Tag Archives: CreditCards

Need money for a new Moto X? Motorola’s got a financing fix for that

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Google's all about getting you to spend, spend, spend money these days. While the search giant just announced a very plastic means of dipping into your Wallet, its Motorola arm's taking the financing route. Backed by Comenity Capital Bank, Motorola's offering users a no money down way to buy a Moto X or any of its other mobile wares -- so long as you pay it off within the promo period. Motorola Credit's pretty much the equivalent of signing up for a credit card -- just without the actual card -- so be mindful there are fine print strings attached, like a 29 percent APR. You also still have to go through the requisite approval process, but once that's cleared, you're free to spend above your means. But really, no phone's worth the potential debt, so think hard before you sign on the dotted line.

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Via: Droid-Life

Source: Motorola

ChargeCard pocket iPhone charger starts shipping, we go hands- and wallets-on

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Perhaps we all bemoaned the death of the 30-pin dock connector accessories a little prematurely. Apple may be moving away from the technology in a huge way, but it seems the category's got a little juice left in her after all. On the back of a successful Kickstarter campaign last summer (raising a bit more than three times its proposed $50,000), the duo behind ChargeCard took their iPhone charger on the road to Las Vegas in January. Roughly half a year after hitting its goal, the product has finally started shipping, with one of the units making its way to our desk just this week.

The ChargeCard's clever in its simplicity, a credit card-sized device made from ABS (think: Lego) plastic. A little rubberized arm lives in the center of the thing, unfolding and plugging into a USB port. One edge of the card, meanwhile, fits into your iPhone's port (assuming, of course, that you're not one of those fancy pants iPhone 5 owners, you big shot, you). And, well, that's pretty much all there is to the thing.

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Source: ChargeCard

MasterCard opens EMV tech to US debit networks, hopes to spur adoption

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MasterCard opens up its EMV tech to other US debit networks, helps spur adoption

After almost sixteen years of trying to encourage EMV adoption in the US, MasterCard has hit upon a potential reason why it's not catching on: its closed, proprietary standard. But that's changing today, with the financial giant announcing it's making some of its circuit card tech open to other US debit networks instead of waiting on them to come up with their own solution. An alternative to magnetic strips, EMV claims to provide more secure payments thanks to the use of cryptographic algorithms and user-specific PINs, but hasn't captured much interest outside of Europe and Asia. Perhaps in opening the standard, MasterCard and crew will spur its adoption stateside and thus garner more EMV followers. Of course, it has to catch on before NFC replaces cards entirely, rendering the issue moot.

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MasterCard Strengthens Commitment to Make U.S. EMV Migration Easier

Opens Proprietary, Market-Ready Debit Solution to Speed Industry Adoption

PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MasterCard today announced it is making some of the company's proprietary technology solutions available to other U.S. debit networks. This decision was made to provide an option to support debit EMV transactions and reinforce the company's continued support of the U.S. migration to the EMV standard.

"By making our EMV solution available today, debit networks, merchants, acquirers and processors can take advantage of a market-ready solution currently in place. This will allow financial institutions to begin issuing EMV cards across their portfolios immediately, rather than waiting for a new solution to be developed."
In opening this technology standard, MasterCard will allow acquirers to brand transactions originating from the Maestro AID (application identifier) for all debit networks within the United States.

"We felt it was important to take this step for the greater good of the future of U.S. payments," said Chris McWilton, president, North America, MasterCard. "By making our EMV solution available today, debit networks, merchants, acquirers and processors can take advantage of a market-ready solution currently in place. This will allow financial institutions to begin issuing EMV cards across their portfolios immediately, rather than waiting for a new solution to be developed."

Today's announcement is the latest in a series of decisions by MasterCard to advance the future of electronic payments in the U.S. With the availability of this technology, issuers will be able to simplify their EMV implementation and enabling chip entry with potentially lower costs. At the same time, as merchants and their acquirers map out their terminal plans, they will be able to further optimize their investments, simplify their certification processes and choose their routing of debit transactions.

"We have spoken extensively with the EMV Migration Forum and other groups about the need to cooperate and find a common way to support debit transactions," said Jane Cloninger, director, Edgar, Dunn & Company. "Based on our experience around the globe, this announcement is a good step to continue the momentum of the U.S. market's migration toward EMV. We applaud MasterCard for taking a leadership position in this turning point for the industry."

Additional details around the implementation of the Maestro AID will be made available to all parties involved in the coming weeks.

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Source: MasterCard

Square reaches $10 billion in payments per year, stays ahead of a growing pack

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Square reaches $10 billion in payments per year, stays ahead of a growing pack

It was just this spring that Square had reached a grandiose $5 billion per year payment rate and cemented its position at the top of the mobile payment processing field it practically started. Any attempts to catch up just got a lot harder now that the startup has crossed the $10 billion mark, only half a year later. A fifth of that new rate came in the past two months and hints that the company isn't about to slow down anytime soon. The increase doesn't have any clear driver, apart from wider media exposure, but founder Jack Dorsey notes that this doesn't include the Starbucks deal that took effect just days ago. We know the rocket-like pace won't last forever; all the same, the record-high levels of business undoubtedly give Square a lot of competitive padding when a deluge of recently established alternatives are still getting started.

