The Federal Reserve, fulfilling a Congressional order to examine whether merchants were being charged excessive fees to process debit card transactions, has proposed new rules that analysts said could cut those fees as much as 90 percent.

The turbulent regulatory and legal atmosphere enveloping the U.S. payment card industry is blowing the industry into camps of winners, losers, and those in between.

As the first holiday shopping season since the enactment of new rules governing gift cards approaches, businesses have an opportunity to maximize their gift card programs.

Visa Inc. and a prominent law firm serving financial-industry clients want the Federal Reserve Board to regulate debit card interchange by setting an "average effective interchange rate" and then letting the payment card networks set their own rates as long as the average interchange rate on transactions subject to regulation meets the Fed’s benchmark.

Recently, Visa officially brought corporate franchisors into the world of Level 1 merchant service providers by requiring them to register as Third-Party Agents, with all that that implies.

It's no secret that cyber-intrusions and attacks - whether by viruses, malware, spyware, or other IT security breaches - are on the rise in corporate America. High-profile hacks on military computers and corporate domains like Google have illustrated that new cyber security challenges are emerging as fast as experts can combat them.

Merchants are most likely to remain compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards and avoid data breaches if they adopt security as a “lifestyle,” according to a recent study.

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it filed a civil antitrust lawsuit challenging rules that American Express, MasterCard and Visa have in place that "prevent merchants from offering consumers discounts, rewards and information about card costs, ultimately resulting in consumers paying more for their purchases.

Visa Inc. announced recently that commuters in New York and Los Angeles can use the world's most popular way to pay - Visa - for bus, subway and train fares. In New York, Visa is allowing riders to pay using Visa payWave-enabled cards and mobile phones, while commuters in Los Angeles can use a special Visa prepaid card to ride the LA metro system.

As advocates of the payments industry and retailers battle over proposed changes to interchange, neither side will find it easy to rally consumer support, according to a syndicated market research report.

Smaller debit card swipe fees and other changes in the recent federal financial reform bill may prove to be a blessing for merchants and consumers, but a curse for Visa, the San Francisco-based company that has dominated the plastic payment industry since its inception.

Merchant acquirers recently got a long-anticipated reporting rule. Beginning with the 2011 tax year, acquirers must report how much their merchants generate in annual charge volume.

Visa and MasterCard debit card issuers stand to lose up to $10.7 billion in interchange income a year in a worst-case scenario under new federal interchange controls that will take effect next year.

As President Obama signs the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010 into law recently, at least one major merchant interest group has already fired the opening shot in what promises to be an all-out battle over the fees banks earn on debit card transactions.

Not always the best of friends, the National Retail Federation and Visa Inc. saw fit on Wednesday to jointly announce that Visa had clarified its card-number storage rules to affirm that merchants may present a truncated or disguised number on a transaction receipt for dispute resolution in place of a full card number.

Although many U.S. merchants and processors have met Visa Inc.’s July 1 deadline for replacing unapproved point-of-sale software applications with ones that meet requirements of the Payment Application data-security standard, or PA-DSS, many non-compliant card-processing applications remain in the marketplace, Visa says.

Merchants, processors, and others in the card industry will have more time to review and implement new versions of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard under a new schedule announced recently by the PCI Security Standards Council.

With the political debate about proposed federal regulation of debit card interchange and card-acceptance terms raging on, analyses of the so-called Durbin Amendment’s effects are emerging.

Payments-industry partisans of all stripes got onto their soap boxes to praise or denounce U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin’s successful amendment that could pave the way for regulation of debit card interchange and acceptance terms.

The battle over interchange regulation continues to heat up, with the introduction of amendments to financial regulatory reform legislation pending in the U.S. Senate that would target the controversial fees charged to merchants.

After months of inactivity on interchange regulation, the U.S. House of Representatives judiciary committee recently held a hearing on one bill advocated by national merchant groups. And while the committee took no action, one merchant group views the hearing as a hopeful sign that legislation will be passed.

These days, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t use credit and debit cards regularly — they’re convenient and compact and often come with small cash-back incentives. But what almost no one realizes is that those benefits are far outweighed by an implicit transaction fee, set by credit card companies and their issuing banks, that costs consumers more than $48 billion a year.

MasterCard named a onetime star at Citigroup as its next chief executive on Monday, a widely expected move that could nonetheless shake up the giant payment company. The appointment of the executive, Ajay Banga, is to take effect on July 1, the company said. MasterCard hired Mr. Banga as president and chief operating officer last August and signaled early that he would succeed Robert W. Selander, who has held the top job since 1997.

Top retailers have sounded the alarm about the U.S. government's recently enacted credit card reforms, warning investors the new rules will hit their bottom lines to the tune of millions of dollars just as consumer spending is beginning to bounce back.

