Search Results
Discussion Paper
Payment cards and the unbanked: prospects and challenges.
On July 13-14, 2005, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a conference to better understand the ways in which electronic payment tools are being adapted to meet the financial needs of underserved consumers. This event, ?Payment Cards and the Unbanked: Prospects and Challenges,? brought together a range of perspectives from the banking industry, community development arena, academic community, and regulatory groups, as well as providers of new and emerging payment technologies. These participants examined the opportunities and challenges in providing ...
Journal Article
The efficiency and integrity of payment card systems: industry views on the risks posed by data breaches
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.
Discussion Paper
The role of electronic payments in disaster recovery: providing more than convenience
On May 3-4, 2006, the Payment Cards Center hosted a two-day conference titled ?The Role of Electronic Payments in Disaster Recovery: Providing More Than Convenience.? The event brought together participants from a range of groups, including financial institutions and other financial service providers; federal and state government and national relief agencies; and the bank regulatory community. Participants examined the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and considered how these experiences may be useful in identifying opportunities to further strengthen the financial system?s response to ...
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
Payments, credit, and savings: the experience for LMI households
The Payment Cards Center and the Community Affairs Department invited Michael Barr, University of Michigan Law School and faculty investigator for the 2005-2006 Detroit Area Study (DAS), to collaborate in organizing a conference, ?Payments, Credit, and Savings: The Experience for LMI Households,? held May 21-22, 2007, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. This year?s DAS survey was designed to gain a better understanding of 1) how and why LMI households use a wide array of financial services as well as the costs and benefits of such services and 2) how LMI households would respond to ...
Discussion Paper
An examination of mobile banking and mobile payments: building adoption as experience goods?
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 ...
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 ...
Working Paper
Financial Consequences of Identity Theft: Evidence from Consumer Credit Bureau Records
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 consumer credit records and alerts indicating identity theft and the exogenous timing of victimization, we show that the immediate effects of fraud on credit files 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. Consumers also exhibit caution with credit by having fewer ...
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
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 ...