With fuel costs again on the rise, a fleet card network can attract new business while offering fleet managers the safety, security and reporting tools they need to be successful. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. Fleet cards are a nice piece of business for c-store operators. But the key to keeping that business growing is…
Study by NACS Points To Hidden Card Fees
Study shows as gas prices increased 80% between 2004 and 2011, card fees grew 180%. A new study by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) called “Hidden Bank Fees Siphon Money from Customers and Merchants at the Pump,” shows drivers are paying 6-10 cents a gallon in hidden bank fees every time they purchase…
Will EMV be DOA?
Visa is encouraging retailers to move toward the EMV technology seen in Europe, but some argue by the time it’s implemented in the U.S., the technology will be outdated. By Erin Rigik, Associate Editor. Visa this fall announced plans to speed up the migration to contact chip and contactless EMV chip credit card technology in…
Shop Around The Clock
7-Eleven has an array of gifts for last minute shoppers this holiday season. With retailers opening their stores even earlier for Black Friday door-buster sales, shoppers started the hunt for December holiday deals as early as Thanksgiving evening, jockeying for flat-screen TVs and fighting over waffle irons. But shopping in the middle of the night…
Breaking News: Lawsuit Filed Over Fed’s Swipe Fee Ruling
“The Federal Reserve missed an opportunity to give consumers the relief that they deserve and this needs to be corrected,” says NACS president and CEO Hank Armour. Flawed debit card swipe fee reform regulations issued by the Federal Reserve have allowed big banks to continue charging unjustifiably high swipe fees and discouraged price competition among…
Preparing for Future Payment Systems
First it was PCI, now retailers have to prepare for the widespread launch of Near Field Communications, which is expected to become a widely used system for making payments by smartphone in the U.S. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. The convenience store industry is increasingly turnings its gaze outdoors to the forecourt, not only for…
Heartland Releases State-Specific Durbin Statistics
Heartland Payment Systems shows average savings per merchant in states across the U.S. following Durbin. Heartland Payment Systems, a national payments processor, has released the first state-specific data about the Durbin Amendment’s actual impact on business owners in specific states. The data was gathered between Oct. 1-16, 2011, from across Heartland’s 250,000 merchant locations. The…
ATM Council Files Antitrust Lawsuit
Visa and MasterCard to face litigation on antitrust charges. The National ATM Council, a group representing operators of automated teller machines (ATMs), filed a lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard accusing the credit and debit card issuers of violating antitrust laws by fixing the price of ATM access fees, the Huffington Post reported. The lawsuit was…
Stacking the Cards In Your Favor
General purpose prepaid debit cards are rapidly gaining favor with consumers as an alternative to closed-loop gift cards. By John Lofstock, Editor. Sales of open-loop prepaid cards, issued by banks and credit card companies and able to be used at multiple establishments, are only going to go up as more consumers come to appreciate their…
Is Big Oil Losing its Drawing Power?
For many, many years the power of the Big Oil brands was indisputable. They owned the refineries, the stations and the credit card networks to boot. While my father was an Exxon dealer and jobber for more than 30 years I distinctly remember seeing Shell and Texaco credit cards lying around the house. In those…