Interchange regulation of the kind being advocated by national merchant groups just isn’t getting much traction on Capitol Hill.

In the last several years, awareness of issues around payment card security and PCI standards has grown exponentially. As more businesses implement Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) as a necessary layer in protecting their customers' account data, this increased vigilance will help result in fewer breaches, not to mention losses for businesses, financial institutions and cardholders.

Consumers recently got some financial relief when Congress passed a bill making it illegal for credit card companies to raise interest rates arbitrarily on monthly balances. And now, some politicians think retailers should get a break, too.

The PCI Council, in an attempt to show that it can be flexible and truly is listening to industry feedback, is now on the third version of its controversial policy on audio recordings since the beginning of the year.

Visa has announced plans to offer its No Signature Required program to the majority of merchant categories in the United States beginning July 2010. According to Visa, "under the new expanded program, for domestic transactions $25 and less, retailers can accept U.S.-issued Visa cards for purchases without requiring a cardholder signature; this program has the potential to increase speed at the point of sale and enhance customer satisfaction."

Proposed regulation of interchange is stalled in Congress, but California lawmakers are investigating the controversial revenue generator for credit and debit card issuers that merchants ultimately pay. It's not clear yet, however, whether the informational hearing held this week by the California Assembly's Banking and Finance Committee ultimately will result in a law.

American Express, MasterCard and Visa have all announced responses to the devastating earthquake in Haiti - including waiving interchange fees for a period for specific US-based charities that are providing support to Haitian relief.

A rising swarm of cyber-robberies targeting small firms, local governments, school districts, churches and non-profits has prompted an extraordinary warning. The American Bankers Association and the FBI are advising small and midsize businesses that conduct financial transactions over the Internet to dedicate a separate PC used exclusively for online banking.

ATM and debit card fraud is expected to grow 10 percent or more this year, even though credit card fraud may get most of the publicity.

Retailers fighting what they say are high payment-card acceptance costs are not letting the heated debates about health care or President Obama's planned troop surge in Afghanistan push interchange off the political stage.

Proposals to cut certain fees credit card issuers charge merchants would be challenging to implement, the Government Accountability Office said in a report recently. The charges, known as interchange or swipe fees, have been the subject of growing controversy in recent years. Retailers must pay issuers the fees--set by credit card networks such as Visa and MasterCard--every time a customer uses credit to make a purchase.

U.S. credit card companies are raking in big bucks from charging interchange fees while consumers and businesses continue to struggle amid a weakened national economy, a government report said recently.

If merchants on the one side and bank card issuers and payment card networks on the other were looking for endorsements of their opposing positions about interchange, they didn't get them Thursday when the Government Accountability Office issued a long-awaited report about the controversial fee.

U.S. merchants are incurring $191 billion in fraud losses each year, according to a new report released today by LexisNexis® Risk Solutions.

Lloyd Constantine, who maneuvered the card industry into paying the largest antitrust class-action settlement in history, has resurfaced six years later with a book about the case and some surprising criticism about other lawsuits that he sees as riding his coattails.

The cost of accepting credit cards is a sore point for merchants. Business owners have long grumbled about the cost of taking credit cards, and for the first time, Congress is considering regulating how the fees are set.

After some serious retail pushback - particularly in the gas station sector - Visa has relented and agreed to back off an earlier deadline PIN pad compliance deadline for July 1, 2010, some 7-and-a-half months away. The new policy isn't threatening fines until Aug. 1, 2012.

The interchange partisans went at it again recently in Congress. The battleground this time was a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the bill from U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., that would require more interchange disclosures and demolish most of the bank card networks' rules that prevent merchants from discriminating against card-paying customers.

7-Eleven Inc. misled consumers who signed a petition asking Congress to regulate card interchange, MasterCard Inc. charged one day before officials with the convenience-store chain were expected to deliver nearly 1.7 million signed petitions to Capitol Hill.

7-Eleven has announced that its franchisees and store operators have collected more than 1.6 million signatures in the "Stop Unfair Credit Card Fees" petition drive. 7-Eleven says it believes this marks the largest number of signatures collected for a public policy issue on record.

In the latest encroachment of credit and debit cards onto the greenback's turf, the high-end New York City restaurant said goodbye to dollars and cents this week. The message to diners: Tip in cash if you wish, but otherwise, your money is no good here.

As an attorney for the merchant plaintiffs predicted earlier this summer, Visa Inc. disclosed Monday that it plans to prepay the remaining $800 million of its settlement obligations with merchants under the so-called Wal-Mart debit card class action for a discounted $682 million.

It's very difficult to get small businesses interested in PCI compliance at all (judging from low attendance at the webinars and events aimed at that market). Recent research attempts to understand why that is, and if anything can be done to raise awareness and motivate security improvements.

