HomeATM and Universal Air Travel Plan

UATP Offers Payment Option Challenging the High Cost of Other Credit Card Options - MarketWatch

UATP Offers Payment Option Challenging the High Cost of Other Credit Card Options

UATP Offers Airlines/Corporations Option to SAVE!
Last update: 1:14 p.m. EST Nov. 4, 2008

Universal Air Travel Plan, Inc., (UATP), offers a travel payment option that helps to mitigate the high cost corporate credit cards in the market today, while offering revenue streams for Issuers and a low merchant service fee to all Merchants.

Responding to the recent American Express announcement (30 October 2008) of moving forward with "pricing initiatives designed to generate significant additional revenue next year," on some business cards, UATP President and CEO, Ralph Kaiser commented, "The airline industry is already facing a challenging market and, with the global economic forecast, now is not the time to be raising prices and generating revenue at customer expense."

Kaiser added, "While we hope that the airlines and corporations won't be negatively affected by American Express' pricing initiatives, UATP offers a viable option."  UATP's core product is a low cost corporate charge card that airlines Issue globally to corporate account holders. The key benefits of UATP cards include:

For Merchants

•   Low Merchant Service Fees
•   New Revenue Streams via Additional Flown Revenue

For Corporations

•   Centralized Billing for Improved Cost Control
•   Level III Data
•   No International or Currency Conversion Fees
•   No Membership or Annual Dues

"UATP continues its vision of offering the best payment option at the lowest possible cost," Kaiser continued. "We are on track to generate more than (US$) 12 billion dollars in charge volume this year and expect further growth in 2009."

In addition to its core corporate travel product, UATP has expanded its offering by utilizing the UATP Network to facilitate alternative forms of payment for current partners  HomeATM, PayPal,  BillMeLater, gift card partner Stored Value Systems and others.

During 2009, UATP expects to continue growing its partnership base and adding new Merchants and Issuers to the UATP Network.

Contact:
UATP Corporate Communications
Wendy Ward, wward@uatp.com
+1 202 626 4077

SOURCE Universal Air Travel Plan, Inc.
http://www.uatp.com

Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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Transit Visa Needed To Get Around L.A.

Image via Wikipedia

Visa to Improve Payment Experience for Commuters in Los Angeles and Paris; Working with Transit Operators to Enable Visa Payment at the Fare Gate - MarketWatch

PARIS & SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 04, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Visa Inc.

Visa today announced it is working with the Los Angeles transit authority to allow train, subway and bus riders to speed through turnstiles and past fare boxes with a simple wave of their Visa payWave-enabled contactless card.

Los Angeles pilot

In Los Angeles, Visa is working with the LA Metro system to offer special Visa payWave cards that also incorporate the transit system's "TAP" fare application. These dual-use, prepaid Visa cards will let riders pay their fares and purchase fare products using their Visa account, while also allowing cardholders to make purchases anywhere Visa debit is accepted.

Two types of cards will be available through the pilot:

• Ride, pay and reload cards -- sold through automated ReadySTATION kiosks within the LA Metro system, these cards will be active and ready to use immediately for both transit fares and Visa purchases everywhere Visa debit is accepted. Riders will be able to add up to $500 in value at the kiosks.
  
  
• Ride, pay, reload and ATM cash access cards -- these are personalized cards with a maximum value limit of $10,000 which are ordered online or over the phone. Beyond a larger value limit the personalized cards have the added feature of a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for obtaining cash at ATMs. It will also function as a standard Visa prepaid card for purchases outside the transit system. In addition, cardholders will be eligible for free direct deposit of their paychecks directly to the Visa prepaid card account, providing added convenience and security over payment alternatives like checks and cash, for those riders without traditional banking relationships.

"Combining TAP and Visa payWave on a single contactless card is a great idea and delivers convenience and speed at bus fare boxes and rail station validators for LA transit riders," said Roger Snoble, Chief Executive Officer, at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "It also provides commuters with an easy way to reload and manage their LA transit accounts, while providing them with a Visa prepaid card that is accepted at any Visa debit acceptance location or ATM."

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Chasing Alternative Payments

Chase Eyes Alternative Payments

Digital Transaction News writes that "the bank-owned Chase Paymentech will focus on alternative payments and geographic expansion with its 51% share of the former joint venture’s assets, but it’s unclear what First Data will do with its 49% share.  According to the article, Chase will take a closer look at the "Alternative Payments" space."

"Bank card processing will remain the core service, but alternative payments, both online and physical, will get a lot of development attention, according to Chase. “That’s what the customer wants,” noting that in some European and Asian countries, online alternatives rival traditional card payments in volume."

Click Here to Read the Article in Full

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Debit Talks and Credit Walks

The US braces for next crisis: Credit cards

Editor's Note:  Many posts over the last few months have been dedicated to the idea that debit card usage will continue to grow leaps and bounds while credit card usage will stagnate.  Here's an article further supporting that belief...

Reports indicate that a substantial portion of of the 158 million US card holders using 1.5 billion cards have started defaulting and banks had to write of approx $21 billion in bad credit loans in the first six months of this year and expect a further loss of $55 billion in the next 12 months.

