News

Point of Transaction 201 (required): Competition for Consumer Choice
October 22, 2010

All PYMNTS U graduates must understand the competitive forces at work at the point where consumer transactions begin. As consumers looks to deposit funds for the majority of their purchases, and with the debit landscape undergoing fundamental shifts, competition for access to available funds will...

Debit 201 (Required. Debit 101 prerequisite): Is Prepaid “Debit-Lite?”
October 22, 2010

Can General Purpose Reloadable become the next debit growth vehicle? What happens if/when underserved consumers are flushed from deposit institutions challenged to make DDAs profitable?  Many consumer segments already find themselves well served by this segment of prepaid, whether as a payroll product provided by...

Durbin Debit 101 (required): Retail Deposits Have Changed Radically Overnight
October 22, 2010

While you were taking vacation, and while PYMNTS and MPD were building your fall schedule, legislators and lobbyists in Washington DC were working to rewrite the business rules and economics of the core of retail financial services: deposit management and access.  These changes are so...

Mobile 205: Exam
October 21, 2010

Quiz time is here again.  Time to let us know what you think is going to happen as the worlds of payments and mobile collide. As before, we’ll track your answers individually so you’ll have a record for each quiz, but the results we report...

Straight from BAI- Verizon is Reinventing Retail Financial Services
October 21, 2010

Vegas, baby! The PYMNTS.com team made the trek to Vegas for the BAI Retail Delivery conference. The weather is varied, the venue is vast, and the conference topic is “value.” Specifically, how can the technology providers, payments networks, card service organizations, and processors that help...

After the Credit CARD Act, Credit Cards Are Safer and More Transparent ― But Challenges...
October 19, 2010

Abstract: Times have changed in the credit card industry. After months of economic recession, heightened unemployment and historic legal reforms, credit cards today look very different than they did just a year or two ago. The Credit Card Accountability  responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of...

How Long Does a New Platform Have to Ignite or Fizzle
October 18, 2010

Not long is the short answer.  A completely unscientific but reasonably educated guess is a couple of years.  Here I explain why. To some degree all new firms face an hourglass.  Most firms fail and do so, mercifully, quickly.  That happens because the firms aren’t...

Is Durbin Unconstitutional; Will it Slash Interchange Fees Up to 95%?
October 12, 2010

TCF Financial is suing to stop the Durbin Express. Official Complaint Announcement from TCF Financial   Text of Durbin Amendment       In a lawsuit filed yesterday in federal district court in South Dakota, TCF claims the so-called Durbin Amendment is unconstitutional because, among...

PYMNTS.com Visits the CTIA Enterprise and Applications Conference
October 06, 2010

October 6, 2010 Greetings to the PYMNTS.com crowd from Market Platform Dynamics (MPD) in the first of what promises to be many reports from the field.  From time to time, you’ll hear from us at MPD on behalf of PYMNTS.com as we travel across the...