Journal Article
The efficiency and integrity of payment card systems: industry views on the risks posed by data breaches
Jacob, Katy; Summers, Bruce J.; Porter, Richard D.; Cheney, Julia S.; Hunt, Robert M. (2012-10)
To examine the adequacy of existing efforts to prevent, manage, and mitigate data breaches and other fraud in card-based payment systems, the authors conducted 17 interviews of various payment industry participants in 2009. This article documents the insights gained from the interviews, which consider the need for greater cooperation, sharing of relevant information, and innovation to stay ahead of the criminals that perpetrate payment card fraud with increasingly sophisticated methods.
Economic Perspectives , Volume 36 , Issue Q IV , Pages 130-146

Discussion Paper
An examination of mobile banking and mobile payments: building adoption as experience goods?
Cheney, Julia S. (2008)
This paper examines consumer adoption of mobile banking and mobile payments using the experience goods and learning by doing constructs as a framework to better understand adoption patterns in the United States and how these may differ in other world markets. Consumer experience and familiarity with mobile devices is considered along with three relatively new communication technologies ? SMS text messaging, wireless Internet access, and near field communication (NFC) ? that are making important contributions to mobile financial services. Online banking and contactless payments ? and ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 08-06

Discussion Paper
How effective were the financial safety nets in the aftermath of Katrina?
Rhine, Sherrie L. W.; Cheney, Julia S. (2006)
This paper describes the U.S. financial system?s response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and examines how financial safety nets helped meet consumers? needs in the aftermath of the storm. Overall, we find that consumers who hold deposit accounts at financial institutions are less vulnerable to financial disruptions than individuals who do not have either a checking or a savings account (the unbanked). The federal banking regulators? and financial institutions? responses to Hurricane Katrina, the financial vulnerability of unbanked families to this unexpected catastrophic ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 06-01

Discussion Paper
Identity theft: a pernicious and costly fraud
Cheney, Julia S. (2003)
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 ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 03-18

Discussion Paper
Alternative data and its use in credit scoring thin-and no-file consumers
Cheney, Julia S. (2008)
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 ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 08-01

Discussion Paper
Consumer use of fraud alerts and credit freezes: an empirical analysis
Ritter, Dubravka; Vogan, Michael; Mikhed, Vyacheslav; Cheney, Julia S.; Hunt, Robert M. (2014-09-23)
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 ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 14-4

Discussion Paper
Supply- and demand-side developments influencing growth in the debit market
Cheney, Julia S. (2006)
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 ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 06-11

Discussion Paper
Prepaid cards: an important innovation in financial services
Rhine, Sherrie L. W.; Cheney, Julia S. (2006)
This paper describes the characteristics of closed-system and open-system prepaid cards. Of particular interest is a class of open-system programs that offer a set of features similar to conventional deposit accounts using card-based payment applications. The benefits that open-system prepaid cards offer for consumers, providers, and issuing banks contribute to the increased adoption of these payment applications. Using these cards, consumers can pay bills, make purchases, and get cash from ATM networks. At the same time, consumers who hold prepaid cards need not secure a traditional banking ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 06-07

Discussion Paper
Identity theft: where do we go from here?
Cheney, Julia S. (2004)
The identity theft forum sponsored by the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Gartner Fellows Program brought together a broad range of stakeholders to discuss the important issue of identity theft. Participants from the financial services and merchant industries, Internet service and technology providers, and regulatory and law enforcement agencies examined issues faced by consumers, merchants, and banks in fighting this financial crime. Discussants shared methodologies used to combat this crime and explored opportunities for coordination in searching for ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 04-03

Discussion Paper
Heartland Payment Systems: lessons learned from a data breach
Cheney, Julia S. (2010)
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 ...
Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers , Paper 10-01