For years, consumers in the US have become ever more dependent on credit cards with American Express, the largest credit card issuer in the US coined the famous by line ''Never leave home without it.'' Now an average American does not leave home without at least 10 credit cards and a whole host of other supermarket credit cards in his wallet.  Five big financial companies, Discover Financial Services, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Capital One Financial issue around 80 per cent of all US credit cards.

 
How deep is the problem?

According to Federal Reserve figures, in the US alone more than $850 billion in unpaid credit card balances is at stake and fast approaching $1 trillion, roughly the same amount as in the subprime market.  CNN reported that worldwide, consumers have racked up more than $2.2 trillion in purchases and cash advances on major credit cards in the last year.

• The unpaid debt portion of this with US consumers is $68 billion, thus increasing credit card debt by 7.8 per cent, the largest increase in seven years.
  
  
• Even as they spent, consumers had been going into default at a stunning rate with delinquent credit card accounts this year hitting a six-year high of 4.9 per cent and the charge-offs -when banks give up on collecting debt, have reached a all time high of 5.5 per cent in the second quarter, as per the latest data available with the US Federal Reserve.
  
  
• Since last year, major banks were setting aside billions as reserves for credit card loan loss and anticipating an increase of 20 per cent in non payments over the next two to four quarters.
  
  
• Capital One, one of the biggest credit card banks, was forced to write off $1.9 billion in bad debt in the last quarter of 2007 and serious delinquencies among some of the biggest lenders rose by 50 per cent or more in the value of accounts that were at least 90 days delinquent.
  
  
• Just like the mortgage debt which created a financial havoc worldwide, credit card debt is pooled and then resold to investment houses, other banks and institutional investors.
  
  
• US credit card debt grew by 435 per cent from 2002 to year-end 2007, from $211 billion to approx $915 billion.
  
  
• About 45 per cent of this $915 billion in credit card debt has been packaged into these pools, which not only creates a risk to a few banks but many other institutions as well who will be forced out of business due to credit card debt write offs.
  
  
• The national savings rate was 10 to 11 per cent in the l980s and since 2005, Americans have saved less than 1 per cent of their disposable incomes with a negative saving rate as of March this year, making an average America broke, and credit cards played a major role in getting them there.
  
  
• Currently, the losses on credit card debt which stands at 5.5 per cent could rise to 7.9 per cent and the industry will stand to lose $55 billion this year, as the financial crisis has seen companies laying off thousand of workers all over the US. People will add up to the credit card debt as the unemployment rate has increased by about 2 million people in the last 12 months.

The US Department of Labour reported that the US shed 1,59,000 jobs in September and the list of companies which have announced a cut in jobs read like a Who's Who of corporate America: Merck, Yahoo, General Electric, Xerox, Pratt & Whitney, Goldman Sachs, Whirlpool, Bank of America, Pepsi, Hewlett Packard, Alcoa, Coca-Cola, the three big Detroit auto manufacturers, leading newspapers, banks and financial institutions and nearly all the airlines.

To solve the ever increasing credit card defaults, banks and consumer groups are lobbying US regulators to forgive 40 per cent of the debt of most financially stressed consumers who are close to bankruptcy and they could pay off their remaining card debt, interest free in five years.Banks could begin with this test scheme on 50,000 consumers, in hopes of expanding it to tens of thousands of others.

Editor's Note:  Looks like Debit Talks and Credit Walks and Debit Transactions will continue with it's exorbitant growth while credit transactions will stagnate.

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Cybercriminals...Crisis? What Crisis?

Economic Crisis May Be Boon For Cybercriminals, Experts Say

How the global financial crisis is affecting organized cybercrime

By Kelly Jackson Higgins, DarkReading
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211601123

One industry sector is actually happy about the current state of the global economy: cybercriminals.

"One thing we've seen is financially based cybercrime is recession-proof," says Darren Mott, supervisory special agent for the FBI's Cyber Division. "With [this] changing economy, the only thing that changes is the way they go about obtaining their information."

Organized cybercrime has already begun capitalizing on the global financial crisis, cybercrime experts say, with targeted phishing attacks on customers whose banks have folded, and attacks that scam consumers who may be shopping less online, but are now spending more time at home. With fewer business and consumer targets available, the bad guys are redirecting their efforts to adapt to the market. For example, credit cards are out; debit cards are in.

"The crisis is good for cybercrime because people become more desperate for 'good deals.' It is bad for cybercrime in that they will continue operations much like they do now, but have to move around more often," says security expert Gadi Evron.

And they are already on the move: A wave of targeted phishing attacks on doomed banks and brokerages has been spotted by The Shadowserver Foundation during the past few weeks. "They were crafted a little better, mentioning the affected banks," as well as some that posed as the Better Business Bureau, says Andre' DiMino, co-founder and director of Shadowserver. "They are almost preying on how people are trying to be more savvy in what they buy and what they are doing as they are more careful in where they spend."