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Square reaches $10 billion in payments per year, stays ahead of a growing pack originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  sourceSquare (Twitter), Jack Dorsey (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

Google Wallet update purportedly leaks plans for a real-world card, transfers and transit passes

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Google Wallet update purportedly leaks plans for a realworld card, transit passes and transfers

Google Wallet hasn't had much uptake in the real world. When most of its use has revolved around one carrier, few payment points and even fewer phones, most of us have had to sit on the sidelines. If an Android Police source really did come across a leaked future build of Google Wallet as he claims, though, we may know how Google surmounts that problem: going old school with a real-world card. Screenshots in the app supposedly show a mail-in option for plastic that could completely replace credit and debit cards without turning to NFC. Any charges after a typical swipe of the magnetic strip would simply go to whatever payment source is set as Wallet's default, letting minimalists slim down their actual wallets while sharing in the same discounts as their phone-wielding counterparts. Digital-only purists would still get something out of the deal, as the update could also bring person-to-person money transfers and support for mass transit cards. How soon the as yet unconfirmed app would appear is still a mystery, but it dovetails with Google teasing a Wallet revamp that's rumored to take mobile use beyond its Android-only roots; we just didn't anticipate that the company might bypass our phones altogether.

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Google Wallet update purportedly leaks plans for a real-world card, transfers and transit passes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAndroid Police  | Email this | Comments

PayPal Here goes on sale at AT&T stores: like a one-stop shop for account hiccups

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PayPal Here goes on sale at AT&T stores like a onestop shop for account hiccups

PayPal Here, despite all its focus on in-store transactions, hasn't really been available to buy in a US store -- that's been the domain of the seemingly ubiquitous Square reader. eBay's payment wing has at last established that retail beachhead through a deal with AT&T. About 1,800 of the carrier's stores are now carrying PayPal Here readers, and they'll keep the service's big rival from hogging the spotlight at a time when most aren't even aware that there's any competition. If you're still cynical, you can look at the AT&T move as a matter of convenience: at least this way, all your account headaches will come from one place.

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PayPal Here goes on sale at AT&T stores: like a one-stop shop for account hiccups originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Oct 2012 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  sourcePayPal Blog  | Email this | Comments

Editorial: Square gets the attention, but credit cards rule

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Editorial Square gets the attention, but credit cards rule

Lower Manhattan, Pearl Street, the Financial District. A Starbucks with broad windows, great for people watching. Sipping my $5 flavored coffee, I watched a homeless man sit on the sidewalk. I liked him immediately: his sharp gaze and thoughtful expression. When I left, I squatted down next to him and put five bucks in his jar, contributing the cost of my first-world coffee to the man's case for survival.

We talked. He knew his tech, this man of no possessions, describing his favorite productivity gadgets of the past decade, scorning Apple for form over function. He had been living on the street day and night for two years. My five dollars was "huge," he said. I knew that was true only microcosmically. He liked cigars. That's where the cash would go.

Meanwhile, Starbucks had recently cut a deal with Square, one of the hottest startup stories of the season, so that people with five dollars to spend on coffee needn't pull out a wallet and ponder their privilege.

Continue reading Editorial: Square gets the attention, but credit cards rule

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Editorial: Square gets the attention, but credit cards rule originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Wallet to phase out prepaid card, cut-off date set for October 17th

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Google Wallet to phase out prepaid card, cutoff date set for October 17th

Google Wallet's prepaid card concept has been plagued with its share of security concerns, and though Mountain View seems to have sorted out those issues, it's now phasing out the prepaid card program entirely. The service was intended to make up for a limited choice in debit and credit cards, and now that Google Wallet accepts any and all plastic, the prepaid option is a bit moot. The cut-off date for adding funds to a Google prepaid card is September 17th, and the prepaid option will vanish entirely on October 17th. Whereas users were previously charged $2.00 per month after 180 days without a transaction, they'll get slapped with the same fee after 30 days of no purchases. Google says you can request a refund if you have a remaining balance after the prepaid option kicks the bucket, though it's probably a good idea to just go ahead and spend those leftover dollars.



[Thanks, Chris]

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Google Wallet to phase out prepaid card, cut-off date set for October 17th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square intros flat-rate payment option at $275 per month, hits small business sweet spot

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Square intros flatrate payment option for $275 per month, hits small business sweet spot

Square is most often pitched as heaven for small businesses, but that 2.75 percent cut per transaction is sometimes a problem for stores that are too successful. Enter a new flat rate option. Shops that don't take more than $250,000 a year in Square payments, or charge more than $400 in a given sale, can instead pay a flat $275 per month regardless of how many swipes they take. The deal makes the most sense for businesses handling more than $120,000 a year through the reader, establishing a definite limit to its usefulness; this isn't exactly for a budding jeweler (or Starbucks). Even so, the simplicity of the rate might be very alluring for companies that aren't keen on surprise costs or working out the math, and it's a contrast to the half-steps towards flat rates taken by VeriFone and other, more traditional outlets going mobile.

Continue reading Square intros flat-rate payment option at $275 per month, hits small business sweet spot

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Square intros flat-rate payment option at $275 per month, hits small business sweet spot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge  |  sourceSquare  | Email this | Comments