Retailers

Consumers use debit cards more often than other payment options at the point of sale, but their use of cash is not far behind, suggesting that they continue to monitor spending to stay within their budgets, new research shows.

Credit unions and banks urged a federal appeals court in Sioux Falls, S.D., to act quickly to block the Federal Reserve’s implementation of debit card caps, which they insist will break thousands of credit unions or banks.

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s Paymedia add-on now enables gas stations to present advertising on their pumps’ screens, the terminal maker announced May 16.

Less than a month after introducing a 5% everyday discount on all private-label credit card purchases, Lowe’s Cos. on May 16 said the program is helping to shift certain sales from bankcards to its proprietary card.

Global shipments of handsets with Near Field Communication technology should increase to nearly 550 million units by 2015, helped by the decision earlier this month by three major U.S. wireless carriers to partner with leading credit card companies on a mobile-commerce initiative, according to new IHS iSuppli research.

Many small businesses in 2010 were hit particularly hard by fraud-related costs, suggesting financial institutions should do more to educate their small-business clients on fraud-prevention strategies, new research suggests.

Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade Ltd. will work with Saigon Fuel Joint Stock Co. to provide prepaid fuel payment card services, a spokesperson for the bank tells PaymentsSource.

Improved foreign-exchange rates and higher fuel prices helped improve the first quarter performance at fleet card provider Fleetcor Technologies Inc.

Seeing an opportunity from consumers who have unspent gift cards, ChargeSmart Inc. is working with gift card exchange firm Plastic Jungle Inc. to enable its customers to use value left in proprietary merchant gift card accounts to pay bills from its website, Tim Brinkman, the online consumer bill payment company’s CEO, tells PaymentsSource.

Credit card terms have not changed much in the past year, despite some concerns that issuers would hike interest rates and fees on new accounts to offset the effects of restrictions imposed last year under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, according to new data from The Pew Health Group.

SAN DIEGO–Mobile payments actually could increase the use of cards instead of replacing them with phones, an analyst said May 11 during a panel discussion on the future of merchant acquiring here at the Electronic Transactions Association’s Annual Meeting & Expo.

PIN-pad tampering at Michaels Stores Inc. occurred over a three-month period and so far has affected “fewer than 100” customers’ debit card accounts, but credit card data also may have been exposed, the retailer said May 13.

VeriFone Systems Inc. and Hypercom Corp. are considering the sale of Hypercom's U.S. point-of-sale terminal business to an "alternative buyer" in response to an antitrust lawsuit the U.S. Justice Department filed against the companies May 12.

After the mobile-purchasing system in Apple Inc.’s iPhone game Smurfs’ Village led Apple to set new spending restrictions for mobile apps, the game’s developer has followed up with further restrictions for the game itself.

VeriFone Systems Inc. and Hypercom Corp. say they believe their merger can be completed in the second half of 2011, despite a civil antitrust lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice filed against the companies May 12.

The news that Isis is seeking to expand its model by working with traditional card systems reveals the importance of wide cooperation in developing an NFC payments ecosystem.

The question of whether an exemption for banks with less than $10 billion in assets is sufficient protection from the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new rules for debit-interchange pricing loomed larger than ever during a May 12 Senate Banking Committee hearing during which a lawmaker grilled the nation’s top two banking regulators.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Senators this morning he is doubtful whether the Fed can develop a rule adequately protecting credit unions and small banks from the cuts in debit fees mandated for the biggest banks.

SAN DIEGO–A future fraught with change is coming into focus, with electronic messages replacing merchants’ ads in the local Gazette, mobile payments proliferating and even the smallest retailers getting an affordable opportunity to link the point of sale to inventory replenishment.

SAN DIEGO–No one has brandished a crystal ball, but payment-terminal makers here this week at the ETA Annual Meeting & Expo still have had plenty to say about the future.