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Discussion Paper
Supply- and demand-side developments influencing growth in the debit market
On August 3, 2006, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop led by Ronald Congemi, senior vice president of strategic industry relations for First Data Corporation, to examine developments on both the supply side and demand side that are influencing growth in the debit card market. On the supply side, Congemi addressed banks? increasing recognition of the importance of payments-related revenues in their institutional profit and loss statements, the effect of differences in interchange fees between PIN and signature debit, and the greater focus on ...
Discussion Paper
An Update on Trends in the Debit Card Market
On March 20, 2007, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop led by Stan Paur, chairman of PULSE EFT Association LP, a Discover Financial Services LLC company, and Tony Hayes, vice president of Dove Consulting, a division of Hitachi Consulting. Paur and Hayes shared findings from PULSE?s 2007 Debit Issuer Study, conducted by Dove Consulting with 55 debit card issuers of varying sizes. In examining developments in the debit card market, Hayes and Paur shared survey results and provided additional insights into four key areas: performance metrics, ...
Discussion Paper
Identity theft: a pernicious and costly fraud
On October 3, 2003, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia sponsored a workshop on identity theft to examine its growing impact on participants in our payments system. Avivah Litan, vice president and research director of financial services for Gartner Inc., led the workshop. The discussion began and this paper follows with a broad study of identity theft, at times compared with traditional payment fraud, and continues with an evaluation of its overall risk to consumers, merchants, and credit providers. The paper compares the incentives each such party has to ...
Discussion Paper
Alternative data and its use in credit scoring thin-and no-file consumers
On November 27, 2007, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia invited Jennifer Tescher, director, and Arjan Schtte, associate director, of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, to present a workshop. The Center asked Tescher and Schtte to share CFSI?s research on the developing role played by alternative payment data in evaluating risk for consumers with thin- and no-credit histories. After a discussion of thin- and no-file consumers and the challenges they face accessing credit, the speakers addressed aspects of supply and demand that are influencing the ...
Working Paper
IDENTITY THEFT AS A TEACHABLE MOMENT
SUPERCEDES 14-28. This paper examines how a negative shock to the security of personal finances due to severe identity theft changes consumer credit behavior. Using a unique data set of linked consumer credit data and alerts indicating identity theft, we show that the immediate effects of fraud on consumers are typically negative, small, and transitory. After those immediate effects fade, identity theft victims experience persistent, positive changes in credit characteristics, including improved risk scores (indicating lower default risk). We argue that these changes are consistent with ...
Discussion Paper
Consumer use of fraud alerts and credit freezes: an empirical analysis
Fraud alerts ? initial fraud alerts, extended fraud alerts, and credit freezes ? help protect consumers from the consequences of identity theft. At the same time, they may impose costs on lenders, credit bureaus, and, in some instances, consumers. We analyze a unique data set of anonymized credit bureau files to understand how consumers use these alerts. We document the frequency and persistence of fraud alerts and credit freezes. Using the experience of the data breach at the South Carolina Department of Revenue, we show that consumers who file initial fraud alerts or credit freezes likely ...
Discussion Paper
Prepaid card models: a study in diversity
Summary: On January 13, 2005, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia sponsored a workshop led by Gary Palmer, chief operating officer and co-founder of WildCard Systems, to examine the developing market for prepaid card products. Palmer described several distinct types of prepaid card value propositions, each with its own set of operational needs and customer servicing requirements. In addition, Palmer described new roles that exist in prepaid card programs that are not present in traditional credit and debit card programs. He emphasized that the variety of these ...
Discussion Paper
Identity theft: do definitions still matter?
Despite a statutory definition of identity theft, there is a continuing debate on whether differences among the financial frauds associated with identity theft warrant further distinction and treatment, not only by lenders and financial institutions but also by consumers and regulatory and law enforcement agencies. In this Discussion Paper, Julia S. Cheney examines four types of financial fraud ? fictitious identity fraud, payment card fraud, account takeover fraud, and true name fraud ? that fall under the legal term identity theft to better understand how criminal behavior patterns, risks ...
Working Paper
Identity theft as a teachable moment
This paper examines how instances of identity theft that are sufficiently severe to induce consumers to place an extended fraud alert in their credit reports affect their risk scores, delinquencies, and other credit bureau variables on impact and thereafter. We show that for many consumers these effects are relatively small and transitory. However, for a significant number of consumers, especially those with lower risk scores prior to the event, there are more persistent and generally positive effects on credit bureau variables, including risk scores. We argue that these positive changes for ...
Discussion Paper
Heartland Payment Systems: lessons learned from a data breach
On August 13, 2009, the Payment Cards Center hosted a workshop examining the changing nature of data security in consumer electronic payments. The center invited the chairman and CEO of Heartland Payment Systems (HPS or Heartland), Robert (Bob) Carr, to lead this discussion and to share his experiences stemming from the data breach at his company in late 2008 and, as important, to discuss lessons learned as a result of this event. The former director of the Payment Cards Center, Peter Burns, who is acting as a senior payments advisor to HPS, also joined the discussion to outline Heartland's ...