Do you know the difference between electronic check conversion and Check 21? If not, here's your chance to brush up on the material. RDM Corp., a provider of check processing and electronic solutions, is presenting its ISO Roadshow Feb. 12 and 13, 2008, in New Jersey and Illinois, respectively. RDM has been in the remote deposit business since 1998. The events are intended to teach the ISO community the ins and outs of the remote deposit capture (RDC) product.

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Recognizing a lack of communication and coordination among the ISO and merchant level salesperson (MLS) community in their country, a small group of payments professionals in Canada is poised to launch the first ever Canadian Acquirers Association. Led by Adam Atlas, a Toronto-based attorney for the payments industry and contributing writer to The Green Sheet, the association will have three main objectives: to provide information and education about Canada's payments industry; to facilitate networking opportunities for association members, including ISOs and MLSs; and to represent the industry to the Canadian government and elsewhere in the hopes of opening up the market to greater competition.

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The proverbial gift card dilemma: use a gift card to make a purchase; then dump it with the remaining balance into a purse or wallet, where it remains indefinitely, forgotten and unused. But Irvine, Calif.-based Leverage Inc. has devised a Web site that allows users to manage their existing gift cards, as well as purchase closed-loop, private label gift cards online. Leverage's Web site, www.leveragecard.com, has the functionality of a supermarket gift card kiosk. Almost 100 different retailers offer gift cards through Leverage, including Amazon.com Inc., Subway, Foot Locker Inc. and Lowe's. Customers can purchase virtual, electronic or physical gift cards. They can also realize new benefits by registering existing cards.

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One year after the infamous TJX Companies Inc. data breach came to light, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. joined the list of retailers whose customer data has been mishandled. Personal information from an estimated 650,000 J.C. Penney and 100 other retail store customers is unaccounted for. GE Money, part of General Electric Capital Corp., stated a computer tape went missing in October 2007 from a warehouse run by data storage company Iron Mountain Inc. GE Money, which handles J.C. Penney's and other national retailers' credit card operations, uses Iron Mountain's services to store its data.

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As various markets in the economy plunge into an ocean of slumping numbers, experts are forecasting minimal relief for 2008. Meanwhile, businesses and consumers are shouldering the burden of this financial slowdown, and perceptions are mixed on how the payments industry will be affected. "Many folks in the industry today have never been through a recession," said Ken Mustante, President of Humboldt Merchant Services. He suggested the industry will need to analyze trials and errors from others who have seen decline such as those who weathered the 1995 to 2001 dot-com boom and bust.

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Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, two amendments to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) went into effect. They require bankcard issuers to establish guidelines that red flag and deter potential instances of identity theft. Section 114 of FACTA deals with procedures for card issuers when they receive a request for a change of address on an existing account and said request is soon followed by another request for an additional or replacement credit or debit card.

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In Contactless Commerce Forecasts, a report issued in January 2008, London-based ABIresearch indicated contactless payments grew by 15% worldwide in 2007, but deployment of the technology was not as crisp as expected. Previously, forecasts for total near field communications (NFC) device shipments were 1.1 million for 2007 and 9.81 million for 2008. The revised forecasts are 0.65 million and 6.52 million, respectively.

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On Jan. 1, 2008, MasterCard Worldwide doubled its cross border assessment fee on acquirers, from 20 to 40 basis points on all card transactions that originate outside the United States, where the cardholder's country code differs from the merchant's country code. Depending upon the currency used in the transaction, the fee is calculated by multiplying a cross border transaction dollar amount by a predetermined basis point rate, with one basis point equaling one-hundred thousandth of 1%.

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Arizona holding company L60 Inc. filed a complaint against Pipeline Data Inc. in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, alleging the payment software provider failed to pay over $1.5 million as part of a merger agreement between Pipeline and Valadata Inc., a payment processor for the restaurant industry. L60, the sole shareholder of Valadata, entered a merger agreement with Quincy, Mass.-based Pipeline on July 10, 2006, in which Pipeline was to purchase Valadata and merge it with its wholly owned subsidiary Valadata Inc.

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The Electronic Transactions Association, an international trade association representing companies that offer electronic processing products and services, is hosting its annual awards ceremony this spring. Award recipients will be announced at the President's Dinner during ETA's Annual Meeting & Expo April 15, 2008, held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

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The beginning of 2007 looked bright for small-business software giant Intuit Inc. when it intended to complete the purchase of Electronic Clearing House Inc. in the first quarter. But the deal quickly went south after ECHO disclosed its involvement in a federal probe regarding Internet gambling. But the year ended well for both companies; a second pass at the agreement was confirmed in December 2007.

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