One attack used Citigroup's attempted takeover of Wachovia as a premise for stealing Wachovia customers' credentials. (Wells Fargo eventually outbid Citigroup for Wachovia). "There's been a surge in phishing, telling customers that due to the new takeover, they need new credentials," says Ori Eisen, founder and chief innovation officer for 41st Parameter. If the victim hands over his old credentials to "set" his new ones, it's game over for his bank account information.

Socially engineered attacks are typically a lucrative ploy by seasoned attackers. The FBI is seeing more spear phishing aimed at businesses that were hit hard by the economic downturn. "There has been an increase in attacks on specific individuals, such as CEOs and CFOs, because a lot of businesses are going under...that gives them more directed targets," the FBI's Mott says. The attackers lure them with promises of financial assistance, for instance, and some even pretend to be subpoenas from the Justice Department. One attack via e-mail urged bidders who had lost out on a government contract to resubmit their bids and, thus, spill sensitive contact and other information.

Bad guys continue to go after "hot items," such as online banking credentials and online shopping accounts, security experts say. "People are tending to be more focused on their finances and the economic situation than they are in securing their networks" and systems, Shadowserver's DiMino says. "They are logging into their banking and brokerage accounts more frequently, and malware [planted on their systems] will wake up when" they visit these sites, he says.

In the past two months, researchers at Finjan have found three times the number of servers with stolen data. "Before that, we'd see five or six servers in a single month, or one every week or so. Now we're seeing four or five servers a week," says Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CTO of Finjan. "Increased phishing attacks might be the reason, and a combination of both corporate and consumer [victims]."

Other researchers have cited a direct correlation between the stock market's nosedive and an increase in cybercrime activity.  Ryan Sherstobitoff, chief corporate evangelist for PandaLabs says he and his team first noticed a jump in overall malware on Sept. 16 when stocks started to dip significantly. Panda discovered a 5 to 30 percent increase in malware that day related to the recent wave of rogue antivirus adware attacks. "If the stock market is crashing, there's not a lot of confidence," Sherstobitoff says. And phony antivirus popups warning that your system-may-be-infected-so-you'd-better-run-this-scan preyed on fears, he says.

Meanwhile, law enforcement and cybercrime experts say more malicious Web sites posing as economic or financial advisory services will start to emerge in this jittery financial climate. "'Have you been victimized by your bank's closing? Check us out,'" is the type of lure the bad guys may use with these sites, DiMino says.

That means a reverse in the trend from the past few months of cybercriminals' silently infecting legitimate sites. "Expect to see malicious sites crop up that are geared to information-stealing, malware-dropping, pharming, and phishing rather than compromising legitimate site," he says.

And just as street crime increases in times of financial stress, more novice attackers and script kiddies are likely to perform an online version of shoplifting and bank robbery. "You're going to see more quick-hit script kiddies, like street crime," DiMino says.

It's simple enough for these amateur hackers to get into the business -- there's plenty of off-the-shelf software that automates phishing. All it takes is a Web server. "We know [when] it's an amateur because they are leaving their servers completely open and unprotected," Yuval Ben-Itzhak says.

The insider threat, too, will likely also intensify as layoffs spread in the corporate world. "You're going to see insider attacks and less direct hacks," Shadowserver's DiMino says. "There will be more of an attempt to infiltrate from inside, with botnets and SQL injection."

With potentially fewer overall enterprise targets, cybercrime organizations could end up fighting over turf. "In general, cybercrime is nothing more than a new form of organized crime," the FBI's Mott says. "You may see more online cybercrime 'violence.' DDoS attacks may go up."

Still, the bottom line is that the crisis hasn't hurt the cybercriminal's bottom line. Nor has it slowed any activity in the bustling online black market, at least thus far. "Right now, there's no observable effect. We still see the same trading activity on IRC channels," says Guillaume Lovet, senior manager for Fortinet's Threat Response Team.

Copyright © 2007 CMP Media LLC

Cloud Computing Zombies for $299 Month...

Editor's Note:  File this under "A Perfect Storm is Brewing and HomeATM is Perfectly Placed"

Cloud-computing zombies for $299 per month | Tech News on ZDNet

Cloud-computing crimeware means networks of zombie machines can be hired to steal online-banking details for as little as $299 per month.

'Fraud as a service' is opening up computer crime to people with no technical expertise, warned Uri Rivner, head of new technology at security company RSA.

Speaking at the RSA Conference Europe 2008 in London, Rivner laid the pricing bare, revealing how fraudsters offer botnet networks as a subscription service, with patching and upgrades thrown in.

These networks could be tailored to infect other users' computers with malware, or to launch massive distributed denial-of-service attacks designed to take down computer systems.

Rivner said: "This is the danger with making this technology open to the mass market.   Anybody can become a high-end online fraudster."

Malware is also being sold for both the high-end and budget markets, from the $1,000 Zeus Trojan, a sophisticated Trojan that harvests data and entrenches itself in the system, down to $350 for the Limbo Trojan. 

Rivner said the fraudsters usually split their roles between the "harvester", the hacker who writes and deploys the malware to steal the details, and a "cash-out" criminal who will handle the money.

Cash-out fraudsters use "money mules", who are often unwittingly recruited as "finance officers" working from home, to have the dirty money laundered through their account.

