Heartland has delivered more than $262 million (MM) in signature debit savings to its merchant customers throughout the United States.

Retail associations are celebrating what they are calling a year since their legislative victory in the battle over the Durbin amendment by asserting that none of amendment opponents' dire predictions have come true.

In the wake of the Durbin Amendment’s debit card price controls taking effect last fall and other new regulations, the payments industry is feeling politically battered and bruised and fearing that more fights with merchants are on the way.

A major merchant trade group recently fired an opening shot in what is likely to be a long, hard battle over credit card acceptance costs.

A controversial New Jersey law that claims unused gift card balances as state property after two years and requires gift card sellers to obtain buyers’ ZIP codes is taking heavy fire.

Payments fraud against companies moderated during 2011, with the share of companies experiencing payments fraud falling to the lowest level since 2004, according to the Association for Financial Professionals’ latest annual study of corporate payments fraud.

Accusing Visa Inc. of a "lack of regard" for its members, the Electronic Transactions Association merchant-acquiring trade group sent a letter to the card network March 7 asking that it delay implementation of a new fixed fee until acquirers have time to reprogram their back offices and make other adjustments.

The bank card networks will introduce new fees for merchant acquirers in April, according to information obtained by Digital Transactions News.

Responding to pressure from retailers, the Internal Revenue Service this month announced that it would give merchants a pass on what merchants feared would be a new hassle when filling out their tax returns.

While acknowledging that federal pricing regulations are crimping growth in its debit card business, Visa Inc. recently presented an upbeat report to investors that stressed new ventures like its recently introduced digital wallet, V.me.

MasterCard Inc. posted strong debit card growth in 2011's fourth quarter, and the No. 2 card network’s top executive told analysts recently that MasterCard is picking up some new business because of the Durbin Amendment.

Online merchants made some progress last year against fraud, but the fight is becoming more and more expensive for them in terms of both dollar losses and operational costs, according to a report issued on Tuesday.

The Internet revolt over bills in the U.S. House and Senate aimed at thwarting online piracy might have a welcome side effect for merchant acquirers in possibly getting them out of an unwanted role as deputies charged with enforcing public policy.

The 7-year-old Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) is proving its effectiveness in preventing data breaches among small merchants, according to a survey of payments-industry acquirers set to be released next week.