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Credit Card Processing — Business
JPMorgan Chase Is Joining the Prepaid Debit Card Market
JPMorgan Chase has joined the rapidly growing prepaid debit card market calling the new card Liquid Chase, having implemented the new service in nearly 200 branches and announced plans for nationwide rollout this summer. Prepaid cards have surged in popularity recently for consumers that have difficulty obtaining credit cards because of less than desirable credit profiles. Chase hopes to quickly establish itself in the prepaid market by offering Liquid Chase with competitive rates, about $59 annually, which is considerably lower than the average of $150 to $250 annually. The prepaid card market is notorious for various fees including customer service, which Chase insists they won’t take advantage of, though they will charge a $2 fee for deposits made in non-Chase ATMs on top of a $4.95 monthly fee. Also, unlike traditional debit cards which offer overdraft protection, these cards will be declined if insufficient funds are available at the time … Continue reading
Visa and MasterCard’s Q1 Earnings Surpass Analysts’ Predictions
Forget the analysts’ predictions from last week — Both Visa and MasterCard reported impressive earning during their first quarter, with dramatic increases from Q1 the previous year. Visa reported a 30 percent increase and MasterCard reported a 21 percent increase, which many analysts didn’t believe possible due to the on-going recession that’s caused many Americans to shun their credit cards and revert to cash. Analysts had also predicted a substantial increase in debit transactions, but the outcome was actually quite modest for Visa, which reported a 4 percent rise. MasterCard on the other hand, experienced growth of 21 percent in debit transactions, which seems to imply that the much smaller processor is staking its claim in the transaction war, something Visa won’t let happen without a fight. Visa CEO Joseph Saunders boasted that he had signed 9 out of 10 major credit card companies to deals with Visa for the … Continue reading
Q1 Reports for Visa and MasterCard Out Tomorrow
Both Visa and MasterCard will procure their quarterly earning reports tomorrow with analysts anticipating declining profits due to lower credit card usage, and the processors hoping debit transaction can make up for the loss. MasterCard will report its earnings are the beginning of the day and Visa will report after the bell and will serve as insight into how the economy has fared since the Christmas season. Though credit card usage has been down for years, a few recent months showed promising growth, only to quickly start declining again. These moments have unfortunately stifled enthusiasm in the media and put fear in the mind of the consumer to avoid rotating credit card balances. As such, consumers have relied less on credit cards these days, carrying $800 billion in credit card debt in February, a drop of 15 percent from the beginning of recession in late 2007. For Visa and MasterCard, … Continue reading
Citi Philippines and Planet Payment Announce Seamless Foreign Exchange Processing
Planet Payment, the leading international foreign currency payment processor, has teamed up with Citi Philippines, the largest foreign bank in the Philippines, to provide Planet Payment’s Pay in Your Currency service along with the MICROS Payment Gateway to the merchant account and hotel merchant partners of Citi Philippines, respectively. Pay in Your Currency offers Citibank credit card holders the option to pay in their native currency while visiting the Philippines. Besides offering the transaction details, both the foreign and local currency (Philippine Peso) are printed on a customer’s receipt along with the transaction’s rate of exchange. In the past travelers would have to physically exchange their country’s currency for the local currency of the Philippines, which cost both time and extra commission fees for the local business. The MICROS Payment Gateway, offered to Citi Philippines’ hotel merchants, is designed to fit in with the MICROS suite of enterprise hospitality products … Continue reading
Cookie Profits Rise for Girl Scouts Using Mobile Processing
Girl Scouts of America in Ohio are participating in a pilot program utilizing mobile processing dongles on smart phones have experienced a 13 percent rise in sales last year, according to a report by the Christian Science Monitor. Not having cash will no longer silence a siren’s call — indulgence in Thin Mints and Samoas is at an all-time high, with the Girl Scouts recently have their biggest order of restock in their history. Girls Scouts have previously experimented with credit card machines, but the ones they were utilizing were slow and cumbersome and didn’t yield the results they had anticipated. Good thing they gave it another try! Swipe fees with mobile processing range from 1 to 3 percent and the net profit is deposited directly into a checking account. The process is relatively safe as the phones cannot store the credit card number and the transaction goes through various … Continue reading
Isis Project Seeks Cohesion in Mobile Payments Industry
Isis, a joint venture announced in November 2010 between telecommunication powerhouses Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, was created to build a mobile payments network for secure, point-of-sale, purchases through mobile devices. Visa, the largest U.S. payment network generating local revenue of $5.135 billion in 2011, along with processing giants MasterCard, American Express, and Discover, are joining Isis; lending their already established payment networks to further the mobile payment movement. The benefit to these processors is a higher propensity for their individual networks being used, and thereby allowing them more revenue through transaction fees. Mobile payments have been the next logical step in the evolution of payment processing, and the result of this venture creates a tremendous benefit for telecommunications because the success of Isis will lead to an increase in economic pressure to not only purchase more mobile devices, but to use them more frequently.
