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Transaction Trends Online |
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In the December 2009 Issue of Transaction Trends: 
- Sales Incentives That Work
- PCI’s Evolutionary Process
- Brave New World for Payments
- Special Series: Startup Stories, Part 2
- And much more...
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ETA Glossary Online |
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The ETA Encyclopedia of Terminology for the Acquiring Industry is now online! Need a good definition for P2P? Need to know what a Merchant Descriptor is? Our online glossary has the information and its been vetted by industry experts, so you can depend ion it. Give it a try! |
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Featured Articles
eBay Inc. says it has made the programming code for the PayPal Inc. payment system available to external software developers.
The move will give thrid party payment software vendors the ability to incorporate the PayPal payment option in their web site and point of sale applications, a move that could make the payment service available on more Web sites, as well as on mobile phones and, eventually, in traditional retail stores, according to eBay officials.
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Visa, Mastercard Shut Down Scareware Distributor |
In what appears to be an unusual move, security representatives from both MasterCard and Visa have intervened to force a German merchant processing company to halt processing for a Web-based merchant implicated in the distribution of so-called "scareware."
The move came after a report in the Washington Post said the merchant, TrafficConverter2.biz, was using an affiliate program to distribute software that installs itself on personal computers, flashes warnings of virus infections, and markets a program to remove the infections. The Post said the software sold through the merchant is non-functional and may be involved in spreading other malicious software, including the highly publicized "conficker" virus.
The action by the card companies comes in the wake of a pair of high-profile data security breaches involving transaction processing companies Heartland Payment Systems and RBS Worldpay. |
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Obama Pledges $15 Billion to Help Small Businesses |
The White House has unveiled a $15 billion plan to ease lending to small businesses, according to the Associated Press.
The announcement came at a meeting at the White House for small business owners and organizations, attended by President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The plan unveiled March 16 will use funds from the recentlypassed stiimulus legislation to reduce fees to small business borrowers, increase government loan guarantees through SBA. Geithner also ordered the Internal Revenue Service to issue a series of new rules for temporary but significant tax breaks, meaning that small businesses that earn up to $15 million:
- Will be allowed to claim losses for the past five years in the current tax year,May write off up to $250,000 in investments this year,
- Can reduce estimated tax payments to 90 percent of the previous year's filing,
- Are allowed to take larger depreciation deductions within the first year of property purchases,
- And will see 75 percent of capital gains excluded for those who invest in small businesses.
The plan also requires banks to report regularly on their efforts to lend to small businesses.
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Visa Removes Heartland, RBS Worldpay from PCI List |
Heartland Payment Systems and RBS Worldpay have been removed from Visa Inc.'s list of PCI compliant service providers and will have to undergo new PCI assessments and reapply for inclusion on the compliance list, according to a Visa announcement.
Visa's action came after the two companies revealed they were victimized by hackers who managed to plant malicious software in the companies' internal processing systems and steal card data from the unencrypted data stream. |
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NRF Compares Interchange to Mortgage Crisis |
The National Retail Federation told state attorneys general this week that hefty interchange fees have changed the credit card industry in much the same way lucrative origination fees changed the home mortgage industry and contributed to the current recession.
“We know that one of the causes of our current financial crisis is that the business model with respect to mortgage lending shifted,” NRF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan said. “Rising interchange has caused the same thing to happen in the credit card market.”
“As a result, it is just as much in the banks’ interest to get as many cards into consumers’ hands to collect the interchange fees as it was for banks to get mortgages issued to collect the origination fees,” Duncan said. “The piles of pre-approved credit card offers in your mailboxes attest to that. Unless we can bring market forces to bear on that incentive, it will only grow.” |
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Charge-Offs Up Slightly, Set New High |
Credit card charge-offs reached a new high of 7.74% in January, after 7.73% in December, and the increasing number of borrowers falling behind on payments means charge-off rates are almost certain to increase as the economy worsens, according to Moody's Credit Card Credit Indices.
Moody's predicted the charge-off rate index could move into double digits by the end of this year if unemployment keeps rising. The government releases the February unemployment rate, which could touch 8%, next Friday.
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