Mobile Payment Industry News

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Arma-neverfor-Geddon

Armaneverforgeddon

8:46 A.M. EDT Flight 11 Hits the North Tower of the WTC	Flight 175 Nears WTC	UA 175 About to Crash into WTC South Tower	9:03 A.M. EDT Flight 175 Hits the South Tower of the WTC
Flight 175 Approaches the WTC South Tower	WTC Towers Ablaze With Heavy Smoke	Twin Tower Smoke	Empire State Bldg. in Foreground of Fire
Flight 175 Approaches the WTC South Tower	WTC Towers Ablaze With Heavy Smoke	North Tower Ablaze	Empire State Bldg. in Foreground of Fire
9:03 A.M. EDT News Helicopter Sees UA 175 Hit the South Tower of the WTC	UA 175 Hits WTC Tower	9:03 A.M. EDT UA 175 Hits the South Tower of the WTC	Explosion at the South Tower of the WTC
WTC Towers Ablaze With Brooklyn Bridge in Foreground	Flight 175 Hits the South Tower of the WTC at 9:03, and at 10:05 A.M. South Tower Collapses	At 10:05 A.M. the South Tower Collapses	At 10:05 A.M. the South Tower Collapses
Photo Sequence of the 10:28 A.M. EDT WTC North Tower Collapsing	Towers Rain Debris on Lower Manhattan- Hundreds of firemen and policemen are killed in the collapse	New Yorkers Run to Escape the Massive Debris Storm From the 110-Storey WTC Twin Towers	Firemen and Fire Trucks Caught in Falling Debris
North Tower Collapses			Towers Collapse Near A Church © J. Nachtwey & Time
Injured NYC Fireman Evacuated From WTC	New York Street Terror	New Yorkers Escape the Falling Debris	Hundreds of Brave NYC Firemen Lose their Lives
Out From the Ashes	World Trade Center Survivors	World Trade Center Survivor	Manhattan Smoke
New York Survivor	Running For Your Life	Escape From New York	New Yorkers Flee
Looking Back in Horror	Onlookers are Horrified	Sunny Day Goes Dark	Survivor in Disbelief
New York City Skyline on the Afternoon of September 11, 2001.	New York City Skyline on the Afternoon of September 11, 2001.	New York City Skyline on the Afternoon of September 11, 2001.	New York City Skyline on the Evening of September 11, 2001.

Alternative Payments from Bankers?

Hey This Place Still Takes Credit Cards!

InternetRetailer.com - Daily News for Thursday, September 11, 2008

Bank networks strive for international alternative payments system

As a growing number of online alternative payment methods take market share from traditional bank-issued payment cards, bank networks in the U.S. and abroad are working toward an international system of supporting direct e-commerce links to bank bill-pay services as their own alternative to credit and debit cards. The networks are providing immediate guarantee of payment without requiring merchants to process or store any consumer payment account data, says Richard Brierly-Jones, executive vice president of the International Council of Payment Network Operators.

Bank-owned networks are trying to compete with non-bank providers of alternative payment methods, which have been taking revenue away from banks, says Brierly-Jones, who is based in Denver and is also executive vice president of eWise Systems.

EWise is partnering with NACHA® The Electronics Payments Association, to provide the U.S.-based Secure Vault Payments system, which lets customers of participating online merchants click an icon in a shopping cart to process a direct debit from their bank account to complete an e-commerce payment transaction.

Similar direct-debit systems are also operating in the Netherlands, Germany and Canada, and the bank network VocaLink is planning to launch a similar system in the U.K., Brierly-Jones says.

The ultimate goal of the bank networks is to enable international direct-debit services, so that consumers can click to make a direct-debit payment on any e-commerce site regardless of the host country. Later this month, the International Council of Payment Network Operators will conduct its inaugural meeting in London to address international transaction issues such as cross-border settlements, cross-network pricing and branding, Brierly-Jones says.

The networks are also talking with bank credit card associations Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. about also including bank credit cards as payment options available through the Secure Vault Payments and other payment services available through the bank networks, Brierly-Jones says.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Web?

With the price of fuel hovering at all time highs, many people have started counting the cost of the "shopping expedition" as well as the price of merchandise.

This has created the beginnings of a paradigm shift in the behavioral pattern of consumers and how they shop for goods.

Recent stories raising consumer awareness on the potential of becoming a victim to card cloning, card skimming, Wardriving, etc. etc. only adds to the momentum to forces driving consumers to shop online.

