MasterCard

Money in the bank. That's the motivation behind a new Foursquare initiative that lets members link their Visa and MasterCard credit or debit cards and redeem money-back specials from participating merchants.

Foursquare, a company banking on check-ins to power its Explore discovery feature, aims to encourage more of its 30 million members to tell the application where they are with the additional freebies. The places-centric social network also hopes to cash in from the program. The company pockets a fee for every credit redemption it processes.

Next time you get a new card from your bank, don't be surprised if it has a keypad and an LCD on it.

Meet MasterCard's new "Display Card," which basically combines the usual credit/debit or ATM card with an authentication token. The authentication portion features a touch-sensitive keypad and LCD display -- hence the name "Display Card" -- for reflecting a one-time password (OTP).

Yet, according to MasterCard, the Display Card looks and functions almost exactly like a regular credit, debit, or ATM card. … Read more

One of the many drawbacks to using Google Wallet as a true wallet replacement was the inability to add a Visa, American Express, or Discover card as a payment option. You were either limited to using a prepaid card Google provided you with, adding money to it each time you wanted to use it. Or, you had to own a MasterCard.

But, with the update Google just released, users can now add any debit or credit card to their Google Wallet account, and use it to make purchases with their NFC equipped Android device.

The update takes all of the … Read more

Financial services giant MasterCard and mobile carrier Deutsche Telekom announced this morning that they would partner to accelerate adoption of mobile payments, which allow consumers to use their mobile phones to pay for goods and services.

MasterCard sees business opportunity in Deutsche Telekom's 93 million mobile customers in Europe.

The companies plan to begin in Poland and Germany, Deutsche Telekom's home country. The effort will begin with mobile phone tags and cards, with a "mobile wallet" service to follow. (The mobile wallet will be open to MasterCard's partners, such as banks and other financial institutions.)… Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Think there are too many digital wallets out there? MasterCard would disagree.

The No. 2 payments processor today unveiled PayPass Wallet Services, its own take on the digital wallet. Initially, it will pop up in the form of a payment icon at merchant Web sites. The wallet will allow users to store all of their cards, and MasterCard plans to distribute developer tools to allow other wallets to work with its network. The move is an attempt to broaden PayPass beyond contactless payments and into something more ubiquitous.

MasterCard is just the latest to be lured in by the … 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

Barnes & Noble hasn't officially dropped the price of its $99 Nook Simple Touch e-reader, but you can save $20 until March 18 if you buy it with a MasterCard. The deal is available at all Barnes & Noble's stores nationwide and online at BN.com and also applies to the Nook Color, which can be had for $149.

The Nook Simple Touch is an e-ink e-reader that competes with Amazon's Kindle Touch, which starts at $99 for the ad-supported model. Both products have received Editors' Choice awards from CNET. Amazon sells the standard, non-touch-screen version of … Read more