ATM & Debit News articles from October 2003

ATM & Debit News archives from October 2003

Concord Promotes ATM Service.
October 2, 2003... Concord EFS Inc. announced Sept. 30 that it is marketing an end-to-end package of ATM services that does not require the purchaser to make a large up-front investment. Concord says ATM deployers can purchase ATM hardware, software, transaction...

AmEx Launches Travel Card.
October 2, 2003... America Express Co. Oct. 1 launched TravelFunds, a reloadable prepaid card designed for travelers. The cards, which are available in dollars, euros and British pounds, can be used at the millions of merchant locations and 550,000 ATMs worldwide...

IRS Rules Changes Improve Health Of Prepaid Debit Cards.
October 2, 2003... The use of debit cards to access health-reimbursement and other accounts used by consumers and employers to reduce health-care costs may be about to erupt. Many employers have put off offering such accounts to their employees because of...

ID Checks Gain Importance As New Rules Begin.
October 2, 2003... Financial institutions and third-party providers offering financial products this week began falling under the regulatory gun to verify whether their new customers are who they say they are. On Oct. 1, new rules under Section 326 of the USA...

First Data, Concord Are Not Alone In Using EFT Networks To Drive Growth.
October 2, 2003... While the U.S. Department of Justice continues to review First Data Corp.'s planned acquisition of Concord EFS Inc. and Concord's Star electronic funds transfer network, other processors are taking aggressive approaches to using their own EFT...

Hypercom, BioPay Launch Finger-Scan Biometric Service.
October 2, 2003... Hypercom Corp., a Phoenix-based payment-terminal maker, announced Sept. 24 the launch of a biometric payment service in the Washington, D.C., area. Some 23 merchant locations are using the bCheck service, which is offered in conjunction with...

ISO Adds NYCE Mark To ATMs.
October 2, 2003... The Montvale, N.J.-based NYCE electronic funds transfer network is again expanding its ATM connections in merchant locations through a new relationship with a top independent sales organization. The NYCE mark will be placed on 12,000 ATMs...

NetBank Buys A Top ISO.
October 9, 2003... NetBank Inc., the Atlanta-based parent of the NetBank Internet bank, is buying one of the nation's top ATM independent sales organizations. NetBank announced an agreement Oct. 6 to acquire Jackson, Miss.-based Financial Technologies Inc. for an...

Hilary Duff Launches Gift Card.
October 9, 2003... Teen-age actress Hilary Duff recently announced the launch of the Hilary Duff Visa gift card. The prepaid card is designed for teens, but their parents and other adults will be the ones mostly likely to buy it. The card is being sold on the Web...

October Brings New Visa Rates For Small Tickets.
October 9, 2003... To help grow Visa card acceptance, Visa USA Oct. 1 implemented a new, optional interchange category for electronically authorized purchases under $15 occurring at quick-service restaurants, parking lots and garages, motion-picture theaters,...

Major ATM Firms Try Package Deals In Bank Market.
October 9, 2003... Turnkey services commonly are offered by nonbank operators of ATMs deployed in retail locations, as independent sales organizations often provide clients directly or through outsourcing package deals that include ATM hardware, processing,...

Check Imaging At Bank ATMs Is Moving Ahead Of Check 21 Measure.
October 9, 2003... Widespread sharing of digitally imaged checks between financial institutions to speed processing time and make checks cheaper to handle is some years away. And that rings true even if legislation approved by Congress that would give the same...

Check Imaging Investments.
October 9, 2003... Year Annual Cost* 2003 $550 2004 $1,370 2005 $1,910 Source: Celent Communications estimates. *In millions, with projections based on passage of federal check-truncation legislation Copyright 2003...

How Acquirer Costs Compare.
October 9, 2003... Small CPS Express Standard Sale Ticket* Retail** Payment** Check Card $15 29cents 31cents 32cents 18cents $10 21cents 24cents 22cents 12cents $5...

PIN-Debit Fees For Purchases Get States' Attention.
October 9, 2003... After years of court defeats in trying to stem ATM surcharging, states are using new tactics to challenge debit card fees. This time, the focus is on PIN-based purchases. In Illinois, an amendment to the state's Electronic Funds Transfer...

New ATM Product Details.
October 9, 2003... * One monthly fee for ATMs and service. * Preferred pricing with long-term deals. * Designed for bank-ATM market Source: Concord EFS Inc., Diebold Inc. and NCR Corp. Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved....

