On March 23, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board issued the final rules to implement the Gift Card provisions in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (The CARD Act). The rules, which amend Regulation E of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act of 1978, restrict fees and expiration dates on certain types of prepaid cards and require providers to “clearly” document terms and conditions on the cards.

The MAP Prepaid general-purpose reloadable card is not considered a Gift Card when:

1. * The card is used as a substitute for a checking, savings, or deposit account;
2. * The card is used to pay for a consumer’s health-related expenses - for example, a card tied to a health savings account;
3. * Card is used as a substitute for travelers checks or cash;
4. * Card is used as a budgetary tool, for example, by teenagers, or to cover emergency expenses.

However, the rules cover general-purpose prepaid cards when the card is marketed or labeled as Gift Cards. Examples of marketed or labeled as a Gift Card include:

1. * Using the word “gift” or “present” on a card, certificate, or accompanying material, including documentation, packaging and promotional displays;
2. * Representing or suggesting that a card can be given to another person, for example, as a “token of appreciation” or a “stocking stuffer,” or displaying a congratulatory message on the card, certificate or accompanying material;
3. * Incorporating gift-giving or celebratory imagery or motifs, such as a bow, ribbon, wrapped present, candle, or congratulatory message, on a card, certificate, accompanying documentation, or promotional material.

Understanding the New Restrictions:

The term “marketed or labeled as a gift card or gift certificate” means directly or indirectly offering, advertising or otherwise suggesting the potential use of a card as a gift for another person. A general-purpose reloadable card is marketed or labeled as a gift card even if it is only occasionally marketed as a Gift Card. For example, a Visa-branded general purpose reloadable card would be marketed or labeled as a Gift Card if the credit union principally advertises the card as a less costly alternative to a checking account but promotes the card as “the perfect gift” during the holiday season.

For credit unions choosing to offer Gift Cards, there are several new rules. Gift Card rules restrict dormancy, inactivity and service fees, as well as expiration dates. Fees kick in only after cards have been inactive for one year, and then only one fee can be charged per card per month. Additionally, all cards covered under the regulations must come with at least a five-year expiration date. Among the steps that need to take place before MAP can offer a new Gift Card product to our clients:

1. * Visa Inc. will have to update their Gift Card regulations.
2. * Cards and card packaging have to be redesigned and then undergo the card brands’ approval processes.
3. * New cards have to be manufactured and encoded.
4. * Retail displays may have to be modified.
5. * Card distributor agreements will have to be rewritten.
6. * Back-end data processing systems may have to be reprogrammed.

Readying for the Transition

MAP will be out front in helping our clients prepare for the transition. In addition to continuing to offer our very popular general-purpose reloadable card product, we will offer a new Gift Card product that fully complies with the 2009 CARD Act. The following is an overview of MAP’s Action Plan to respond to the Federal Reserve’s New Gift Card Rules:

1. 1. Webinars on Selling Existing Card Stock. We know that you will most likely have existing card stock “on hand” on August 22, 2010. Your existing card stock of general-purpose reloadable cards fully complies with the new Gift Card rules as long as it is not marketed as Gift Cards. MAP will offer Webinars beginning in July to assist you in selling your existing card stock and moving forward with a successful Prepaid Card program.
2. 2. Webinars on the Sale of Gift Cards. In many ways, you will be able to sell Gift Cards as you have sold the general-purpose reloadable cards, using PAT and through mail order. However, Gift Cards do require new stock that includes terms and conditions that are printed on the cards. MAP will offer Webinars and training to help you fully understand the new Gift Card rules.
3. 3. Five (5) Free Gift Cards. Once MAP has its Gift Card program in place - one that fully complies with the new rules - we will send you Five (5) Free Gift Cards and an agreement addendum. These tools will assist you in choosing how you want to continue to sell Prepaids at your credit union.

Want to transfer money on the move? There’s an app for that. As the popular Apple ad goes, more Americans are discovering the benefits of mobile banking and the applications that facilitate it.

Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/01/mobile-banking-payment/#ixzz0oUPnwTU6

A battle is heating up over the right to process payments when you wave your cellphone over a sensor to buy goods at a local merchant. Visa made waves this week by announcing a collaboration with DeviceFidelity, which makes an iPhone case called In2Pay with a near-field communications microSD card embedded in it that will allow iPhone users — whose devices lack a microSD card — to get in on the action.

Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/visa-seeks-to-extend-retail-dominance-with-pay-with-iphone-service#ixzz0oUO6×9El

DeviceFidelity partnered with Visa to provide mobile payments using an iPhone app and a special case with a microSD payment card inside it (photo courtesy of DeviceFidelity).

