“We are expanding our current offering of alternative financial services because we see an increased demand for this type of product in our stores,” says 7-Eleven spokesperson. As part of its retail expansion plans, NetSpend Holdings Inc., a provider of general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid debit cards and related financial services, announced that the PayPal Prepaid…
Cumberland Farms Stores Testing Smartphone Payment App
Several Cumberland Farms stores in Massachusetts are offering customers the option to pay at the pump by using a smartphone app. Cumberland Farms has partnered with PayPal for the pilot program, the first of its kind, The Taunton (Mass.) Gazette reported. The SmartPay app lets customers start the pump from a mobile phone and process…
Prepaid Provides Incremental Sales Opportunities
Mercator Advisory Group’s Prepaid Market Forecast 2011-2014 expects prepaid market growth to slow over the next four years as regulatory and economic issues, as well as saturation in segments including unemployment, impact the market. Open-loop loads are expected to total $281.7 billion in 2013, down $139.4 billion from last year’s forecast of $421.1 billion. “I…
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the EMV technology seen in Europe, but some argue by the time it’s implemented in the U.S., the technology will be outdated.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…
Card Networks Still at Risk
Visa and MasterCard are among the payment providers targeted by “hacktivists” calling into question the effectiveness of PCI compliance. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the U.K. in early December got some people angry—and they took revenge. A day after Assange was arrested and denied bail in London…