---

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DOJ "Steering" Investigation at American Express

Justice Department investigating American Express

NEW YORK – American Express has received a request from the U.S. Department of Justice for information regarding the credit card company's policies related to merchant surcharging, according to a regulatory filing Friday.

The company said it received a Civil Investigative Demand on Oct. 14 from the Justice Department's antitrust division. The department can issue CIDs to anyone it believes may have information related to an investigation, the filing said. Receipt of such a request does not mean that a formal complaint will be filed.

American Express said it intends to cooperate with the department's request for documents and other information regarding the company's policies related to merchant surcharging and its “anti-steering” policies that prohibit merchants from discriminating against the American Express card in favor of other forms of payment.

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25 E-Commerce Tech Terms You Should Know

E-commerce tech terms you should know
By Dale Buss - Forbes

Transacting business seamlessly over the internet means having a decent grasp of how things work, and more importantly, why they don't. That's why, with help form the smart folks at technology publisher O'Reilly Media, we've assembled a glossary of e-commerce-related tech terms that every entrepreneur should know.

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Some of that gobbledygook is the province of tech jocks. However, if entrepreneurs want to achieve operational excellence while keeping technology investment in check, they have to be able to at least speak the language. And you don't have to know how to get down and dirty with computer code to understand the implications these issues have on strategy and budgeting.

Online retailers, for example, are trying to move beyond what has become the conventional, rather static consumer experience. One solution: real-time, individualized pricing. A new system, developed by uBee, allows merchants to "sense" what items a shopper is looking for on their websites, and spits out a custom price based on inventory levels and other particulars.

"That," says uBee CEO Bill Carpenter, "can give you personalization between buyer and seller."

The e-commerce platform that UBee plans to launch next month will rely on SOAP, for Simple Object Access Protocol, a technology standard based on using "envelopes" that retailers and uBee use to exchange information quickly enough to make these real-time offers. The "documents" in these envelopes invariably are written in XML, the most common software language in e-commerce, including variants such as XML-RPC and XML Business Reporting Language. (The acronyms are dizzying at first, but you get used to them.)

For all the billions of dollars being spent and collected online, the code at the core of e-commerce remains highly fragmented — and that creates communication breakdowns within the overall system.

"The Internet is still the wild, wild west," said Clint Page, chief executive of Dotster, a Vancouver, Wash.-based provider of Internet-business services. "It's not like more-developed parts of business and commerce where you get standardized platforms."

Take setting up a merchant account with a bank so that you can accept and process online payments. While bricks-and-mortar retailers only have to decide whether to accept checks and major credit cards, e-commerce is open to all sorts of other payment possibilities and transactions in currencies other than the dollar, such as HomeATM's PIN Debit/Credit Platform.

You'll also want to know a thing or two about affiliate programs. Under these advertising arrangements, companies collect cash for driving traffic to your site, and visa versa.

With Google now as much a verb as a company name, search engine optimization (or SEO) — the process of increasing a site's odds of ranking high in the search stacks — is a key consideration for any e-commerce player.

Says Dotster's page: "There is ferocious competition to be on the first two or three pages of each search." Editor's Note:  Do a Google Search on PIN Debit. 


Then there's the problem of security. While millions of consumers have grown comfortable with entering credit-card information into a Web site, reports of massive identity theft continue to crimp online sales. Editor's Note:  Consumers should NOT be comfortable entering their credit/debit card information into a Website. 

The lines of defense begin with authentication programs that determine whether someone signing on under a specific name is actually authorized to use the site via that specific account. Editor's Note: Dually Authenticated HomeATM PIN based transactions allow consumers to swipe their card (eliminating the risk and conveniently saving them from typing their card numbers onto a website). Entering the PIN (non-keystroke) makes for a  highly (dual) secured transaction.   Force users to jump through too many hoops, though, and you risk driving them away. Hence the single sign-on approach, in which either the user's computer or the website "remembers" passwords. Access control beefs up the barricades by granting entry only to specific site functions, such as adding an item to a shopping cart.

Want to make it clear that your site is indeed secure? Use software that adds a padlock icon in the user's browser window. Editor's Note:  Or use HomeATM's globally patented PIN based checkout system!

"Ensuring that your checkout process and, more important, the credit card form are well-secured will guarantee your customers feel safe when transmitting their information," says Pat Kaeowichien, director of information technology for Magnetic, a Tampa-based Web-development firm.

Credit card firms have taken critical steps to fend off identify thieves, too. In 2006 a consortium including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover helped devise the PCI/DDS standard for providing secure communication for transactions over the Internet. 

"This standard is now in place for all merchants globally who accept credit cards — no exceptions," says Bill Bradley, senior industry marketing manager for Akamai Technologies in Cambridge, Mass. "Non-compliance can mean fines and, for that retailer, a loss of public trust. And that's the main reason people don't buy online in the first place."  Editor's Note:  Ironically, PCI DSS was initially designed for bricks and mortar retail locations, there is no specific WPCI (Web Payments Card Industry) standard...

Keeping them buying: That's what understanding e-commerce — and the technology that drives it — is all about.  Editor's Note:  Keep them buying securely, that's what HomeATM's technology is all about!