MasterCard is taking what can only be called a "get tough" policy, issuing larger fines and, most significantly, forcing both Level 1 and Level 2 merchants to use assessors rather than take on the task of self-assessment. But still, merchants, banks, processors and service providers aren't happy with MasterCard.

Despite widespread efforts to educate small merchants about the Payment Card Industry data-security standards (PCI DSS), a large majority still don?t understand fully the complex requirements, according to a study released today by the National Retail Federation, ControlScan and the PCI Knowledge Base.

MasterCard has become the first card brand to publish its PCI fines and related requirements, a move that could be the latest signal that MasterCard wants to step out of the PCI shadow of its larger rival, Visa. The dollars themselves do not reflect a radical change, although they do include some healthy increases.

Shopping for new shoes or groceries for tonight's dinner? What about a birthday gift for a friend? It's easy - just pull out the plastic. But what shoppers might not realize is that every time they swipe that credit or debit card, the merchant is actually incurring a fee.

A sustained tide of consumer anger about all types of bank fees is adding momentum to the long-running merchant campaign against interchange.

MasterCard Inc. plans to pay off its remaining $400 million settlement obligation to retailers over debit card acceptance early for a discounted $335 million, according to a filing the card network made on Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

MasterCard has changed its PCI rules and is now insisting that all Level 2 merchants have on-site assessments.

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin?s introduction of a Senate companion to U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.?s Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2009, along with a little-noticed bill introduced last month in the House, bring to three the number of interchange bills pending in the Democrat-controlled Congress.

The Credit Card Fair Fee Act, a bill that would inject government into the interchange-setting process, has been resurrected after dying in committee last year. But this time there are more players around the table seemingly less inclined to sympathize with the defenders of the current bank card interchange system.

Visa, the world's largest payment network, said recently that U.S. legislation curbing certain practices by credit card companies would force the industry to restructure as revenue expectations shrink.

After reaching its highest level in 14 months, the economic confidence among small business owners fell in May as owners reported cash flow concerns and expect to cut back on business development spending, according to the latest Discover Small Business Watch.

The U.S. House of Representatives on May 20 overwhelmingly passed a sweeping credit card reform bill that leaves out retailer-backed regulation of interchange. The bill, which the Senate sent to the House Tuesday, includes a Congressional interchange study and could open the door to controls on gift cards.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. paid discount fees totaling more than $1 billion to take credit and debit cards in the 12 months ended Jan. 31. Acceptances costs now exceed health-care premiums at The Home Depot.

Visa recently announced that spending on Visa debit cards in the U.S. had surpassed Visa credit card volume for the first time in the company's history.

Economic confidence among small business owners rose to its highest level in 14 months in April as more of them see the broader economy and the conditions for their own businesses improving, according to the latest Discover Small Business Watch.

If you're a small business owner, you've probably received numerous offers and applications for a small business credit card. You probably wonder whether you should consider getting one or how they differ from other forms of credit.

72% of companies in a recent survey said the economic downturn had not led to a change in their e-business technology investment plans, and more than half of business-to-consumer companies said they planned to increase their budgets for e-business technology, Forrester Research Inc. says.

The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Electronic Funds Transfer Association jointly hosted a conference, "Maintaining a Safe Environment for Payment Cards: Examining Evolving Threats Posed by Fraud." The conference included panels representing each of four key constituencies: issuers, consumers, merchants/acquirers and networks, speaking on the nature of payment card fraud in the 21st century landscape.

Online merchants shouldn?t wait for chargebacks to indicate a problem with fraudulent orders. Instead, they should pay attention to other indicators, such as the volume of canceled orders, to anticipate whether a wave of chargebacks is about to hit.

Lower interchange rates in some cases for online retailers and travel-and-entertainment merchants that accept Visa credit cards and a new MasterCard authorization fee that's 3.7 times higher than the one it will replace are set to take effect in April when the bank card networks adjust pricing schedules.

Economic confidence among the nation's 22 million small business owners remained flat in February, gaining only a half-point over the previous month in the latest Discover Small Business Watch. The monthly index rose to 71.9 in February from 71.4 in January.

The crooks are using Visa gift cards to create their own credit card by adding stolen numbers, a name, and an expiration date. When they're swiped nothing happens, but then the clerk is asked to type in the credit card numbers.

International e-commerce can be risky for U.S. and Canadian merchants, says a new report from payment processor CyberSource Corp. During 2008, 30% of merchants that accept international orders online and that CyberSource surveyed stopped taking orders from one or more countries because of high levels of fraud.

With the recession throwing more and more people out of work by the day, payments processors are reporting that their merchants are experiencing sharp increases in e-commerce chargebacks stemming from so-called friendly fraud. This is the fraud that results when a consumer repudiates a transaction as unauthorized in hopes of escaping liability for payment.

