Headlines:
Fiserv Expands Online Bill-Pay System
Fiserv Inc. has started selling an online bill-payment system for financial institutions that use its core processing systems and services.
Paytraxx, announced Thursday, is an expanded and rebranded version of a product developed by Integrasys, a Frisco, Tex., core processor owned by Fiserv. Fiserv, of Brookfield, Wis., also has a unit named Paytraxx.
The software, originally called Pay It, has the same the pay-anyone function common to many bank bill-payment systems; payments can be made even to billers that do not accept electronic payments. Its back-end interface lets institutions manage accounts and choose funding options.
"Our goal is to have a Fiserv-owned solution that is deliverable to all the Fiserv cores - credit union and bank," said Kim Killingsworth, the senior vice president and general manager of the Paytraxx business unit.
Paytraxx processes payments through Fiserv's TruSecure data center and connects to Fiserv's electronic funds transfer system, allowing payments to be debited from user accounts as though they were automated teller machine transactions. Paytraxx processed 7 million transactions in the past 12 months.
Paytraxx has signed a handful of bank customers, including First Federal Savings Bank of Wisconsin in Waukesha, which will deploy the system in the next 45 days, Mr. Killingsworth said. It also has more than 400 credit unions and financial institutions that enrolled under Pay It, which dated back to 1994. 
Survey Finds Misperceptions on ID Theft
The Identity Theft Resource Center and Fellowes Inc. said a recent survey they sponsored shows consumers' fears about identity theft are often misplaced.
KRC Research surveyed 1,000 U.S. citizens during a two-week period in June. The results were released Thursday.
One of the misperceptions the survey found was that nearly 40% of the respondents blame the Internet for most identity thefts, but a study from Javelin Strategy and Research indicated that the Internet plays a role in only 9% of such crimes.
Respondents also felt the elderly were targeted the most frequently, but the survey's sponsors cited data from the Federal Trade Commission showing that people ages 18 to 29 are most likely to report being victimized.
The Identity Theft Resource Center is a nonprofit organization in San Diego. Fellowes, of Itasca, Ill., makes paper shredders.