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550,000 Web Banking Accounts Breached

Trojan compromises 550,000 web-banking accounts - ZDNet.co.uk

RSA FraudAction Research Lab has discovered login information for around 300,000 online bank accounts and 250,000 credit- and debit-card accounts, gathered by a cybercrime gang over the past three years using the Sinowal Trojan.

The account information has been stolen since at least February 2006, uninterrupted, and includes email and FTP accounts, according to RSA.  "This may be one of the most pervasive and advanced pieces of crimeware ever created by fraudsters," according to a blog posted on Friday by RSA, EMC's security unit. 

The Sinowal Trojan infects a computer without the owner's knowledge, surreptitiously planting itself onto a computer while the owner is surfing the web, in an attack dubbed a 'drive-by download'. The malicious code is typically hidden on less familiar websites, often related to porn or gambling, but can also be found lurking on legitimate websites, said Sean Brady, manager of identity protection at RSA.

The Trojan is programmed to execute when the victim visits a particular banking or financial website; it is triggered by more than 2,700 specific URLs, according to RSA. The malware then inserts additional fields into the victim's browser, prompting the victim to type in information such as their PIN and Social Security number, which the website itself does not ask for.

The company has alerted law-enforcement bodies and has provided the compromised account information to the financial institutions involved, Brady said in an interview on Thursday.

Read More...

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Generation X + Y = Internet Boomers

Where Is Generation X?

They may have grown up listening to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but a lot of things have changed since then. The Internet came along, for one.

Generation X has come of age. No longer the grungy, ripped-jeans kids Time magazine first described in 1990, Gen Xers are in their peak years of product and service consumption. And they are embracing electronic media more fervently than they were even 18 years ago.

According to US Census Bureau statistics, as of July 2007, 83.8 million people were in the 25-to-44-year-old Gen X age bracket. At approximately the same time, the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that a full 90% of Gen Xers used the Internet—only one percentage point less than Generation Y.

“Generation X fervently embraces electronic media,” according to the new eMarketer report, Generation X: Coming of Age Online: “Computers, PDAs and mobile phones are ingrained into all aspects of Generation Xers’ lives. They eagerly embrace new gadgets and applications as replacements for existing ones.”

Anderson Analytics places Gen Xers in the number two slot (right after the much-touted boomers) as the most important marketing demographic.  Since most Xers are still earning full salaries, they have money to spend. According to Javelin Strategy and Research, Generation X’s total income was $3.67 trillion in 2007—and that figure is projected to grow to $4.2 trillion in 2017.

But there is a problem: Gen X presents challenges to marketers.  Gen Xers’ media usage is fragmented. They embrace a wider range of lifestyles than previous generations. And weaned on MTV and cable television, they are largely immune to traditional advertising.  Fortunately, after a discussion of Gen X new media usage, eMarketer’s Generation X: Coming of Age Online concludes: “By embracing the growing forms of pinpointed electronic media that Gen X reveres, marketers stand a greater chance of increasing their visibility among this elusive, hard-to-reach generation.”

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Money Transfers to Account for 50% of Mobile Payments by 2013

Money transfers to account for 50 percent of mobile payments by 2013

Mobile money transfer and contactless NFC (Near Field communications) will together account for 50 percent of the overall mobile payment market globally by 2013, according to research.

The mobile payments market, now dominated by purchases of digital goods such as ringtones, music, and games, is expected to be driven by mobile money transfers and NFC for purchases in the future. According to research, this will drive the overall mobile payments market to grow by a factor of ten between now and 2013.

Researchers also expect mobile wallets to incorporate NFC to enable people to use their mobile phones to pay for small value items. The top 3 regions for this sector will be the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America, which together are estimated to account for over 70 percent of mobile money payments on a gross transaction basis by 2013. Nonetheless, NFC handset availability, workable business models and financial legislation are identified as the main obstacles to be addressed for the market to reach its tipping point.

The report is titled ‘Mobile Payments Markets: Strategies & Forecasts 2008-2013’ and was produced by research firm Juniper Research.

Chase Paymentech Completes Transition As Well

Image via Wikipedia

Chase Paymentech has also (see previous story on First Data) announced the completion of its transition from a joint venture with First Data Corp to a wholly-owned unit of JPMorgan Chase. The assets of the joint venture owned by JPMorgan Chase have been integrated into the bank as a part of its card services division and will continue to operate under the name Chase Paymentech.

“We are enthusiastic about what the future holds for Chase Paymentech now that we’re wholly owned by JPMorgan Chase,” said Mike Duffy, president of Chase Paymentech. “The payment industry is very dynamic and is undergoing a significant evolution at the moment. Our new position within JPMorgan Chase gives us a global reach and resources unmatched in our industry. This means we can continue to deliver to our customers the high-quality service they have come to expect, while expanding the available range of global payment and data solutions.”

As part of its new ownership, Chase Paymentech retains its state-of-the-art payment processing platform and operations, the majority of the joint venture’s employees and 51% of the client base, which includes customers representing approximately half of all global e-commerce and Internet transactions.