By placing a removable In2Pay microSD into the protective case, iPhone users can take advantage of In2Pay’s secure contactless capabilities where contactless transactions are offered. They range from buying goods in retail stores and at unattended kiosks, to transit ticketing, and even securely accessing buildings and computers networks. Trials are scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2010.

“The more than 200,000 apps on the App Store are an integral part of iPhone users’ lives,” said Amitaabh Malhotra, COO, DeviceFidelity. “With our In2Pay solution, we want to give both iPhone users and app developers the power to do even more, by putting the convenience of interactive secure mobile transactions, right at their fingertips, anywhere they are.”

DeviceFidelity and Visa collaborated to combine Visa’s contactless payment technology, Visa payWave, and In2Pay technology to transform a mobile phone with a microSD memory slot into a mobile contactless payment device. Today’s announcement extends this functionality to iPhone and has the potential to accelerate the adoption of mobile contactless payments globally, especially in geographies where merchants have already upgraded payment terminals to accept contactless transactions.

“Visa is working to bring the security and convenience of digital currency to mobile users around the world,” said Dave Wentker, Head of Mobile Contactless Payments at Visa Inc. “Our collaboration with DeviceFidelity can extend the reach of Visa mobile payments to millions of iPhone users.”

The In2Pay solution gives iPhone users the ability to add greater convenience, flexibility and functionality. The In2Pay solution is designed to stay attached to iPhone and provides a micro USB slot for users to sync and charge their devices. DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD provides secure, convenient one-click access to contactless transactions. Compatible with smart card industry standards, the microSD can be issued and personalized like traditional smart cards or in the future through a secure download of the account information via a mobile network.

DeviceFidelity has multiple patents pending in the USA and several international countries for microSD and handset case based plug-and-play technology. DeviceFidelity has recently launched a partnership program allowing application and Trusted Service Manager system developers to upgrade their NFC solutions by adding support for the In2Pay microSD. The In2Pay microSD can be inserted securely and easily into the In2Pay Case for iPhone.

Look in your wallet. If you are like most Americans, you have at least one thin plastic card that you use to pay for things at many merchants. Take out one of those cards. The card you picked is about 3 3/8″ long by 2 1/8″ wide, weighs about a fifth of an ounce, has a magnetic stripe on the back, and has your name and a 15 or 16 digit account number embossed on the front. It is called a payment card.

Read More > http://pymnts.com/paying-with-plastic/paying-with-plastic/chapter/2

"It was necessary to reconceive, in the most fundamental sense, the nature of bank, money, and credit card; even beyond that to the essential elements of each and how they might change in a microelectronics environment. Several conclusions emerged: First: Money had become nothing but guaranteed, alphanumeric data recorded in valueless paper and metal. It would eventually become guaranteed data in the form of arranged electronics and photons which would move around the world at the speed of light." - Dee Hock, Founder and former CEO of Visa

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced that, in concert with U.S. financial institution clients, it will soon introduce its new online shopping tool, “Rightcliq™ by Visa.” From comparison shopping, to delivering special merchant offers, to managing payment options, to tracking the delivery of purchases, Rightcliq will offer consumers a simpler and smarter way to shop online. Visa is developing the new service to deliver value beyond the payment transaction by enhancing and personalizing consumers’ online shopping experiences.

The company previewed Rightcliq at its investor conference in San Francisco Thursday. The anticipated Spring launch follows several months of live market tests. Following its public release, Visa intends to continue enhancing Rightcliq, including features which may be based on ongoing user feedback.

Rightcliq will combine Wishspace™ – a central location for storing items that a consumer is interested in purchasing – with a “social shopping” experience that will allow consumers to solicit opinions of friends and streamlined checkout. Currently planned functions center on key shopping activities:

Browsing, Comparing and Saving

Consumers will be able to add products to their Wishspace as they search the Web and comparison shop, providing them with a single place to store, organize and access their shopping research.

Special discount offers from a variety of merchants will be available through Rightcliq. In addition to redeeming offers, consumers will be able to easily share offers with their friends through a simple email function or by posting offers on their personal Facebook pages.

“Visa has been making ecommerce safe, reliable and as convenient as possible since the advent of online shopping – Rightcliq extends that legacy,” said Gerry Sweeney, global head of e-commerce & authentication, Visa Inc. “This is about more than payment. Working with our financial institution clients, we’re challenging ourselves to develop new services that enhance consumers’ online shopping experiences. Today Visa is synonymous with a better way to pay. Rightcliq is a key step toward becoming the better way to shop.”