After all, online shopping literally eliminates the fuel factor, having one's own personal swiping device complete with PIN Entry capability virtually eliminates the potential for fraud and e-Commerce pricing usually beats anything found in bricks and mortar locations...and it always will. It simply costs less to provide an outlet of goods online and in the competitve landscape of such a world, those savings are passed on to consumers. In fact, according to an article published today in Red Orbit entitled: Sale of the Century Bargains are one of the biggest allures online retailers have to offer. Here's an excerpt:

"Part of the internet's popularity is down to its reputation for being the easiest place to bag a bargain. Falling broadband costs, a greater familiarity with e-shopping and increasing online offers mean it looks set to thrive, even against the backdrop of the credit crunch. In fact, online shoppers are buying more regularly than ever before: an average of 16.9 times each per year, an increase of 2.7 purchases each in 2006. This continues to force retailers of every type and size to use the format as part of the way they do business".

Thus, e-Commerce is booming worldwide, not just here in the States.

Therefore it is critical that companies begin to look at how to use the internet to drive sales. Not only should companies utilize the internet for marketing purposes, but they should look at it as a critical sales channel. The numbers speak for themselves. This is not a trend. It is truly a paradigm shift.

Consumers armed with high-speed access and positive online retail experiences are increasingly comfortable shopping online. Metrical analysis of the United States and Europe show trends of increased spending in online retail from last year, and the rate of transition from traditional to online shopping isn't showing signs of slowing down anytime soon. In fact, it's outpacing bricks and mortar, while percentages of online shoppers increase. (see "related stories" below)

e-Commerce is expected to boom for the next 5 years. I say longer. I say paradigm shift.

I say that the web is retail's big bad wolf and it's gonna huff and puff and blow some houses down. Bricks...and...mortar...and... all....oh my.

Kudos to the company that houses the global patent on bringing PIN Debit to the web in a browser environment! It's the most popular and fastest growing payment platform in the bricks and mortar world and has yet to take a foothold in the online payments space. That's about to change however and online retailers will jump at the opportunity to significantly reduce their payment processing costs, risk management, chargebacks and increase the security of the transaction. It's not if, it's when. Period.

Related articles by HomeATM PIN Debit Blog

Card Cloning Quickly Becoming a Global Affair

Skimming and counterfeiting credit and debit cards is quickly becoming a global affair as these news stories attest: Remember the slogan "Don't Leave Home Without It"? I

t's safe to say those days are over as the time is ripe for shopping "at home" using your very own personal magnetic card reader with PIN entry capability. No home should be without one. See: Reverse Matriculation, Bringing the POS Device Home

Take a look at the video I embedded into this post showing "how easy" it is for your credit card information to be swiped, downloaded onto a laptop and transferred over to a blank card. It's amazingly easy The video can be found on the bottom of this post..

42% of Dubai Bank customers hit by ATM fraud

ArabianBusiness.com, United Arab Emirates - 2 hours ago

Leading banks play down fallout of card fraud GulfNews
PIN fraud sparks bank alert The National
Banks Call on Customers to Change ATM Card PIN to Protect Accounts Khaleej Times
all 36 news articles »

Credit card scam

Taranaki Daily News, New Zealand
Credit card scammers hit Kiwis visiting UK Newstalk ZB
all 22 news articles »

Hialeah pair arrested after traffic stop turns up illegal credit cards

Naples Daily News, FL - 1 hour ago
Ramon Rodriguez, 20, and Yanet Leyva, 21, were each charged with possession of counterfeit credit cards and illegal use of credit cards. ...

Third man admits role in Allesley credit card cloning factory crime
CV5 Communities, UK - 4 hours ago

Petrol station fraudsters in credit card scam
Chester Evening Leader, UK - 20 hours ago

The village of the cloned
BBC News, UK - 22 hours ago

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Payments Source Webinar Review

I just finished viewing/listening in to a webinar on the new initiative launched by Source Media called Payments Source.

According to the webinar, which took place at 12:00 PST today, Payments Source aims to become the "Go to Resource for Payments Focused News and Data." They said that they look to be the "most comprehensive service in the industry" and subscribers will have access to thousands of news articles aggregated from Source Media's publications, including: American Banker, Bank Technology News, Cardline, ATM Debit News, Cards & Payments, PrePaid Trends and more.

Payments Source subscriptions will include detailed information on:

35 Key Industry Rankings and Stats
7000+ Company Profiles (and growing)
6000+ Executive Profiles (and growing)
1000's of News Articles relating to the Payments Industry

Annual cost to subscribe is $1995 per year

Payments Source aspires to become the new web application for vital business intelligence for the payments industry. It promises to provide information designed to allow subscribers to "stay ahead of the competition by becoming the first to know about industry developments on need to know intelligence in the payments space.