Discover Financial Services has announced it is rolling out an enhancement to its Discover Information Security and Compliance (DISC) program that the company says "will streamline the validation and reporting process, making it easier for merchants that process transactions on the Discover Network to communicate their compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS)."

Interchange, the most controversial part of credit and debit card pricing, is the subject of a background paper MasterCard Inc. recently posted on its Web site.

MasterCard Worldwide has announced it has published a new white paper titled "Benefits of Open Payment Systems and the Role of Interchange" that the company says "dispels misperceptions about payment systems and explains the tremendous economic value that electronic payments bring to the economy as a whole and their role in advancing commerce."

After falling to its lowest measurement ever in November, economic confidence among small business owners rose slightly in December. The Discover Small Business Watch rose to 72.8 in December, up 5.3 points from November.

New Jersey authorities have launched a probe into a Seattle area online credit card processing company accused of absconding with more than $1 million paid to register children for sports leagues and after-school programs across the nation.

In another sign of sweeping changes in the Canadian payment card market, Visa Inc.'s Visa Canada unit last week published interchange rates on its web site for the first time. The posting comes at a time when merchants are complaining about higher rewards-card acceptance costs and expressing fears that possible Visa- and MasterCard-branded debit cards could undermine Canada?s low-cost Interac PIN-based debit card network.

Too many small-business owners aren't aware of their credit card processing fees, and they're paying too much because rate increases are opaque and confusing. (Please refer to the second section of this article titled "How To Subdue Credit Card Fees").

To assist in the fight against fraud, MasterCard is offering a free, online credit card fraud prevention training you can take at your own pace. The program will familiarize you with the security features of MasterCard and help you identify fraudulent cards and what actions to take if you suspect fraud.

The PCI Security Standards Council, the standards body providing management of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard has announced it will be offering a complimentary webinar, "Understanding PCI DSS Version 1.2,? to be held on Tuesday Nov. 25, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. EST and at 7:30 p.m. EST. The session will be repeated on Wednesday Dec. 17, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. EST and 8:30 p.m. EST.

MasterCard Worldwide has announced the availability of two new seminars designed to help merchants protect payment card data and reduce the likelihood of reputational risk and fraud.

Consumers pay fees and higher prices to cover losses. But some fees punish the wrong people unnecessarily, and a San Antonio area antiques store provides an example. The store owner is like many others who accept MasterCard and Visa credit cards as payment for store sales. Here is her situation when faced with a new fee from her processor.

The credit card underdog is taking on rival Visa with smart technology, memorable marketing, and global ambition. But what happens when consumers put their cards away?

Discover Financial Services, the fourth-biggest U.S. credit-card company, settled an antitrust suit in which it sought $18 billion from larger rivals Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. for blocking banks from issuing its cards.

New data from Visa Inc. show more of the largest merchants now meet the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI. But the level of validated PCI compliance among small merchants?the overwhelming majority of businesses that accept credit and debit cards?likely remains much lower.

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has announced the general availability of version 1.2 of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). According to the Council, "this latest version is the culmination of two years of feedback and suggestions from its industry stakeholders and is designed to clarify and ease implementation of the foremost standard for cardholder account security.

Finding out who's responsible for the costs of a data breach can be a very complicated and legally challenging project.

Visa has announced that it will begin supporting the issuance of "unembossed" cards in the U.S. for Visa consumer debit, business debit and consumer credit cards. Unembossed payment cards feature printed personalized information, such as the account number and cardholder name, rather than embossed with raised lettering.

That's what a lot of diners ask when they find out restaurant owners deduct credit-card processing fees from charged tips. Some restaurant owners say it's only fair that they deduct credit-card fees.

If passed, the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 (HR.5546), introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), could affect both online and bricks-and-mortar retailers that accept credit or debit card payments.

If signed into law, the new bill prohibits retailers from storing "sensitive authentication data subsequent to authorization, even if that data is encrypted and any payment-related data that is not needed for business, legal, or regulatory purposes."

Evidence is mounting that criminal attacks on e-commerce via keyloggers and other code that detects user credentials are growing rapidly. The number of URLs used to disseminate such malware soared to a record 6,500 in March.

More data breaches have been reported so far this year than in all of 2007, according to a report released recently by a nonprofit group that works to prevent fraud.

Small business owners' economic confidence rose for the second straight month in August, climbing away from a 22-month low in June as their concerns about the state of the overall economy improved. The Discover(R) Small Business Watch (SM) reached 86.9 in August, up 2.3 points from July and more than 15 points higher than June.

The PCI Security Standards Council announces it is offering a complimentary and educational webinar, "A Perfect Fit - Understanding the Interrelationship of the PCI Standards," to be held on Thursday September 4, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. EDT and a second session the same day at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

When federal prosecutors recently disclosed that computer hackers swiped more than 40 million credit card numbers from nine retailers in the biggest such heist ever, it was the first time that many shoppers had heard about it.

