Welcome to our site! Our editors have been covering the credit and debit card space for a total of 30+ years and we are proud to have been featured by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, etc. Your input is invaluable and we’d love to have your opinion as to whether the Green Dot prepaid debit… Continue reading Is the GreenDot Prepaid Visa Debit Card a Good Deal or Bad?
Author: Tameka Riley
Risky New Bank Card Technology – Is Your Card At Risk
It sounds like a great idea. A host of new credit and debit cards issued by big financial players like Chase and MasterCard come armed with small computer chips and radio antennae that allow consumers to make payments by literally waving their plastic over a card reader. But according to a story in Consumer Reports Magazine,… Continue reading Risky New Bank Card Technology – Is Your Card At Risk
City Embraces Gift Cards – Iowa City turns to gift cards to boost downtown businesses
According to a story in The Daily Iowan, that’s exactly what businesses in the Downtown District of Iowa City did this past Aug. The idea was the brainchild of the Downtown District, which cited the success of other cities like Des Moines in offering a single gift card that can be utilized at numerous businesses in a small geographic area.
Risky New Bank Card Technology – Is Your Card At Risk?
Thieves can steal your credit card information from only a few inches away using a card reader that sells for less than $100. By simply transferring your account number, expiration date and security data to a computer and transferring it to blank cards, a counterfeit can be made of your card. Thieves can then make successful transactions using your “card” while it’s still in your wallet.
FTC Charges Marketers with Deceiving Small Businesses
As alleged in the complaint, MSD sales agents typically call small businesses and lead them to believe they are associated with the businesses’ current card processor, Visa, MasterCard, or their bank. The sales agents allegedly promise substantial savings on credit and debit card processing, specifying a much lower rate than the business is currently paying. Agents quote one fee, a fixed per-transaction cost, without mentioning all the other fees the businesses will have to pay, and when asked if there are other fees, merchants are allegedly told there are none.
Swipe-Fee Rule Rejection Helps Merchants and Banks’ Cost
Before Federal Reserve regulations cut back on perks such as reward programs and free checking to soften the blow, Lenders collected about $16 billion annually from swipe fees. Unless overturned, the decision will force regulators to revisit rules that bankers said would cost them 45% of their swipe-fee revenue.