payment

The digital wallet wars have begun. And credit card giant Visa and search behemoth Google are likely to be among the first to face off in the market as they each try to convince consumers to ditch their real wallets for ones that store credit cards and other information on their cell phones.

In May, Visa and Google announced separately their plans to offer a so-called digital wallet or an application that stores credit card and rewards information to enable people to use their phones to pay for things.

The hope is that these digital wallets in conjunction with near-field communications technology, … Read more

Web Loanalyzer is a free loan calculator written in HTML and JavaScript. It quickly analyzes a loan's parameters and explains in plain English how long it will take to pay the loan off, how much interest will be paid, and so on. We took a look at Web Loanalyzer Q1.

We extracted Web Loanalyzer's zipped program file and clicked it, which opened the calculator in our Web browser. Web Loanalyzer is locally hosted, so you don't need an active Internet connection to use it. The program's interface is small, about the size of two banner ads … Read more

Visa is planning to roll out dual-mode chips in its infrastructure in an effort to step up mobile payment adoption. Meanwhile, it's deploying a mix of carrots and sticks to get merchants on board.

Specifically, Visa is aiming to prepare payment infrastructure for NFC (near-field communication) mobile payments. Google has pushed NFC payments, and other mobile phone players are aiming to turn your smartphone into a wallet. Visa will support EMV and NFC. EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, is a global standard for credit and debit payment cards. EMV has been popular abroad, but lags in … Read more

Heartland Payment Systems, which processes payments across the country, is the latest company to jump on the mobile-payment bandwagon.

The Princeton, N.J.-based company said today that it was launching a system to allow merchants to accept payments through smartphones and tablets, similar to Square or Verifone. The system, called Mobuyle, includes an Android application and an encrypting reader that plugs into the device's audio hack, allowing stores to expand the number of point-of-sale terminals on the fly.

Heartland is one of many to be lured in by the opportunities that are emerging from the mobile-payments area. While … Read more

T-Mobile USA customers who purchase digital goods online and opt to have the charge show up on their phone bill are vulnerable to fraud, according to Consumers Union.

The consumer advocacy group said today that the carrier's mobile-payment plans aren't covered by standard protections that guard against fraud with credit or debit card charges.

"Mobile payment products promise a new, convenient way to pay but consumers could end up losing money if something goes wrong with their transaction," said Michelle Jun, senior attorney for Consumers Union, in a statement.

As the technology industry salivates over the … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Researchers at the Black Hat security conference today revealed two ways the Square payment system, which turns any iPhone, iPad or Android into a point-of-sale credit card processor, could be used for fraud.

Adam Laurie and Zac Franken, directors of Aperture Labs, discovered that they can transfer money from a stolen card into their bank account associated with Square without having to swipe a card through the Square dongle card reader. To do this, they used code written by Laurie that lets them feed magnetic stripe data from a stolen card into a microphone and convert it into a … Read more

The mobile payments universe is expanding at a terrific rate, but the key players are still working their angles to convert amorphous opportunity into real, viable services that retail-hungry Americans will trust and use.

The companies are getting closer every day, as corporate heavy hitters bring weight, money, and experience to nimble start-ups through a web of partnerships. Traditional credit card brands, online payment companies, carriers, and smartphone manufacturers are all jumping into the game in various ways by joining to form coalitions, buying up tiny mobile payment start-ups, and attacking rivals' credibility by going straight for the panic button … Read more

T-Mobile USA inched into the mobile payments arena today when it said it would allow customers to purchase goods and services through their phones.

The carrier said it would extend its carrier billing to digital content such as music and games which can be bought with the browser on the phone. Instead of entering credit card information, a customer would authorize the purchase through the phone number account. The charge for the song or game would show up on the person's next phone bill.

It's just the latest development in the rapidly changing mobile payments area, which has … Read more

PayPal mobile payment rival Square has said that it now processes approximately $4 million daily in mobile payments, $1 million more than Square advertised it handled at the end of May.

Square has clearly sailed beyond any shadows cast by the nasty volley begun by CEO of competitor VeriFone, Doug Bergeron, and answered by Square's CEO and co-founder, Jack Dorsey that called into question the security of Square's credit-card reading attachment for mobile devices.

Instead, the increased processing numbers reflect Square's booming growth, a rise that has been bolstered by a sizable investment from Visa … Read more