Merchant

Merchant acquirers that fail to follow Visa Inc.’s safeguards to prevent processing certain high-risk merchants’ transactions face paying $100 per charge-back on top of regular penalty fees under a program Visa announced to its acquirers in March.

Efforts to create a common set of requirements for so-called “end-to-end” encryption moved forward last week when the Secure POS Vendor Alliance released its End-To-End Encryption Security Requirements.

Payment processor Elavon Inc. announced June 8 it has signed agreements with San Diego-based Semtek Innovative Solutions Corp. and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Voltage Security Inc., two competitors that provide advanced encryption services. Atlanta-based Elavon also offers its own advanced encryption products to merchants.

At first glance, the new encryption technology now sweeping the payments industry looks like a bonanza for ISOs and agents. On second glance, the situation appears more complicated.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on June 9 made a brief appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, warning lawmakers of the need to investigate possible collusion between Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide in the setting credit and debit card interchange rates.

Merchant acquirers that fail to follow Visa Inc.’s safeguards to prevent processing certain high-risk merchants’ transactions face paying $100 per charge-back on top of regular penalty fees under a program Visa announced to its acquirers in March.

An estimated 452 different collection agencies and creditors are named in 482 consumer statute lawsuits filed nationwide in the second half of May, according to data from U.S. District Court complaint dockets. In the first half of May, consumers sued an estimated 425 agencies and creditors in 495 consumer statute lawsuits.

The Federal Trade Commission approved a final settlement order with Dave & Buster's Holdings Inc., an entertainment and restaurant chain. The final order settles charges that the company failed to secure customers' sensitive credit and debit card information, resulting in "several hundred thousand dollars" in fraudulent charges. The FTC did not release an exact total.

U.S. consumers took on $1 billion more in debts in April, even as credit card balances declined for the 19th straight month, according to the Federal Reserve's monthly G.19 consumer credit report.

More than 100 Ingenico S.A. point-of-sale terminals are afloat on 14 cruise ships operated by Costa Cruises as part of an initiative to enable travelers to use a “Costa Card” for their onboard purchases, Ingenico recently announced.