Other features on Payments Source include:

A fully customizable HomePage which they call "The Watch Page." On the Watch Page subscribers see a (based on your own criteria), homepage riddled with information at their fingertips. The information includes such topics as "Top News," "Research Reports," "Rankings/Stats," "Lists" and "Marketing Trends." Payments Source also break down each of these by sectors: Debit, Credit, Processors, Networks, Merchant Acquirers and Credit Risk. (I posed a question during the webinar whether they had plans to specifically cover the "Alternative Payments" sector but did not get a response...in fairness, the question was posed near the end of the webinar).

Other features: Company Profiles, which include locations of Parent, (corporate) and subsidiary's and their addresses, key executives, number of employees, financials and other key data. Data is broken down into sectors such as credit (quarterly) and debit (annually)

Another section, entitled: "more payment professionals" include EVP's SVP's, VP's, their profiles, names, titles, biography, function, news about that person and "possibly" contact information.

The Rankings and Statistics section has been put together by a data specialist from their Chicago office; (sorry missed his name) is updated quarterly and can be downloaded to Excel. In another feature, subscribers can build "Lists" with a list builder platform designed to "save time on marketing and lead generation activities according to John McGovern, the "Enterprise Business Development Director." Finally, a section entitled "Events" obviously pertains to card payment industry related events and those can be viewed by month, name, location and/or sector.

According to Andrew Rowe, Publisher of Payments Source, they spent the last 16 months putting together a "more targeted and robust payments source than has ever existed before." I get a two-week trial for attending the event and look forward to taking a closer look. I'll bring you more on this new source for payments information upon the conclusion of my trial, including a thumbs up, way up, or down.

In the meantime, if you'd like more information on Payments Source you may view a free online site tour by clicking the graphich on the right:

To see if you qualify for a complimentary two week pass:

Call or Email Now:

See if you qualify for a 2-week FREE trial!
800-535-8403 or info@paymentssource.com, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. ET.

Or you may contact:

Andrew Rowe - Publisher
andrew.rowe@sourcemedia.com
312-983-6131 in Chicago

or

John McGovern - Enterprise Business Development Director
john.mcgovern@sourcemedia.com
212-255-9700 in New York

Kohl's Web Sales increased by 34%, Retail drops by 4.6%

According to Internet Retailer Magazine, Kohl's is ranked 63rd among Internet Retailers...

For the quarter ended Aug. 2, e-commerce revenue for Kohl’s increased by 34.1% to $65.6 million from $48.9 million in the prior year.

In the second quarter, overall revenue grew year over year by 3.6% while comparable store sales dropped by 4.6%. The web and e-commerce accounted for 2% of total sales, but generated 13% of growth across all channels.

For the first two quarters, e-commerce sales for Kohl’s rose year over year by 31.1% to $132.8 million from $101.3 million.

Overall Kohl’s also posted net income of $389 million on revenue of $7.34 billion vs. net income of $478.2 million on sales of $7.16 billion in the prior period. Comparable store sales dropped by 5.6%. “We remain conservative in our sales expectations for the fall season and will manage our business accordingly,” says Kohl’s chairman Larry Montgomery. “We are well positioned to chase business should the environment improve.”

In August, Montgomery was replaced as CEO by Kohl’s president Kevin Mansell, who will continue to oversee e-commerce. As board chairman, Montgomery will retain management responsibility for growth and talent management, including human resources, legal and real estate development.

PIN Debit Has Highest Growth of All Payment Segments

First Data Releases Their 21st Annual Consumer Payment Usage Study.

This fourteen page report reports on trends, segmentation opportunities with special focus on six different POS payment categories that consumers tend to be most comfortable: Signature Debit, PIN Debit, Cash + PIN Debit, Cash Only, Check Only and Credit Card.

Not surprisingly PIN Debit is "experiencing the most growth" while checks have experienced the greatest decline. The report correlates other payment behavior for each payment category such as bill payment behavior, internet purchases, security concerns and more.

Here are some highlights of the study. As always, click any graphic to enlarge it to full size. To read the study in it's entirety, follow this link:

First Data Consumer Payment Usage Study

Executive Summary

For the 21st consecutive year, First Data conducted an annual consumer study to understand and track changes in consumer attitudes and behaviors toward various payment methods. The intent of the annual study is to learn more about critical information for retaining customers, acquiring new customers, differentiating products and services and producing a higher rate of return for businesses. The 2007/2008 Consumer Payments Usage and Segmentation Study revealed key trends that merchants may want to consider in marketing and utilizing ATM/debit cards and related products.