The US Department of Justice has announced that "eleven perpetrators allegedly involved in the hacking of nine major U.S. retailers and the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers have been charged with numerous crimes.

Banks and the payment card networks, which oppose the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 in the House of Representatives and its Senate companion, recently got some ammunition for their cause when both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission came out against the interchange proposal.

The Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM) jumped in July to 84.6, up 12.8 points from 71.8 in June. After sinking to its lowest level in June, economic confidence among small business owners rebounded in July, as the number of those who said they are experiencing cash flow issues decreased significantly and general economic confidence began trending upward.

QUESTION: When I use my debit card to buy gas at the pump, I've noticed that a hold gets put on funds in my account for a few days -- sometimes for more than what I purchased. What gives? Is there any way to avoid this?

MasterCard Worldwide has announced the availability of three new seminars designed to help merchants protect payment card data and reduce the likelihood of reputational risk and the incidence of fraud.

Owning a small business often means having to wear many different hats - marketer, accountant, building manager, and Web tech whiz, to name a few. But when it comes to figuring out what's behind credit card companies' charges for handling your customers' transactions - known as interchange fees - that can be one hat too many.

Pressed by the U.S. Department of Justice, Visa Inc. has changed its operating rules to allow PINless debit card transactions for small-ticket purchases, just as it waives the signature requirement for low-value purchases on its signature-based Visa check card.

On June 30, the PCI Security Standards Council, the independent body that administers the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, will make mandatory protection measures in its rules about Internet-facing software applications that the Council currently classifies as best practices.

Visa has announced that it is implementing processing and rate changes that will result in benefits for American consumers and fuel merchants frustrated by rising prices at the pump.

American Express announced today that it has reached an agreement with MasterCard Inc. to drop a lawsuit alleging that MasterCard had illegally blocked American Express from the bank-issued card business. Under the terms of the agreement, MasterCard will pay American Express up to $1.8 billion.

Here are five useful steps Web merchants can take to better secure their web sites.

Verizon Business has announced a comprehensive report on data breaches concluding that "nearly nine in 10 corporate data breaches could have been prevented had reasonable security measures been in place." The study also provides key recommendations to help businesses protect themselves and urges them to be proactive.

Discover Financial Services is seeking more than $6 billion in damages in its 4-year-old case against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., according to documents unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.

Indiana-based 1st Source Bank is reissuing its entire portfolio of debit cards after a hacker or hackers broke into a bank server containing debit card data.

About 80 people who bought gas with their debit cards at an Arco station in San Jose had a total of $45,000 drained from their bank accounts by thieves suspected of pulling the same scam at the company's stations elsewhere in California.

Major credit card companies had a good idea when they decided to pursue a standard for cardholder data protection. Data breaches were on the rise and credit card information was being targeted. So why were so many merchants standing on the dock after the PCI boat has sailed?

Retailers accused Visa and MasterCard during a recent congressional hearing of levying excessive fees, while the card company executives countered that retailer-supported legislation would simply push more of the cost onto consumers.

The marketers of a debit and credit card processing services operation have agreed to judgments of more than $26 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they deceived small businesses throughout the country.

When can a merchant ask for additional information on credit card transactions? When can a business ask for your Social Security number?

Payment card interchange will be in Congress' spotlight again when the House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing about the controversial Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008, a bill that would put price controls on card-acceptance costs.

Dave & Buster's, a popular eatery and arcade, is the latest U.S. firm to be hit by hackers bent on stealing credit card data. This breach, much like one a few months ago at the East Coast grocery chain Hannaford, was the result of strategically placed malware that recorded credit card data in transit. These breaches illustrate the need for more stringent payment card security standards.

Thieves are copying the information stored on magnetic strips onto counterfeit cards. This ABC News segment shows how it's done and what you need to do to avoid becoming a victim.

Paying breach bill may not buy Hannaford full data protection. The grocer is spending millions of dollars on new IT security tools. But they might not have prevented the theft of payment data from its systems.

Discover Financial Services LLC becomes a global payments player with its pending deal to buy Diners Club International from Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank N.A. for $165 million in cash.

Data breaches disclosed by Hannaford Bros Supermarket Chain, GE Money, and Georgetown University are just some of the 167 breaches reported during the first quarter of 2008, according to the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). This is more than double the first quarter in 2007 (76 breaches).

Fraudsters planted so-called malware, or malicious software, on servers at about 300 supermarkets in or affiliated with the Hannaford Bros. Inc. supermarket chain and with it were able to steal credit and debit card data. The thefts happened even though Hannaford at the time was compliant with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that TJX has agreed to settle charges that it engaged in practices that, taken together, failed to provide reasonable and appropriate security for sensitive consumer information.