Infonox, Checkclear Strike Deal.
October 9, 2003... Santa Clara, Calif.-based Infonox is partnering with Oklahoma City-based Checkclear Inc. to promote the use of check imaging and image processing for deposit-taking ATMs. Infonox will certify its Active Payment Platform transaction-processing...

Hypercom Sells Golden Leasing.
October 9, 2003... Hypercom Corp., a Phoenix-based payment terminal.maker, Oct. 9 announced the sale of its leasing business, Golden Leasing Inc., to New York-based Northern Leasing Systems Inc. for $30 million in cash. Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
October 9, 2003... In the Oct. 2 issue of ATM&Debit News, Medibank was misspelled in a story about the use of prepaid cards to pay for flexible spending and other health-care expenses. Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved....

Merchants Save $854 Million.
October 16, 2003... Merchants have saved about $854 million in interchange fees since Aug. 1, Lloyd Constantine, the lead attorney in the merchant class-action lawsuit against Visa USA and MasterCard International, told attendees Oct. 14 at the Food Marketing...

If DOJ Tells First Data To Sell NYCE, Who Would Buy It?
October 16, 2003... The proposed purchase of Concord EFS Inc. by First Data Corp. remains in regulatory limbo. And there is no word on when the U.S. Department of Justice will decide whether the deal would harm competition. First Data is the nation's largest...

Canadian Firm Launches System For Small Tickets.
October 16, 2003... Canadians are among the world's biggest users of debit cards. But for Canada's small-ticket merchants, cash remains king. Toronto-based Dexit Inc., though, has launched a new electronic payment system designed for merchants whose ticket...

NetBank Buys Financial Technologies As It Looks To Increase Its ATM Services.
October 16, 2003... Menlo Park, Calif.-based E*Trade Financial Services Corp. has offered free ATM access for several years to its Internet bank's debit card customers through ownership of ATM contracts in retail locations. But as the attraction of Internet-only...

Agency Exempts FSAs From HIPAA EDI Requirements.
October 16, 2003... Obstacles to growth in debit card use to access tax-deferred funds used to pay health expenses continue to fall. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has determined that flexible spending account debit card transactions are exempt...

Key Players In Dexit System.
October 16, 2003... Company Role Dexit Inc. Program manager, developer TD Canada Trust Fob "Issuer," Promoter National Bank Fob "Issuer," Promoter Telus Cell Phone tag "Issuer," Promoter Source: Dexit...

Financial Technologies At A Glance.
October 16, 2003... Headquarters Jackson, Miss. ATMs Under Contract 4,300 Quarterly Revenue $6.8 million* Monthly ATM volume 1.5 million *Estimate. Source: Financial Technologies Inc. and NetBank. ...

New Video Surveillance Coming.
October 16, 2003... AOS Technologies America Inc., an affiliate of Tokyo-based Fujitsu Ltd., which markets ATMs to U.S. banks, is marketing an ATM digital video surveillance system in which live images of ATM operations are fed constantly to local law enforcement...

PayPoint Aggregators Pay Less.
October 16, 2003... First Data Corp. has launched a program to reduce card-processing costs for convenience stores and petroleum marketers through the aggregation of their transactions processed by First Data's PayPoint Electronic Payment Systems unit. The...

Discover Launches Gift Card.
October 23, 2003... Discover Financial Services, a Riverwoods, Ill.-based business unit of Morgan Stanley and issuer of the Discover card, announced Oct. 15 the launch of the Discover Gift Card. The prepaid card, which comes in five designs, can be purchased for...

Pulse Opens In-House Switch.
October 23, 2003... The Pulse electronic funds transfer network on Oct. 18 began switching transactions for the first time using its own processing platform as it migrated from the use of JP Morgan Chase & Co. as its PIN-debit switch. Copyright 2003 Thomson...

Fed Ponders Charge To Banks For Cash-Supply Services.
October 23, 2003... Federal Reserve banks, distributors of the nation's cash supply, typically provide financial institutions with free cash-distribution services, including cash exchanged for new bills used in ATMs. But the Federal Reserve Board now says...

Debit Identifiers Create Few Woes For U.S. Issuers.
October 23, 2003... With issuers of Visa USA and MasterCard International-branded debit cards having to add debit identifiers to the front of the plastic for all cards issued after Jan. 1, some financial institutions have had to write off existing card stock to...

Wells Opts To Join Interlink And Plus, But Effect On Star Remains Unknown.
October 23, 2003... The second big shoe may have dropped on Star, the nation's largest PIN-based debit network. Wells Fargo & Co. announced Oct. 20 that Visa USA's Interlink will become its primary PIN-based point-of-sale debit network. Wells also will drop...