“We are committed to being the leader in the global payments industry,” Duffy said. “Merchants are looking beyond the services offered by most payment processors. They want a merchant acquirer that provides expanded services, such as cash flow management, alternative payments and advanced analytics. We fully expect to be at the forefront of the industry.”

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First Data Transitions Chase Paymentech Portfolio

First Data Seamlessly Transitions Chase Paymentech Portfolio Merchants to Benefit from First Data's Continued Focus on Product Innovation

First Data, a global technology leader in electronic commerce and payments, today announced the successful termination of its joint venture, Chase Paymentech Solutions(TM), with JPMorgan Chase. Both companies now operate separate payment businesses.

First Data's core business is providing data-driven solutions and insight to both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce merchants through market-leading services and technologies that advance global electronic payments. First Data's investment in its portfolio of product offerings from loyalty programs to data analytics and mobile commerce solutions will enable merchants to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

"Ensuring there was no disruption to our allocated merchant partners or employees during this transition was a priority for First Data and JPMorgan Chase," said Brian Mooney, president of First Data's Merchant Services group. "As the payments industry evolves, the value proposition to merchants becomes more about delivering new technologies that enhance the consumer experience wherever they may choose to buy and First Data has the breadth and depth of solutions to do just that."

First Data has assumed its 49 percent share of the merchant portfolio which includes management of the full-service ISO and Agent Bank unit of the JV. First Data has also completed the integration of its proportionate share of the JV's assets and a portion of the JV employees into its existing merchant acquiring business. First Data will continue to provide processing services for a segment of the business allocated to JPMorgan Chase.

Today, First Data provides processing and acquiring services to more than 5.4 million merchant locations globally and processed $1.5 trillion of payment transaction dollar volume on behalf of U.S. merchants in 2007.

About First Data

First Data is a global technology leader in information commerce. The company processes transaction data of all kinds, harnesses the power of that data and delivers innovations in secure infrastructure, intelligence and insight for its customers. With operations in 37 countries, First Data serves more than 5.4 million merchant locations and more than 2,000 card issuers and their customers. It powers the global economy by making it easy, fast and secure for people and businesses around the world to buy goods and services using virtually any form of payment. The company's portfolio of services and solutions includes merchant transaction processing services; credit, debit, private-label, gift, payroll and other prepaid card offerings; fraud protection and authentication solutions; electronic check acceptance services through TeleCheck; as well as Internet commerce and mobile payment solutions. The company's STAR Network offers PIN-secured debit acceptance at 2.1 million ATM and retail locations. Through First Data's centers of excellence, such as security, analytics, customer loyalty and mobile payments, it offers data-driven commerce solutions for customers around the globe. For more information, visit www.firstdata.com.

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Javelin 2008 Year in Review Webinar

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PST

Javelin Analysts Talk Research, 2008 Highlights and What to Expect in 2009

Click Here to Register

You need to make your research dollars work for your business. Learn what some of the largest financial institutions, card issuers and technology companies agree upon—a subscription to Javelin’s research is key to their business.

Highlights

• 2008 key topics and findings for each coverage area—payments, financial services and security and fraud.
• Get a preview of our 2009 planned research topics.
• How does analyst inquiry integrate into your research needs?
• Javelin’s core competency in rigorous data analysis makes our forecasting models more accurate.
• Educational webinars enable you to share research with colleagues.

Perfect Storm Brewing, HomeATM Perfectly Placed

There's a Perfect Storm Brewing and HomeATM is Perfectly Positioned...

Editor's Note: What a wonderfully pleasant surprise. Mainstream media is finally beginning to understand and write about the impact debit cards will have in shaping the purchasing habits of consumers in the foreseeable future.

Their next giant step would be to understand and write about the "Paradigm Shift" occurring within those very same consumers' preference to "shop online" versus "at retail stores" and then put the two together (click here to view this unbelieveable chart from eMarketer ) .

Only then would they possess the beginnings of a decent understanding of the future of the payments industry. They would still need to include other variables, such as convenience, security, angst from retailers against high interchange fees, the increase in fraud, decrease in consumer trust, etc. to be able predict with any accuracy at all, the future of online payments. But they'd have a good foundation with which to play.

Excuse the cliche' but it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out: Consider these current trends:

• Debit card use grows...
  credit card use decreases
• Online shopping grows...
  bricks and mortar shopping decreases.
• Online Fraud grows...
  consumer trust in security decreases
• POS Tampering grows... consumer trust in public POS device decreases
• Retailers Angst Over Interchange grows, V/MC's Ability to Justify decreases

Now...Let's imagine for a moment that someone was to devise a way for "online shoppers "to use their "debit card" while "reducing fraud", and eliminating tampering...they just very well might be on the right track. Take into consideration all those retailers who are up in arms over the high cost of Interchange Fees and in addition to providing the aforementioned benefits here's another: By using this system, your Interchange Fees would be cut in half! The last piece of the puzzle has been placed. Like I said, Perfect Storm, Perfect Place. The eye of the tiger...

