Friday, December 22, 2006

PAYMENT Daily News Digest No Banners or Ads - Just Relevant News for the Payment Industry Professional Friday December 22nd, 2006 HEADLINES 1. MasterCard Announces rePower Card Load Network Offering with InComm 2. Checks and Imbalances: Customer Impacts of Faster Image Clearing 3. Largest Privately Owned Payday Lender Defends Industry Practices 4. Cisco Announces Self-Defending Network with PCI Compliance 5. Visa Describes their Current Merchant Initiatives TOPIC OF THE DAY: CASH / CHECKS TO ELECTRONIC 6. Contactless Payments: Consumer Consumer Attitudes and Acceptance in the U.S. 7. Citigroup and Computershare Announce Global Payments Solution 8. Options for Turning Gift Cards Received to Cash 9. Update on Contactless Card Adoption and Near-Term Growth Projections 10. USA Technologies and MasterCard will use PayPass for Turnpike Access NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIBER BENEFIT: ARCHIVE OF PAST ISSUES We will Observe Christmas and New Year Holiday and No Publication will Occur from December 22 until January2nd, 2007  Have a Great Holiday CONTENT 10:18:13 PM

1. While Visa got their Blackhawk announcement made earlier this month, MasterCard is making the claim that they were the first to actually make a card load on their network. InComm has a network of over 145,000 retailer locations and this product is certain to be a hot one for 2007 as prepaid cardholders will be expecting to return to the same retailer they bought their card to make reloads. This will certainly fuel check cashing services in more retailer locations. 10:17:10 PM

2. The most immediate impact is overdrawn bank accounts. The experience has become so frequent that this Columbus Ohio reporter had no trouble finding enough local professionals and housewives and small businesses to share their reactions to a new reality in payments within our country. 10:15:51 PM

3. A recent study released by The Center for Responsible Lending was very critical of the payday lone industry - unfairly so according to Allan Jones, the CEO of Check Into Cash, Inc. In this article he explains how the cost structure of his industry nationally has a profit margin that is one fourth that of banks. 10:14:26 PM

4.   The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a requirement for all ecommerce and retail organizations that need to extend card based payment options. Cisco has recognized this as an opportunity to provide the marketplace with guaranteed compliance from twelve security features. 10:12:41 PM

5. They are partnering with WAY Systems to provide an integrated handheld cell phone card reader / printer solution with GPS always on / anywhere offering. This major processor commitment to WAY could bring this new terminal provider to the next plateau. 10:11:21 PM

TOPIC OF THE DAY: CASH / CHECKS TO ELECTRONIC 6. Since mid-2005, issuers have put over 17 million contactless payment devices into the hands of their customers. An independent survey was recently completed by the Smart Card Association with the help of Javelin Research. Here are their findings. 10:10:01 PM

7. The target audience for this offering are major corporations and government agencies that have traditionally relied upon fragmented disbursements for cross-border dividend, share plan and corporate payments in over 135 currencies. The individual and institutional investors are the end-users that will find the features of this offering attractive in that they will now be able to receive their returns in the currency of preference. 10:08:26 PM

8. Here is a description of the internet options available to consumers that end-up this holiday season holding cards that they have no interest in making purchases at those card issuing retailers. This article summarizes your option including eBay, plasticjungle.com, swapagift.com and others to turn stored value into relevant value. 10:06:21 PM

9. Texas Instruments is one of the nation's largest card chip manufacturers and their manager for contactless payments is interviewed in this article. Some of the key numbers reported include 14 million cards in circulation tapping on 200,000 POS terminal that is expected to increase by 50% next year. 10:05:08 PM

10. These "Tap & Go" payments will be used in selected exit lanes and service plazas as part of a broader deployment on over 6000 vending machines across the country. 10:03:47 PM

END OF YEAR: Humor for the Holiday Season Why is Christmas just like a day at the office?  Because you do all of the work and the fat guy in the suit gets all of the credit. REMEMBER THERE ARE MONTHLY AND ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS A CLICK AWAY 10:01:52 PM

FEEDBACK: INPUT TO REFINE YOUR DAILY EXPERIENCE CLICK HERE: To open an e-mail pre-addressed to Eric Thomson, the PDND Editor.  Any ideas and suggestions will be responded to within 24 hrs.  We will also be using this feature to seek specific advice on a series of refinements we have planned for your consideration. 10:00:54 PM

© Copyright 2007 Eric Thomson. Last update: 1/3/2007; 9:21:09 PM.