled the plug on selling consumer electronics some time ago. But a recent deal with Zoom Systems Inc. is allowing Macy's to reconnect to the fast-growing market. Zoom, a San Francisco-based deployer of...

Interac Launches 'Protect Your PIN' Antifraud Ads.
November 2, 2006... Canadians generally are not suspicious when someone stands behind them in line, so they rarely look over their shoulders. But maybe they should, especially when typing in their four-digit PINs at an ATM or at the point of sale. Getting...

Diebold ATM Sales Increase.
November 2, 2006... ATM maker Diebold Inc. reports that its Financial Self-Service business earned third-quarter revenues of $470.9 million, up 14% from $411.5 million a year ago. The increase largely was caused by sales growth outside the U.S. market, says Tom...

Hooters May Seat Pay<at>Table.
November 2, 2006... Hooters of America Inc. may become the first national chain to roll out Ingenico's PayTable, a wireless payment terminal, to all 118 company restaurants. PayTable allows diners to pay at their tables, thus avoiding skimming fraud. The rollout...

New Payment Network Starts.
November 9, 2006... National Payment Card LLC has started a network that will process transactions that use a consumer's driver's license or loyalty or affinity card as a payment identifier. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based firm recently signed a deal with Pinnacle...

Network Card Buys To Rise?
November 9, 2006... The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association says one in five consumers plan to buy network-branded gift cards this holiday season. In contrast, only 18% of consumers said they plan to purchase a branded toy, 14% an MP3 player, 12% a computer,...

Banks' Secret For Success: ATMs Everywhere.
November 9, 2006... Bank of America is invading Manhattan, the core of the Big Apple. And ATMs are foot soldiers in the bank's battle plan. Although BofA executives declined to discuss in detail the bank's Manhattan initiative, proximity to ATMs is playing a...

ATM Thefts Worry Industry; Plans Being Studied.
November 9, 2006... In the movie "Barbershop," two thieves stole an ATM from a convenience store. They lugged the heavy thing up a flight of stairs to a Chicago elevated-train platform and pushed it into an apartment where they unsuccessfully tried to pry open the...

Check-Imaging ATMs Also Find Home With Cost-Cutting Credit Unions.
November 9, 2006... While such megabanks as U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. have been making strides offering check-imaging functions at some of their ATMs, so have relatively small institutions such as Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union. Suncoast,...

ATM Drivers Pressed Into Anti-Theft Duty.
November 9, 2006... Thieves stealing money from off-premise retail ATMs by changing the dollar denominations the machines dispense is a problem the ATM industry is determined to fix. After disclosure of a compromise of a Tranax Technologies Mini-Bank 1500 ATM...

VeriFone, Radiant Team Up.
November 9, 2006... Payment terminal maker VeriFone Holdings Inc. and hospitality and retail technology firm Radiant Systems Inc. announced they would offer pay-at-the-table point-of-sale terminals to North American restaurant operators. The agreement combines San...

Metavante Links Prepaid Debit.
November 9, 2006... Metavante Corp. is enabling consumers without traditional banking relationships to pay their bills online with a prepaid card. Under the program, cardholders must alert their billers to schedule the payments, then sign on to the bank-branded,...

Fund Buys Large TRM Stake.
November 16, 2006... DDJ Capital Management LLC has acquired over time a 14% stake in TRM Corp., a Portland, Ore, company that claims it is the second-largest non-bank operator of ATMs in the U.S. and the UK. Jeffrey F. Brotman, TRM's president and CEO, told...

Pulse Gets An Endorsement.
November 16, 2006... The Independent Bankers Association of Texas Monday announced the signing of a multiyear agreement to endorse the Discover Signature debit card to bank members, says David R. Schneider, president of the Pulse EFT Association. Pulse and the...

Fifth Third Uses Web Banking To Customize ATMs.
November 16, 2006... As a veteran banker, Bruce Hobbs has witnessed customer contact with bank branches at Fifth Third Bancorp decrease. But interaction with the bank outside of it branches has grown as customers have come to rely more heavily on ATMs and online...