The Steady Ascent of the Debit Card - BusinessWeek
The Steady Ascent of the Debit Card

Debit cards may soon overtake credit cards, which is why banks are scrambling to boost their profitability
By Christopher Palmeri

For consumers reeling from a series of economic body blows, debit cards are increasingly becoming the plastic of choice. Some use the cards, which pull money directly from a bank or other account, as a budgeting tool to limit spending. Others are embracing them out of necessity as banks clamp down on credit.

All told, debit purchases are expected to climb 13% in 2008, to $1.2 trillion, according to The Nilson Report, an industry newsletter—compared with a 3% rise, to $1.9 trillion, for credit-card transactions. At Visa (V), the No. 1 card company, debit spending could surpass credit this year.

For the banks issuing the debit cards, the trend seems bittersweet. On the plus side, debit cards don't pose a threat to the banks' books like credit-card accounts; losses are mounting as borrowers fall behind on their payments. But the profits on debit cards aren't as plump since banks don't collect interest on them. Issuers largely make money from fees, which (on debit cards) pale next to those on credit cards. Retailers, for instance, three times the amount (they would pay for) on debit transactions.

The Next Frontier

Regulatory headwinds haven't deterred the banks from ramping up their debit-card businesses. Among the groups that offer the biggest potential for banks: people who earn more than $75,000 a year. According to MasterCard (MA), they're the least active debit users, usually turning instead to credit cards that offer frequent-flier miles and other rewards.

The aggressive push is paying off. These days, debit cards are as widespread as credit cards.

"Debit is becoming the payment card of choice for the American public," says Red Gillen of consultancy Celent. At the upscale suburban Atlanta restaurant Aqua Blue, waitresses now bring diners a device that lets them swipe their debit card and enter their PIN to pay for meals.

Editor's Note: That's "exactly" "my point"...of sale...it's what HomeATM does for the online shopper. We provide the device that allows online shoppers to swipe their debit (and/or credit) card and enter their PIN to "securely" pay for goods bought online" And in this "Perfect Storm" HomeATM is starting to see that they have been correct in their approach to bring secure "card present" and PIN based web transactions from ANY web device. The way we see it...

"if you can't bring the consumer to the point of sale device,

bring the point of sale device to the consumer"

What Makes the Card Present is the Ability to Present the Card

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PayPal - About as Secure as a Chocolate Teapot?

This story from The Industry Standard must make PayPal executives a little insecure...

PayPal accounts compromised over 16 months; No response from eBay | The Industry Standard

Online payment service PayPal has had an exploit on its hands for at least 16 months and counting, and seems to have no resolution for it.

A tipster forwarded us screenshots of the fraud, which involves a dummy subscription service to PayPal's sister company Skype, all part of the eBay corporate family. Using the fake Skype subscription, several small charges are made against a PayPal account, all in the same dollar amount.

The first mention of the exploit by a media outlet seems to have been an article in The Register back in June, but complaints on consumer boards like Complaints Board show the problem going back even farther, and a tech column in the Orange County Register appears to show the same problem back in June 2007, with PayPal and Skype reps saying at the time it was the first they'd heard of the problem.

As you can see from the screenshots we received, the phony subscription includes what appear to be Chinese characters in the Billing Description field, and all links are dummy links in the sections for logging back into the PayPal account and reporting errors. In addition, the email address for the "seller" is listed as "unavailable."

PayPal was quick to reverse the charges, but our tipster also had to cancel the credit card account, and PayPal offered no explanation for the problem.

A request made by The Industry Standard to eBay regarding the issues did not receive a reply.

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White Paper Coming on Future of Payments

NetWorld Alliance highlights payment trends for next 5 years

Louisville, Ky., Oct. 31, 2008 -- NetWorld Alliance, publishers of ATM Marketplace, announced the publication of "The Future of Cash: Survey Predicts Changes in Consumer Habits," an exclusive white paper that contains the results of a new survey of more than 500 financial-industry professionals.

"With credit markets tightening and consumers rethinking their established habits for dealing with their money, the world of payments is on the precipice of some major changes," said Tracy Kitten, senior editor of ATM Marketplace. "For this white paper, we've tapped the collective expertise of professionals who are out on the front lines every day and distilled their wisdom down to some useful numbers."

Topics addressed in the white paper include:

* Which payment methods will experience the most increase in usage in the coming months
* Changing consumer attitudes about the security and safety of their funds on deposit
* The evolving role of cash relative to other payment methods

The paper also includes expert commentary from Mike Lee, president of the ATM Industry Association.

The white paper is part of the development of a larger publication, "ATM Future Trends 2009," which ATM Marketplace and the ATMIA will release in early March. The publication will take a look at the future of the industry in these tight economic times and feature even more in-depth survey results, as well as expert commentaries.

About NetWorld Alliance

NetWorld Alliance is a privately held company based in Louisville, Ky., that specializes in news, marketing and customized publishing for specialized industries, including self-service, digital signage, retail and banking technology, and foodservice. NetWorld Alliance manages and operates 10 Web sites and two print publications.

NetWorld Alliance's Web sites are ATMMarketplace.com, KioskMarketplace.com, SelfServiceWorld.com, RetailCustomerExperience.com, DigitalSignageToday.com, SelfService.org, DigitalSignageAssociation.org, FastCasual.com, QSRWeb.com and PizzaMarketplace.com.