Buying and Managing Payments

Users will be able to initiate purchases from Rightcliq or launch Rightcliq as they are browsing any merchant website when they’re ready to buy. Rightcliq will automatically fill in purchase details including a shipping address and payment account number. Its account management function will let consumers safely store multiple payment accounts and easily select the payment account they prefer. Consumers will also be able to store and organize online merchant discount codes/offers in Rightcliq for easy redemption at checkout. In addition to storing Visa credit, debit and prepaid accounts, consumers will be able to store other payment options, including competing brands, giving them maximum choice and control.

Tracking Delivery

Rightcliq will enable consumers to track their purchases in one convenient location. This removes the hassle of remembering tracking numbers, digging through confirmation emails, or having to double-check delivery dates. The information will all be stored in Rightcliq, giving consumers more control over their online shopping experience.

In the future you will pay for your McDonald’s meal - and most evrything else - using your mobile phone.  Here’s a peek into what Visa is planning on doing around mobiles (from the 2009 Paris CARTES & IDentification Congress and Exhibition). Watch the video to see what Visa had to show off, including footage of an iPhone app and a Visa app installed on a SIM card.

As Visa members and business partners introduce new prepaid programs, the use of Visa Prepaid cards by corporations and government agencies to disburse tax refunds, wages, benefits, and corporate incentives is expanding. Visa Prepaid cards provide significant benefits to Visa member financial institutions and their corporate and government clients, including revenue and chargeback protection, as well as ease-of-use and convenience for consumers.

An important feature of the Visa Prepaid card, as well as all Visa-branded card products, is the manual cash disbursement service or “over-the-counter” (OTC) cash, which allows cardholders to obtain cash at a Visa member financial institution teller without a transaction fee, even if the cardholder does not have an existing relationship with that member institution.

Visa members and business partners are reminded to ensure compliance with the proper processing procedures for manual cash disbursements originating from any valid Visa card, including prepaid products, as published in the Visa U.S.A. Inc. Operating Regulations.

• Cards May be Embossed or Unembossed—Visa Prepaid cards may be personalized or embossed with a cardholder’s name or may be issued with a generic identifier. Visa Operating Regulations require that Visa members authorized to make manual cash disbursements honor both embossed cards and those Visa cards that do not bear an embossed name.
   
• No Fee May Be Charged for Cash Disbursements—Visa Operating Regulations require that Visa members authorized to make manual cash disbursements honor Visa Prepaid cards, as well as all Visa-branded card products, without charging a surcharge or other fee to the transaction amount, except for taxes or other charges imposed by local law.

  This is critical for the 2009 tax season because many tax preparers will distribute Visa Prepaid cards (such as the Jackson Hewitt ipower® card or the Liberty Tax All-Access Liberty Visa Prepaid Debit card) to their clients as part of tax refund or loan services. Holders of these cards must be able to convert these payments to cash without a fee.

In addition to being an important service that is provided to Visa cardholders, when financial institutions provide manual cash disbursements, they receive interchange fee revenue on each OTC cash transaction. Visa members can also protect themselves from fraud and remove much of the risk associated with this type of transaction by training all branch personnel on recommended chargeback protection procedures and ensuring that these procedures are followed.

Inform Your Branches to Ensure Compliance

Visa asks all members and business partners to share this information with their branches. Branch managers are encouraged to circulate this article regularly, perhaps on a monthly basis, to remind personnel of this important policy.

Complaints received by Visa regarding financial institutions that have declined service or charged fees for manual cash disbursements will be referred to the Visa Compliance Department. The Visa Compliance Department will contact the institution in question to request a remedy.

Visa Inc. a Worldwide Olympic Games Sponsor for more than two decades, today announced the global launch of its Olympic-themed marketing campaign for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Go World. This global campaign, which features television,digital and out-of-home advertising, host market merchant activation programs and usage promotions, enables Visa to connect with cardholders and Olympic and Paralympic Games fans to drive preference for and usage of Visa products worldwide.

This launch follows the recent extension of Visa’s Olympic Games sponsorship for another eight years - through 2020 - enabling Visa’s financial institution clients and merchant partners to continue to build strong relationships with their customers through unique Visa marketing programs.

“Go World builds on the concept that ran so successfully in the United States during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games,” said Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer of Visa Inc. “To connect with Olympic fans globally, we’ve taken this platform and created a campaign that transcends borders, resonates with fans’ sense of national pride, builds our own business and that of our clients, and advances the spirit of the Olympic Movement.”

The Go World campaign celebrates athleticism and human triumph through unique athlete stories. It features a wintry blue tone throughout all creative executions and will be customized to maximize local relevance in key markets. The campaign also includes merchant offers, enhanced social media applications and a deeper focus on Visa-sponsored athletes (Team Visa - Vancouver).