Meghan Boyer

RevolutionCard, a new credit card brand, has decided against a direct-to-merchant sales effort and intends to work with ISOs through merchant-acquiring relationships.

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Issuers are making more money as debit card interchange rates increase, but

Security remains "top of mind" for cardholders, Dave Schneider, president of Pulse, the Houston-based electronic funds transfer network owned by Discover Financial Services, said last month at the 2008 Pulse Conference in Las Vegas.

Growth in the prepaid card market is expected to continue for the foreseeable future as issuers and distributors delve into emerging markets, develop new products, and target unbanked and underbanked segments.

The Financial Management Service bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury has received 15 applications from financial institutions interested in providing nationwide debit card services to unbanked check recipients of Social Security and other federal payments, such as veteran or railroad retirement benefits.

Coinciding with students heading back to school, more colleges and universities are launching campus identification cards with open- or closed-loop debit functions.

More airlines are accepting credit and debit cards for food, beverages and entertainment, and some have grounded cash for onboard purchases entirely. Still, the effect of in-flight card use for small-ticket purchases on the debit card industry remains up in the air.