Print publications are: Retail Customer Experience magazine and Fast Casual magazine.

About ATM Marketplace

ATM Marketplace is the world's largest online provider of information about and for the ATM industry. The content, which is updated every business day and read by business and industry professionals throughout the world, is free.

Source: Company press release.

Mercator Report on Debit Rewards

Debit Advisory Service

Re-examining Debit Rewards at the Top Fifty Banks

NEW RESEARCH REPORT BY MERCATOR ADVISORY GROUP

Financial institutions are expanding and diversifying debit reward program offerings as more consumers are using debit cards to pay for their everyday purchases than ever before. Forty of the Top Fifty banks currently have at least one reward program in place, and nearly half of these financial institutions offer multiple loyalty programs to debit cardholders. Most debit loyalty programs at top fifty banks only reward signature-based transactions, while a select few reward both signature and PIN based transactions. Most of the reward programs are funded by interchange revenue, which is substantially greater for signature than PIN debit transactions, but significantly less than credit card transactions. As such, most debit reward programs are less lucrative than their credit card counterparts. While traditional airlines, points-based and cash back programs are still common, a number of financial institutions are offering philanthropic rewards whereby cardholders can choose to donate their reward earnings to a cause of their choice. Such programs enable customers to give more painlessly, and allow financial institutions to benefit from tax deductions. Rewards that promote savings and cash back are the most popular, especially since many consumers are facing financial challenges given current unfavorable economic conditions. Banks are increasingly promoting business across product areas and rewarding customers for using multiple services at the same bank. For example, financial institutions are allowing their customers to earn reward points faster from multiple types of accounts with the same back, and redeem them for additional deposit or a reduction in fees.

Given the significant rise in debit card usage, there is certainly opportunity for continued growth in debit reward programs, however, the overall effectiveness of these programs in fostering customer loyalty is less clear. "It is questionable how much weight customers put on a debit reward program when choosing a new checking account, since they are often viewed as a feature of the account. Although banks aim to differentiate themselves from their competitors with perks such as reward programs, they become less distinguishing when most financial institutions offer them," notes Elisa Athonvarangkul, Analyst, International Advisory Service. "Banks should continue to develop more innovative reward programs to attract loyal customers and set programs apart from their competitors. Sometimes, the most attractive reward is not necessarily redeemable by points or cash back, but rather an efficient and pleasant customer service experience. A customer that feels valued and well treated is more likely to be a loyal customer over the long haul."

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Traditional Payment Cards for Online Transactions Continue to Decrease

The ACH Network: The Bedrock of Alternative Payments; New Research Report by Mercator Advisory Group

Boston, MA (PRWEB) October 31, 2008 -- The ACH Network began as a low volume network transmitting large recurring transactions between well-established entities; however changes in rules and business models have brought about significant changes in the nature and volume of ACH activity.

More than 18 billion ACH payments were made in 2007, representing a 12.6% increase from the total number of transactions generated in 2006. Much of the growth in ACH volume can be attributed to fundamental changes in payment methods used by consumers and businesses with the network transforming into a high volume platform of relatively low-value, non-recurring transactions. These transactions are originated from a rapidly expanding number of merchants, aggregators, corporations, and financial institutions.

Alternative payment providers such as Google Checkout, Bill Me Later and of course PayPal leverage the ACH to provide consumers and merchants with a secure and efficient means of payment and in doing so are experiencing phenomenal growth.

Non-financial institutions have been beating the banking industry to the punch of developing unique and cost efficient payment solutions, especially in the e-commerce space. Ironically, alternative payment providers have succeeded using the banking industry's own infrastructure to capture interchange-like revenues.

Although signature debit and credit card usage online has yet to be hugely impacted by alternative payment solutions, in many cases, non-traditional payment providers offer significantly enhanced value propositions including discounts, sales and loyalty tools, and the ability for merchants to cross sell on non-competitive merchant Web sites. These value added services create significant competitive pressures for traditional payment types and are giving alternative payment methods solid traction.

Brent Watters, Senior Analyst of Mercator Advisory Group's Prepaid Advisory Service and principal analyst on the report, comments, "As alternative payment methods continue to evolve and more players step into the space, the use of traditional payment cards for online transactions will continue to decrease. It is foreseeable that merchants will increasingly promote alternative payments and consumers will become more accepting of new payment types. Mercator believes that in the next five years (2014) 35% of payments made online will be in the form of alternative payments, including prepaid cards, new forms of credit and programs leveraging the ACH."

Highlights from this report include:

• The ACH continues to show solid growth and transaction volume will continue to escalate as more alternative payment schemes leverage the network.
• The ACH is moving to push versus pull method of payment thus creating direct competition for EFT networks that have been eager to develop a PIN-less debit solution for online transactions.
• The ACH's eCheck services continue to fuel the networks' transaction volume and penetrate markets currently targeted by debit and credit cards.
• NACHA's Secure Vault Payment (SVP) creates an opportunity for banks to compete in online alternative payments.

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