News of the first big data breach of 2008 broke recently when grocery chain Hannaford Bros. Co. acknowledged a data intrusion into its computer network that resulted in the theft of a reported 4.2 million customer credit and debit card numbers.

MasterCard International said it welcomed a U.S. appeals court's dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit by a group of merchants claiming that the company, Visa USA and three banks had conspired to set fees charged to businesses for credit card sales.

Risk-scoring models, or fraud screens, designed to block specific types of fraud experienced by individual retailers were cited most often as the most effective risk management tools in a study by CyberSource Corp.

Facing financial markets that have been roiled by troubled subprime mortgages and a weakening economy, Visa Inc. on Monday said it is seeking to raise $15 billion to $17 billion in its upcoming initial public offering of common stock - an amount that even on the low end would be a record IPO.

A bill introduced into the Vermont House of Representatives in January 2008, H.600, would force hard copy disclosure to Vermont merchants of the interchange fees set by Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide and other credit card companies.

Consumers trained for years by self-payment systems at grocery stores and gas stations soon will get a chance to use these skills at more restaurants.

Should the restaurant wait staff have to pay its share of the processing fee when the tip is put on a credit card bill? Some restaurants have been reducing tips by assessing the fee for years, but the practice is attracting new interest as processing fees rise and profit margins tighten.

The PCI Security Standards Council has announced that its updated Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) for merchants and service providers is now available.

The parent company of Outback Steakhouse and its sibling restaurants has rescinded a policy of requiring its wait staff to cover credit-card processing fees for tips included on their customers' bills.

A father and son were sentenced earlier this week for defrauding about 1,200 customers out of roughly $125,000. The two operated NorCal CSI, a Sacramento-area company that acted as an independent sales agent for a credit card processing company.

When credit gets tight, the vampires come out. Now feasting on small businesses is a cadre of "merchant cash advance" (MCA) shops. These lenders of last resort give small businesses cash today in return for a percentage of their future credit card sales.

Miami is now viewed as the riskiest city for e-commerce in the U.S., according to a new survey by online payment security services vendor CyberSource Corp. Miami bumped New York from the top spot this year in the annual survey.

Merchants accounting for two-thirds of Visa Inc.'s U.S. transaction volume have validated compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, Visa reported. PCI is the card networks' controversial joint set of rules for protecting cardholder and transaction data.

Personal information on about 650,000 customers of J.C. Penney and up to 100 other retailers could be compromised after a computer tape went missing. GE Money, which handles credit card operations for Penney and many other retailers, said Thursday night that the missing information includes Social Security numbers for about 150,000 people.

Two online policies have landed U.S. retailer Sears in hot water with privacy advocates.

The retailer TJX is close to reaching agreement with U.S card issuers which suffered financial losses as a result of the security breach in its computer systems.

Major credit card companies Visa and MasterCard say setting minimum purchase amounts is not permitted by their rules and regulations.

Visa USA is warning merchants about the security risk from older point-of-sale PIN-entry-devices (POS PEDs) that predate Visa PED requirements implemented in 2004. Criminals remove these devices in less than a minute and replace them with modified devices designed to skim card account numbers and PINs, it says.

With TJX facing anywhere from $500 million to nearly $1 billion in expenses, not to mention a black eye with the public over how their credit card data is secured, this experience should serve as a lesson to other retail outlets on securing their networks.

Heartland Payment Systems has announced it has "filed an antitrust action against MICROS Systems, Inc.; Merchant Link, LLC; and Chase Paymentech, owner of Merchant Link. The suit, filed in United States District Court in New Jersey, alleges the three companies have caused increased processing prices for table-service restaurants through an anti-competitive tying arrangement which violates the Sherman Antitrust Act and New Jersey's unfair competition laws."

Do you think twice when typing in your credit card number online, but have no problem handing over your plastic card at a store? Well actually, you may have it backward. Your personal information may be more secure in cyberspace than at the mall down the road.

Charging customers extra for using a credit card may not be breaking the law, but it is breaking policies between businesses and the credit card companies.

Credit card company Visa knew in late 2005 of the extensive security problems at TJX, but decided to give the retailer permission to remain non-compliant through Dec. 31, 2008, according to documents filed in federal court on Nov. 8.

More than 40 Red Mesa Grill customers recently discovered fraudulent charges on their cards after using them to pay for meals at the restaurant.

Some merchants, while complying with the truncation provision that took full effect nearly a year ago, have been hit with lawsuits for printing expiration dates, according to a Congressman who is trying to get merchants off the legal hook.

Visa has doled out some $880,000 in fines to a Cincinnati-based acquiring bank that retail chain TJX contracted with to process most of its credit card transactions. Fifth Third Bank was not following proper security guidelines related to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), according to court filings from a group of banking associations suing TJX over the breach.

MasterCard Worldwide has announced a new PCI Merchant Education Program - calling it "an initiative offered to acquiring bank customers that provides practical assistance in educating merchants and encouraging broader adoption of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)."

