payments

Tired of splitting checks when eating out? Venmo greatly simplifies making payments to your friends using your Android or iOS device, for free.

It originally began as a text-message-based payment startup, but Venmo has been gaining steady traction among smartphone users looking for payment utilities without the use of NFC chips and external card readers and sliders. The mobile app allows its users to send money to their contacts without the hassle of dealing with differing indivudal bank or credit card services. 

The result is a seamless and universally accessible payment experience that … Read more

Google has broken out its checkbook and signed off on a new deal to acquire payments processing provider TxVia in a bid to bolster its Wallet product, which has recently taken a PR battering.

Google Wallet represents the search giant's push into the physical payments space in a bid to replace the physical wallet with an NFC-powered Android smartphone. Google has teamed up with the payment industry's big end of town, including Citibank, Visa, and MasterCard for credit card payments. It also issues its own prepaid cards for those who prefer an alternative.

Google wrote on its Commerce blog … Read more

One of Google Wallet's co-founding engineers has left the Web giant for a job at mobile-payments processor Square.

Rob von Behren, who had worked at Google for more than eight years and on the NFC-based Google Wallet since 2009, recently changed his LinkedIn profile to indicate his new employment at Square. In an e-mail statement to NFC Times, which first noticed and reported the move, von Behren said the departure was unexpected.

"When I left the Google Wallet project in January, I fully expected to stop working in payments but to remain at Google," he told NFC … Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

I hope Global Payments doesn't strain itself patting its own back for containing a massive breach that occurred on its watch.

The company, which processes credit, debit, and gift card transactions between merchants, banks, and consumers, let a staggering 1.5 million credit card numbers get out in the open as a result of a still-to-be determined attack on its system. Yet it has barely shown any signs of contrition.

Most companies would have shown a bit of remorse for what has happened, but Global Payments has struck an almost self-congratulatory tone for how it identified the problem, alerted … Read more

Global Payments, a third-party payments processor at the center of a Visa and MasterCard security breach, reiterated Monday morning that while customer data may be at risk, the data breach has been "contained to the best of our ability."

Overall, 1.5 million accounts may have been affected.

Global Payments CEO Paul Garcia said that the "diligent work" may take some time, but it will complete the ongoing investigation and identify any changes that need to be implemented.

Garcia said the company will get its record of compliance back with Visa and MasterCard "as soon … Read more

As many as 1.5 million Visa and MasterCard accounts may have been compromised by the recent Global Payments security breach, the payment processor announced this evening.

Credit card numbers may have been exported, but no customer names, addresses, or Social Security numbers were accessed, the company said in a statement. The company believes the breach, which was revealed Friday, was confined to North America.

The nature of the breach, which was originally pegged at 50,000 accounts, has not been revealed. The company also did not say whether it knew of any fraudulent charges resulting from the breach on … Read more

Global Payments, the processor blamed for a Visa and MasterCard data breach last week, is likely to be able to manage its financial hit related to beefing up security.

Last week, Visa and MasterCard warned banks about a data breach. In addition, Global Payments issued a statement confirming the data breach. Global Payments said the company's security systems picked up the threat in March and contacted law enforcements. The company will hold a conference call Monday at 8 a.m. EDT.

It's unclear how many accounts were compromised, but 10 million is the largest reported number thus far. … Read more

When I was a kid growing up in Montreal, I spent more than a year filling a big brown bottle with pennies. When they reached the top and I poured them out, I was crushed that they totaled less than 20 bucks.

Ever since, I've had little love for the lowly Canadian cent -- it's 2.35 grams, mostly steel, and has been nothing but dead weight in my pockets. The government now feels the same and has announced that the Royal Canadian Mint will stop distributing pennies this fall.

"Pennies take up too much space on … Read more