GAO to Congress: Interchange mandates might help, but not everyone
he U.S. Government Accountability Office weighed in on interchange fees with a 69-page report to the U.S. Congress, released to the public Nov. 19, 2009. Anyone looking for definitive answers to questions as to what, if any, position the federal government should take in the public debate over interchange, however, is apt to be disappointed.
The report – Credit Cards: Rising Interchange Fees Have Increased Costs for Merchants, but Options for Reducing Fees Pose Challenges – was prepared in response to a congressional request tucked into the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, the credit card reform bill dubbed the Credit CARD Act and signed into law in May 2009.
November 23, 2009 • Issue 09:11:02
GS Issue 09:11:02 – Lead Story
The squeeze in merchant cash advance
The recession seems to have had a paradoxical effect on the merchant cash advance market: while interest in it has grown, the number of providers and actual use of the product have apparently shrunk. This article examines the shifting trends of an industry in which it seems only the most judicious players have survived.
GS Issue 09:11:02 – News
As a trying year on most economic fronts draws to a close, two leading payments industry companies, global POS system manufacturer VeriFone and top-tier processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc., are on the verge of severing their business ties. This article looks at the latest dispute between two payment giants, what led up to it and how both are coping with the tumult.
GS Issue 09:11:02 – News
CIT seeks smooth reorganization
On Nov. 1, 2009, CIT Group Inc. reported that its board of directors – with the support of its debt holders – voted to proceed with a restructuring plan as part of the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The plan is designed to streamline the company's debt and capital restructuring, and the company is asking a bankruptcy court for quick confirmation.
GS Issue 09:11:02 – Selling Prepaid
Clinical trial payments on plastic
At the Association of Financial Professionals' Annual Conference held in San Francisco in October 2009, one presentation concerned how a university-affiliated medical center used an in-house prepaid card solution to pay its clinical trial participants. Payments were previously made with cash, checks, gift certificates and coupons. But the process had become cumbersome.
GS Issue 09:11:02 – Views
Never has it seemed more obvious that the deregulation trend that began more than 20 years ago, freeing financial services firms from the shackles of Depression-era mandates, has ground to a halt. A little over a year since the federal government came to the rescue of a financial sector on the verge of collapse, lawmakers are beginning to extract recompense.
GS Issue 09:11:02 – Street Smarts
How much do you factor in price?
Value-added services are great, but what happens when all your prospect wants to discuss is price? The topic raises valid points from individuals of opposing viewpoints – those who believe that to lead with price means to lose on price and those who think that since merchants' main criterion is price, why not discuss it upfront?
GS Issue 09:11:02 – Education
Hazards of chargeback monitoring
Because of the severity of the penalties, you might expect Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide to have highly sophisticated monitoring for chargeback programs. But neither company has established an exact count for chargeback thresholds by merchant category. Here is an explanation of what merchants and their acquirers can expect from both companies on the issue.
GS Issue 09:11:02 – Education
Protect your investment through non-competition agreements
It is increasingly common for sales agents to move from company to company, picking up expertise and information along the way – but under what circumstances should that information be shared or kept secret at a new job? What other contractual provisions are appropriate for when sales agents leave one company and go to another?
GS Issue 09:11:02 – Inspiration
Thanksgiving is just a holiday, but the spirit of giving thanks is not. The one comes around once a year; the other should be celebrated every day. Unfortunately, giving thanks is not high on the list of many. This article discusses the importance of gratitude, whatever the season.