Issuers Seek New Markets To Grow Their Portfolios.
November 16, 2006... Bank of America is airing radio commercials in Chicago saying it will pay $100 to anyone who opens a checking account. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. similarly is telling Chicago-area residents through mail fliers that if they deposit a minimum of...

MasterCard, 7-Eleven To Test Prepaid Payments Initiated With Cell Phones.
November 16, 2006... In the future, a prepaid card may not come in the form of a piece of plastic. It could be buried in a cell phone, or tied to a fingerprint. MasterCard Worldwide is working work with 7-Eleven Inc. to market specially equipped cell phones...

Co-op Signs Deal With EFunds To Offer Gift Cards.
November 16, 2006... For years all Co-op Financial Services' members wanted for Christmas was a gift card program. After years of weighing the initiative's pros and cons, the credit union-owned EFT network is putting one under their Christmas trees. "We have...

Processor Combines Platforms.
November 16, 2006... Global Payments Inc., an Atlanta-based transaction processor, is consolidating its two U.S. platforms into one, says James A. Kelly, the company's chief operating officer. This move is part of a larger effort to consolidate its seven processing...

Wincor Nixdorf's Earnings Up.
November 16, 2006... ATM manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf AG Tuesday reported a fiscal 2005/2006 net income of $105 million, up 46% compared with $71.7 million last year. Sales for the Paderborn, Germany, company were $2.5 billion compared with $2.2 billion in the...

To Our Readers.
November 23, 2006... Because of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, ATM&Debit News will not publish next week. You will receive your next issue on Thursday, Dec. 7. Please have a safe and wonderful holiday! (c) 2006 ATM&Debit News and SourceMedia, Inc. All...

Merchants Jump On Fee Report.
November 23, 2006... A new report from Diamond Management and Technology Consultants Inc. suggests that only 13% of the $30.7 billion in credit and debit interchange fees that Visa and MasterCard issuers collect annually in the U.S. covers payment processing, while...

Poll Touts Debit's Benefits.
November 23, 2006... Seventy-five percent of consumers surveyed by MasterCard Worldwide said paying with a debit card during the holidays would encourage them to stay within their budget. The online poll of 1,638 adults also found that 35% of consumers will use...

2-Year-Old Deal Still Haunts TRM As Losses Mount.
November 23, 2006... Like Dracula rising from the grave, the ATMs and ATM-management contracts TRM Corp. acquired from eFunds Corp. in 2004 appear to be sucking the life out of the Portland, Ore.-based ATM-management company. "It is now abundantly clear that...

Ruling Could Affect ATM Loans Issuers Offer Customers.
November 23, 2006... The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in January will begin hearing amended arguments by plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Washington Mutual's policy of loaning money to debit cardholders to prevent them from...

Wincor Nixdorf Predicts U.S. Growth Through Improved Service Capability.
November 23, 2006... Wincor Nixdorf AG, the Paderborn, Germany-based ATM manufacturer, plans to develop a national service organization to help increase its market share in the U.S., Eckard Heidloff, the incoming CEO, tells ATM&Debit News. "We have to have a...

Co-op Signs Deal With EFunds To Offer Gift Cards.
November 23, 2006... For years what Co-op Financial Services' members wanted for Christmas was a gift card program. After years of weighing the pros and cons of such an initiative, the Ontario, Calif.-based credit union-owned transaction processor and EFT network...

ATM ISO Installs Postilion.
November 23, 2006... Cardtronics Inc., a Houston-based ATM independent sales organization, is installing Postilion software to provide in-house transaction processing for its network of more than 26,000 ATMs, says S1 Corp., maker of Postilion software. Postilion is...

Zions Bank Joins MoneyPass.
November 23, 2006... Zions Bank in Salt Lake City, a subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation, has joined the MoneyPass surcharge-free ATM network. Elan Financial Services, a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, manages MoneyPass, which includes thousands of ATMs and serves 600...