Credit-card companies regularly warn consumers about how to protect themselves from fraud when using plastic: scour statements for unauthorized purchases, shred paperwork that includes account numbers and don't leave bills or cards on the kitchen counter when people are in your home.

A leading retailer trade group recently called for the payment card networks to stop forcing merchants to store credit card numbers, in effect challenging banks and the networks to take more responsibility for preventing data thefts.

Off-price retailer TJX Cos. Inc. late Friday announced it had settled the consumer class-action lawsuits it faced in the wake of a security breach that compromised nearly 46 million payment card records in its computers, but big-picture issues facing card networks, processors, and merchants about the best ways to enhance card security and who should be responsible for it are far from settled.

With more Americans than ever using plastic to pay not only for high-price items but also everyday purchases like groceries, small businesses in particular complain that their profits are squeezed by card-related fees

The proportion of consumers who report having had a problem completing an online transaction has remained little changed over the past three years at around 90%, while the fraction that abandon transactions when they have a problem stands at a lofty 42%.

According to a San Francisco Chronicle editorial, the California Retailers Association has urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto AB779, arguing that it's burdensome on businesses and not necessary to protect privacy.

Transactions consumers make online with PIN-debit cards?but without entering their PINs?will soar 40% this year, to an estimated 92 million payments, driven by rising biller adoption, an expansion of eligible biller categories, and increasing availability of the payment option among vendors that handle payments for billers, according to a new research report.

Quietly but surely, a revolution is under way in how we pay for everything from a cup of coffee to our monthly electric bill. Continuing a climb that started a decade ago, debit cards are now preferred over credit cards by those American consumers who use plastic for their in-store purchases.

A South Carolina bank has notified several hundred credit card customers that their personal information containing, including addresses and account numbers, apparently was stolen and sold to direct-marketing organizations.

New resources for merchants wanting to know more about accepting contactless payments. A new white paper titled "Accepting Contactless Payments: A Merchant Guide" and a presentation titled "Contactless Payment Deployment: Merchant Implementation Guide" are available free of charge online.

A recent survey of 400 consumers' views on brand equity as it relates to data breaches found that 87 percent lost respect for businesses that lost sensitive customer information.

Acquirers will be penalized one interchange tier for large merchants that qualify for volume-based tiered rates and fail to show compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) by Sept. 30, Visa USA says.

The nascent market for electronic transactions in self-service machines should get a sizable boost from a Federal Reserve rule change that went into effect Aug. 6. The rule change could also foster the development of contactless transactions at these machines, laying the groundwork for payments via mobile phone for a wide array of small-value items.

Cash-strapped small-business owners are increasingly queuing up for small business cash advances. While criticized by some as predatory and usurious, this financing method is expanding, capitalizing on the growing hunger of small merchants for cash and the reluctance of traditional banks to serve it up.

The cost of processing cards isn't always what you consider when you contract for what you believe are low "rates." It's a confusing situation as processors and brokers (middlemen) lure you with low introductory fees and then tack on hidden charges, holding you hostage for a service that is mission-critical to your business. Here are some tips to help you determine if your processor and/or broker are increasing their profits at your expense. These tricks are damaging your bottom line.

More large merchants now meet the dictates of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, according to new numbers from Visa U.S.A. At the same time, Visa, the biggest payment-card network, is turning its security attention to small merchants, the source of the majority of data breaches.

The Capitol Hill spotlight shone again on payment card acceptance costs recently when a U.S. House of Representatives antitrust panel held a hearing to investigate interchange.

The rules that determine what personal details may appear on the receipt are found in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA). According to the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the act's enforcement, this law says that electronically printed credit and debit card receipts must shorten -- or truncate -- the account information.

Visa plans to roll out new, highly customized incentive and reward programs based on more detailed consumer information, including data on purchases, buying habits, and retailer loyalty.

Using a credit card at a gas station could pose more of a risk for data theft than shopping online, as point-of-sale terminals have emerged as a weak link in the security chain, according to a Gartner Inc. analyst.

Credit card companies and banks get an average of 1.75 percent on every gallon of gas sold, and credit card processing fees now rank as the second-biggest expense for gas stations operators, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores.

It's no secret that the cost of accepting credit cards is reaching dire new heights. According to the most recent National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) State of the Industry (SOI) report, retailers were burned for an estimated $6.6 billion dollars in credit card processing fees?an increase of over $1 billion from the prior year.

Visa, the biggest credit card network in the U.S., took its first official step Friday toward becoming a public company, outlining to federal regulators how it proposes to restructure and combine its global operations.

From Christmas stockings to bar mitzvah bashes, plastic gift cards from big chain stores have become an accepted part of American gift-giving over the past decade. Now, local retailers are getting into the act, offering gift cards instead of old-fashioned gift certificates.