ATM/Debit Card Use Continues to Grow The frequency of using an ATM/debit card increased from 2006 to 2007 with more consumers reporting using their card in the past 30 days. Of particular note is the substantial 11 percent increase (63 percent in 2007 up from 52 percent in 2006) in past 30-day card use by the 61+ age group. In general, the reported number of times an ATM/debit card is used in the past 30 days continues to edge up slightly and is slowly approaching usage level of once per day. According to the survey, usage levels of ATM/debit cards are driven mostly by POS use.

Compared to 2006, the two segments of PIN Debit and Signature Debit comprised a larger share of the marketplace in 2007. This is likely due to consumers gaining more familiarity with electronic payment methods, prolific accessibility to ATM/debit cards and attraction toward the speed, convenience and protection offered by ATM/debit cards relative to traditional payment methods, such as checks. The PIN Debit segment records the highest growth of all segments and is now almost equal in size to the Cash segment, which also posted an increase, though marginal.

PIN Debit Segment – Changes Versus 2006

The PIN Debit segment mainly comprises consumers 25 to 60 years. However, in 2007, the proportion of customers age 61 years and older in this segment increased slightly. A gender concentration shift also occurred as more women than men now form a larger part of this segment. Though security remains the top reason users report for preferring PIN debit, speed (faster/quicker) gained ground as a reason in 2007.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

6 Tips to Avoid Becoming a Skimming Victim

Biggest Tip: Shop At Home with HomeATM's Personal Magnetic Stripe PIN Entry Device

Notice: These tips are for bricks and mortar shoppers only. None of these tips apply when shopping in the safety of your own home with your own personal magnetic card reader and PIN Entry Device, such as the one provided by HomeATM.

Contrary to popular belief, shopping online is safer than venturing into a bricks and mortar establishment and having to worry about POS terminals that have been tampered with, employees who can swipe your card data into hand held magnetic card readers, etc. etc. etc. Should you feel the need to take a risk and make a purchase in the bricks and vulture, er mortar world, here are some tips designed to reduce your chances of getting skimmed:

1. Get your card back quickly. The shorter the time that your card is away from you, the less chance there is of a fraud. Otherwise it can get skimmed, or an employee or other person could take a quick picture of it with a cell phone camera. I'm not trying to make you paranoid here, I'm just trying to increase awareness.

2. Restaurants Can Eat You Up: Tell your waiter that you prefer to pay at the register rather than handing him or her your credit card and having them walk away with it unseen. That way, you're less likely to be subject to skimming, a scam whereby an employee takes an unauthorized scan of your card. If you must hand your card over to a waiter or salesperson, keep the card in your sight at all times. But I cannot imagine a situation where "you must" hand it over. Just explain that you are aware how easy it is to skim a card, and "nothing personal" but that "ounce" of prevention sounds good after dinner.

3. Don't Pay at the Pump: This is a two-fold tip. First off, skimming devices, such as the one pictured on the right are inserted behind panels at gas pumps. They cannot be seen by the naked eye. When you swipe your card, they swipe your card information. So pay inside and you'll avoid this problem. Gas Pump card swipe technology is very technologically primitive. You pay enough at the pump, why risk it?

The second tip regarding the purchase of gasoline is this. When you pay inside, use your PIN number. When you pay at the pump, (not only do you risk having your card skimmed) the bank usually places a hold of up to $100 on your account, even if you've only purchased $25 worth of gas.

So pay inside, and use your PIN. PIN-based transactions are immediately authorized and only the exact amounts are deducted from your account with no holds. You also eliminate potential overdraft fees incurred from the bank holds placed on your account, which can last up to 72 hours.

4. Look for security cameras. PCI data security standards require merchants who process credit cards in person to have security cameras trained on card processing areas, notes Miller. Unfortunately, many don't, which means the retailer, restaurant or other merchant is more likely to be subject to internal credit card fraud by employees. If employees know that security cameras are monitoring them, they are less likely to try to commit fraud.

5. Beware of tip fraud. Yeah, I know these are tips to prevent fraud, but don't be coy with me here. I'm talking about the types of tip fraud where you add a servicer tip onto your credit or debit card charge. In those circumstances you risk tip fraud, which is a scam whereby a service employee alters the tip amount when entering the final bill at the cash register or point-of-sale system.

6. Check for skimming at ATM and PIN entry terminals.
I've talked a lot about this on the HomeATM PIN Debit Blog recently. Criminals plant skimming devices. Skimmers frequently attach these devices to ATMs or mini-camera's (see graphic on right) to record PIN numbers, then steal card data encoded on magnetic strips. Therefore, if an ATM or PIN entry device looks suspect, don't use it, and inform the authorities.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

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