Up to 10 Million Mastercard and Visa Cards Breached
Mastercard has confirmed that U.S. based payment processor Global Payments Inc. has had a security breach, potentially compromising up to 10 million credit card accounts. The Secret Service has confirmed the incident and is currently investigating. Mastercard has taken immediate steps to minimize the damage, releasing a statement Friday addressing the issue. “As a result, we have alerted payment card issuers regarding certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk,” Mastercard’s representatives wrote. “MasterCard’s own systems have not been compromised in any manner.” Visa is also investigating, according to Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter who broke the story on his blog Krebs on Security. The breach apparently took place between in January and February, 2012, with enough information being stolen to produce counterfeit cards. Visa just released a statement, writing “Visa Inc. is aware of a potential data compromise incident at a third party entity affecting card account … Continue reading
Ticketing Credit Card Processing Dongle
An increasing number of companies are joining the credit card processing industry, with small credit card readers that work with smartphones and iPad’s. There are several of these instant and mobile readers on the market, including the Square, PayPal Here, and now, the “At the Door” reader offered from ticketing company, Eventbrite. The At the Door reader is $10 to obtain, but Eventbrite reimburses the $10 the first time you use the card reader to process a credit card. If you need more than one readers, additional At the Door units cost extra. All At the Door card readers can be ordered from Eventbrite. Processing Fees Waived To help introduce their new card reader to the market, Eventbrite has waived the fees they normally charge to process credit cards. For now, the 2.5 percent of the ticket price processing fee and the 99 cent fee per card are waived, and … Continue reading
Use Constant Contact? Consider BluePay for Credit Card Processing
For three years in a row, Chicago merchant account provider, BluePay, has been recognized as an All Star by Constant Contact, for excellence in marketing. All Star companies are ranked according to the frequency of use in Constant Contact campaigns and events; survey completion rates, social feature use and click-through rates among other criteria. To be named a Constant Contact All Star, the company must rank among the top 10% of Constant Contact’s customer base. Constant Contact provides email, event, and social media marketing services to small business owners, in an effort to help businesses create and maintain good relationships with their customer database. BluePay offers credit card processing services including credit card payments, ACH payments, mobile credit card processing, and accounting integration for small business owners.
New Credit Card Processing Option from PayPal: PayPal Here
Many online business owners rely on PayPal for credit card processing, but it’s not as convenient for a business that also has a storefront location or one that meets with customers in person. In order to become more convenient for cab drivers and small merchants looking to accept credit cards through PayPal, the company has created a card-swiping device called “PayPal Here,” that works with smartphones, to accept payments from American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover cards. The reader is a great option for individuals who sell direct sales products at in-home parties, or craft fair vendors and similar sales professionals. Many small business owners who already use PayPal to process payments from customers will find the new PayPal Here card reader extremely convenient, as it won’t require another merchant account or bank account. They can simply plug the thumb-sized reader into their smartphones, and accept credit cards and have … Continue reading