Firms Hope Users Of Prepaid Phones Like Prepaid Cards.
October 23, 2003... Virtually all prepaid debit card providers supply a toll-free number on the back of their cards to call for balance and other information. Earlier this month, a regional provider of prepaid wireless telecommunications services began working...

Key Cash-Fee Points.
October 23, 2003... * Federal Reserve banks would charge up to $6 per bundle of new cash. The Fed currently imposes no such fee. * Fee would be imposed on cash orders for $5 and $20 notes. * The Fed proposes that financial institutions separate reusable...

TransitCenter Inc.
October 23, 2003... TransitCenter, Inc. a New York based Corporation is rapidly expanding nationally with a new debit card product in alliance with Fleet Bank. We currently have an immediate opening for a: Merchant Acquisition Director The ideal candidate...

First Data Net Income Up 11%.
October 23, 2003... Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data Corp. says it generated $2.14 billion in revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up 10% from $1.94 billion during the same period last year. Net income for the quarter was $380.4 million, up 11%...

Vital Buys Merlin Solutions.
October 23, 2003... Vital Processing Services has purchased a majority interest in Merlin Solutions LLC for an undisclosed price. Merlin provides outsourced dispute-processing services to acquirers and their merchant customers. Copyright 2003 Thomson Media...

Shareholders OK Merger.
October 30, 2003... Shareholders of First Data Corp. and Concord EFS Inc. on Oct. 28 approved the companies' proposed $7 billion merger in separate meetings. It is not clear, however, what the votes mean in light of the U.S. Department of justice's Oct. 23 lawsuit...

Check 21 Signed Into Law.
October 30, 2003... President George W. Bush on Oct. 28 signed into law the so-called Check 21 legislation, formally known as the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act. The law, which takes effect in 2005, generally gives the same legal status to digitized check...

Star's Issuer Losses Thus Far Are Gains For Visa's Interlink.
October 30, 2003... There is little doubt that Visa USA, through its national Interlink PIN-based point-of-sale debit network, is now making significant inroads into what used to be the exclusive domain of so-called regional electronic funds transfer networks. And...

Ohio To Replace EBT Card Chip With Mag-Stripe.
October 30, 2003... Ohio is one of only two states, along with Wyoming, that adopted a smart card-based system to deliver food-stamp benefits electronically. Other states' electronic benefits transfer debit card programs use magnetic-stripe infrastructure to...

Russell Simmons' Hip Prepaid Card Hops In To Help Florida's Unbanked.
October 30, 2003... In April, a New York-based company formed by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons attempted to do something tried by few financial institutions-get signature-based debit cards into the hands of the unbanked and individuals turned away by credit card...

TransitCenter, Inc.
October 30, 2003... TransitCenter, Inc. a New York based Corporation is rapidly expanding nationally with a new debit card product in alliance with Fleet Bank. We currently have an immediate opening for a: Merchant Acquisition Director The ideal candidate...

BofA Could Expand Lead In Debit Cards, ATMs With Merger.
October 30, 2003... Bank of America Corp. will solidify its U.S. debit card lead if its proposed acquisition of Boston-based FleetBoston Financial Corp. gets shareholder and regulatory approval. BofA already is the nation's No. 1 debit card issuer and ATM owner....

Key Facts About UniRush.
October 30, 2003... Owners: Rush Communications, Unifund CEO: Russell Simmons Year Founded: 2000 Mission: Access and inclusion for all. Products & Services: Rush Prepaid Visa Card Baby Phat Rush Prepaid Visa Card ...

Key Ohio EBT Stats.
October 30, 2003... Launch year: 1990 Payment Technology: Smart Cards Recipient Households: 884,000 Main Contractor: Citicorp New Contract Bid Requests: 2004 Conversion to Mag-Stripes: 2005 Source: Ohio Department of Job and Family...

VeriFone Planning 2004 IPO.
October 30, 2003... Payment terminal maker VeriFone Inc. is in discussions to go public next year, Douglas Bergeron, VeriFone chairman and CEO, announced Oct. 28 at the Future of Money Summit in Boulder, Colo. Bergeron says plans call for valuing VeriFone at...

Napster Launches Prepaid Card.
October 30, 2003... Napster on Oct. 28 launched what it says is the first-ever prepaid card designed for downloading music. The Napster Card will provide 15 downloads for $14.95. Consumers will be able to purchase the card at 14,000 retail outlets, including Best...