Downtown Indianapolis restaurateur Regina Mehallick admits figuring out how much credit-card fees affect her bottom line doesn't occupy a big slice of her busy day ... But, perhaps it should.

A federal judge issued an injunction striking down a Visa fee aimed at discouraging issuers of Visa-branded debit cards from switching to MasterCard.

TJX Cos. faces federal lawsuits in five additional states over a data theft that exposed at least 45 million credit and debit cards to potential fraud.

Missouri's Attorney General has filed a lawsuit seeking restitution and penalties against a Kansas City company that repeatedly violated Missouri consumer protection laws in the sale of credit card processing equipment to small businesses.

Credit and debit card payments have risen sharply in recent years and now make up a large percentage of sales at small businesses. Although it's clearly a convenience, many small businesses nationwide worry about the mounting "interchange" fees they pay on card transactions and their effect on prices.

A recent case filed by the Federal Trade Commission against an independent sales organization in Beaverton, Ore., may not be the last such action the federal regulator will bring. In April, the agency sued Merchant Processing Inc. in federal court, alleging the ISO duped merchants by promising to buy out existing terminal contracts and handle transactions at lower rates.

Merchants need to take time to look at their statements. Although it can be confusing, learning about the fees and shopping around for rates could save you money. Know what you're paying.

A credit card processing machine was supposed to save merchants money but it's already cost them thousands of dollars. A New York corporation has filed suits against hundreds of mom and pop businesses. But then, in a dramatic twist, the small businesses claimed they were the victims, that they were ripped off.

The biggest known theft of credit-card numbers in history began two summers ago outside a Marshalls discount clothing store near St. Paul, Minn. Investigators now believe, hackers pointed a telescope-shaped antenna toward the store and used a laptop computer to gather information about customers.

A father and son from the Sacramento CA area, have pleaded guilty in federal court to one felony count each arising out of a scheme to defraud about 1,200 customers out of over $200,000.

The Federal District Court in Oregon has frozen the assets of Beaverton-based Merchant Processing, Inc. (MPI), its owner, and affiliated companies. The court ordered a temporary halt to claims the Federal Trade Commission alleges are deceptive, and appointed a receiver to temporarily take control of the business. The FTC alleges that the defendants used deceptive tactics to sell credit and debit card processing services to thousands of small businesses across the county.

Nine states have introduced a total of 15 bills concerning the hidden credit card interchange fees that cost U.S. consumers $36 billion last year.

In a terse announcement released on April 12, Visa USA said its overall effective interchange rate for the coming year will be 1.77%, up 0.6% from the 2006 systemwide rate.

Experts say TJX either failed to encrypt or truncate credit card numbers or did not secure encryption keys. The exposure of 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers in the TJX data theft should serve as a wakeup call to retailers who risk losing money and credibility when they fail to protect sensitive customer data, say officials at the PCI Security Standards Council.

Menusoft Systems Corporation, developers of Digital Dining software, recently announced certification by American Express over direct IP. This allows their POS application to save merchants significant amounts on their transaction fees.

When a hacker infiltrated the credit card processing system for one of his Atlanta Bread Co. restaurants in the fall, it set off a "nightmare" for Bob Riekhof accompanied by a bill of about $25,000 and counting, the franchisee said.

A survey released this week by a major trade association for corporate treasury officials raises an alarm about fraud in check and electronic payments...

With efforts by merchants to force down interchange rates picking up steam, the rapidly expanding prepaid card market will confront two very different outcomes should those efforts ultimately succeed, according to an expert on interchange.

Of all the demands of running a business, shopping for a competitive credit card processor might seem trivial. Yet a healthy dose of due diligence can go a long way.

As part of the "Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation" settlement (frequently referred to as the Wal-Mart suit), Visa and MasterCard were required to reissue more than 250 million ATM/debit cards with the word "Debit" on the face so that merchants could clearly distinguish them from credit cards. This requirement went into effect on January 1, 2007. More information is available at the following link.

Visa USA has announced it will offer $20 million in financial incentives and create new sanctions in an effort to further merchant compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Accepting credit cards is becoming a must for entrepreneurs and small businesses in today's business environment. There are numerous social, demographic, and technological factors combining to make plastic the payment form of choice for increasing numbers of people.

WAKEFIELD, Mass. Sept. 7, 2006 - American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International today jointly announced the formation of an independent council designed to manage the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, which focuses on improving payment account security throughout the transaction process. The founding of the PCI Security Standards Council, LLC, marks a significant milestone in the payment industry's efforts to secure payment account data in a globally consistent manner. Ultimately this means that more than a billion global payment card users will benefit from a higher level of security protection against data theft and fraud.

MasterCard Announces Interchange Initiatives Aimed at Maximizing the Value of MasterCard card acceptance